Monday, November 14, 2005

Back to the cranberries....

Over the weekend, we were at Costco and noticed they have started to carry these humongous bags of fresh cranberries. Of course, I had to buy them so I'm looking to use them up and also freeze some for later use. To start using them today I made Cranberry-Orange Muffins.

These muffins are packed with coarsley chopped cranberries and toasted walnuts. They are very moist and the fresh orange juice/zest bring a lot of flavor into the tender muffins. The walnuts add a crunchy surprise and the additional sugar sprinkled on top lends a nice sparkle. So far, these have definetly moved to the top of my favorite muffins.

A few weeks ago we bought a dry stuffing mixture to make a sausage casserole. I wanted to get the rest of it used up, so tonight we combined it in an interesting way. Stuffing-topped Turkey Pot Pie turned out to be much better than expected.

Instead of a traditional pastry topping, we spread some stuffing cubes moistened with turkey stock over a vegetable and turkey mixture. To give a little more moisture and a creamy texture we used some turkey gravy. I made the gravy after roasting a turkey earlier so I could have some meat on hand for lunches later in the week and in this dish. After baking, the stuffing on top had a crispy texture and pulled all of the flavors together.

Serving along side I used the vegetables I mentioned yesterday. Honey-Roasted Root Vegetables is a mixture of Parnips, Sweet Potatoes, Turnips, and Carrots which are seasoned with dandelion honey, olive oil and salt. The original recipe called for tupelo honey, but I did not have much luck finding that in my area. The vegetables obtained a glazed caramelized finished and the dandelion honey gave them sweet and slightly floral flavor.


14 comments:

  1. Joe, the muffins look great! I like the cranberry-orange combination, may try this recipe sometime!
    My latest favorite muffin is a recipe that Nic posted at her blog, the baking sheet, very yummy Whole Wheat Oatmeal muffins, I made it twice this past week, can't get enough of them!
    I love that roasted vegetable recipe, the honey flavor is so good! I have made it several times since it appeared in the magazine!
    Ana

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ana - Thanks! I agree - the roasted veggies had a ton of flavor. We really liked them!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those muffins do look really good. I definately wouldn't mind having dinner with you guys any night of the week!
    And, as a side note, I am thrilled to see that you liked those oatmeal muffins, Ana. I have been on a muffin making kick lately, so I'm sure that yours will make an appearance in my breakfasts, too, Joe.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh yum, muffins! Those look fabulous- and packed with cranberries, I will have to try them when I get my hands on some berries. Cranberry orange is definitely my favorite flavor combo in a muffin.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I thought you might try that honey-roasted root vegetable recipe!! We tried it a few weeks back and really liked it, too! The stuffing pot pie dish sounds very intriguing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Such beautiful photos! Our friend made us these roasted veggies a couple of weeks ago, and they were so delicous.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yum - stuffing - that is definitely my favorite part of Thanksgiving. It looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  8. The muffins look great, think I might have to go buy some cranberries!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Nic - Dinner would be a blast! I hope you get a chance to throw the muffins together!

    Erika - I was surprised at how many berries the muffins could take! I like the citrus combo too!

    Alice - Yeah! I'm glad we tried it!

    Crystal - Thanks! They made pretty decent leftovers too!

    Mebeth - me too! I never liked it growing up though!

    Thanks Michele! I've been seeing them all over in phoenix now!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I LOVE Cranberries! They are alot more versatile than people give them credit for....

    The Muffins have me drooling!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Joe - I made cranberry orange loaf twice this weekend and absolutely adored it! Unfortunately I managed to finish off my cranberries, but next time I buy them, I'll try your muffins!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Cookie Jill - Thanks! I love cranberries too!

    Pille - That loaf sounds very good!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Joe,
    I just made those muffins yesterday to send with my son to school.....I'm wondering what I did wrong, ESP when I see your perfect examples. I need to try them again!
    Melissa

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great-looking muffins! And the roasted root vegetable recipe gave me an inspiration. I might try it with some Japanese vegetables we have here. :)

    ReplyDelete