Sweet Bet

Husband's: be careful about what your wife bets you on.  She might win.  If you are sneaky like my husband, however, you might win either way!

My husband lost a bet and found this in front of him as proof...hmm, not sure I actually won this one!

A bit after dinner he said "gee, desert would be nice."
My reply was "well, we do have brownie mix in the cabinet..."
My husband: "yeah, but it won't be ready in 20 minutes."
My mistak...er, um, reply: "ya wanna bet?!"

I Even raised the stakes mid way by suggesting frosting! what was I thinking!?!

I made brownie deal-ies in the Babycake cupcake maker (seen above) and realized brownie cookies would be faster and easier.

I added a bit of extra flour per the directions on the box, but it did not actually make any improvement...unless you are a cake-y brownie fan.

I actually had a container of chocolate frosting in the cabinet also, so to make it "gourmet" or just a little more exciting, I added a few drops of orange extract (thank you Emily).

The result:

Pretty yummy with or with out frosting!

Wives: this is a perfectly acceptable bet to make with your husband.  You also win either way, are you really going to argue with chocolate ;~)

Cranberry Sauce - A Love Story

I love cranberry sauce!

However, it was not until I met my husband that I ever made my own. The first time the subject of cranberry sauce arose, we found ourselves on opposite sides. I explained to him that starting from my earliest Thanksgivings and Christmases, I  recall fighting with my brother over which one of us, the the children in the family, would exercise the privilege of opening the can  of cranberry sauce and plopping the quivering cylindrical mass out on to the special silver plate my family reserved for it and it alone. Further arguing would take place over who which one of us would get to eat the end piece, the one imprinted with the pattern from the lid of the can.

In retrospect, this was an odd tradition considering that my family were otherwise the make it yourself types, at times making all our own bread and even making yogurt and cheese from our own goats milk. But we were quite simply devoted to canned cranberry sauce, and it always had to be jelly style, no berries, or chunks as we called them. I laugh at myself now that I never imagined that I would like to taste homemade sauce, let alone make it myself for my own holiday meal.

Luckily for me, my husband (boyfriend at the time) insisted that he could not imagine a holiday meal without homemade sauce and so I agreed to give it a try (though I insisted on purchasing a can of my old favorite jelly style to have on standby). It only took making and eating it once, for me to be converted for life.

When I got started making my own sauce I used Allrecipes' Cranberry Sauce I recipe. Over the years I have modified it to a point I am quite happy with. It is thick,  tangy, sour and sweet.

 

Cranberry Sauce My Way:

Sugar - 1 Cup

Orange Juice - 3/4 Cup

Cranberries - 12 Ounces

Instant Tapioca - 2 Tablespoons

Heat the sugar and juice in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved.

Add most of the cranberries along with the instant tapioca. 

 Cook on medium heat, stirring frequently. When the berries have popped and you can mash them up a bit, add the rest of the berries and continue cooking until the most recently added cranberries are popping and soft. ( adding the berried in two stages allows some to cook down into a jam like consistency while others stay nice and solid). At this point transfer the sauce to a bowl and allow it to cool down before covering and refrigerating it.

I find it best made the night before, giving it ample time to thicken and chill in the fridge.

 - Ash

All photographs used in this post are my own.