cranberry orange antioxidant smoothie

With the Holiday season just around the corner, my mind and recipe book is turning to seasonal dishes and ingredients. Cranberries always come to mind this time of year - sauces, dessert, and treats abound but today I'm sharing this orange cranberry smoothie with a hint of vanilla. This smoothie is tart but still more sweet than not. If you like it more tart go ahead and add up to another 1/4 cup of cranberries.

Makes 2 servings.

Ingredients

2 small oranges
1/2 cup frozen cranberries
1/2 cup yogurt
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Throw everything into nutrininja or blender.
Blend 1 minute.

Cranberry Sauce with Dried Cherries

I love cranberry sauce. I have a confession though....until adulthood I didn't know it could be made from scratch...I thought the canned jelly variety was the ONLY variety! Now I make my own because it is soooo simple to whip up a batch and it tastes soooo much better than the canned sauce. In this version, I add dried cherries for extra zing but you can leave them out if you don't have them on hand. If you don't want to use alcohol, substitute orange juice for the cointreau.

Ingredients
1 bag fresh cranberries
1 cinnamon stick
1 c water
1/2 c dried cherries
1/4 c cointreau
1 c brown sugar

What to do

• In medium sized pot, combine all ingredients over medium heat.
• Bring to simmer and continue to cook for 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat and let sit for an hour.
• Remove cinnamon stick.
• If desired, mash with potatoe masher or use an immersion blender to puree slightly.
• Refrigerate over night.

Drivin' Me Nuts Granola

This is my second granola recipe. I've adapted this one from one of Chef Michael Smith's. I think homemade granola is infinitely better than anything we can buy. Even more important? It's waaaaay cheaper to make it at home. In fact, if you have oats then you can probably whip  up a batch today with ingredients already in your cupboard. Nuts, dried fruit, a little oil, some form of sweetener - honey, maple syrup, or aguave syrup all work.

This version has maple and aguave syrups as well as pecans, almonds, bran and milled flax. The aroma while it baked was heavenly! Granola also makes a great hostess gift over the holidays and a little bit more healthy than a batch of cookies or box of chocolates (not that there is anything wrong with either of those!)

Ingredients
4 cups large flake oats
1/2 cup milled flax
1/2 cup wheat bran
1 cup pecan bits
1/2  chopped almonds
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup aguave syrup
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 cup dried cranberries

  

What to do

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix in large bowl, oats, flax, bran, salt, pecans and almonds.
3. Heat the oil, both syrups, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in a small sauce pan until quite warm/hot - NOT BOILING OR EVEN SIMMERING - just hot in order to bring out flavours.
4. Remove from heat.
5. Add oil mixture to dry ingredients and mix until well distributed.
6. Spread granola on large pan lined with a silpat.
7. Bake for 40 minutes but every 10 minutes remove from oven and stir granola to ensure even cooking and browning.
8. Cool completely after baking is complete.
9. Add cranberries.
10. Store in airtight container.
11. Enjoy!

Pine nut and Cranberry Granola

This is a great recipe that can be changed up to suit your mood - substitute different nuts, spices, or dried fruit depending on what's in your pantry!

From granola

Ingredients3.5 cups large flake oats
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 cup cashews
1 cup pine nuts
3/4 sweetened shredded coconut
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 teaspoon salt
1.5 tsp vanilla
1 cup craisins or other dried fruit

Directions
Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

Mix oats, all nuts, coconut, cinnamon and brown sugar in a large bowl.
In another bowl stir together oil, honey, maple syrup, salt and vanilla.

Add oil mixture into dry ingedient bowl and mix until combined.
Spread mixture evenly over two large cookie sheets lined with parchment or silpats.

Put in oven and bake for about 65 - 75 minutes. Stir every 15 minutes to ensure even browning. Keep an eye on them during the last 15 minutes as they can go from brown to burnt quite quickly. Take out of oven and cool for ten minutes. Put granola in large bowl and add craisins. Mix. Once cooled place in air tight container. Enjoy on its own or with yogourt.

From granola