Simply Delicious Holidays with Slo Coast Cooking!

by Elise Griffith

I'm dreaming of a laid-back Christmas. This year, with our oldest graduating from college in December, we're simplifying while maintaining holiday traditions and foods on a budget. The season has always been a busy time of year. Fifty years ago I announced my impending, early arrival during Christmas dinner! Sorry about that, Mom.

Since then I've had many kinds of holiday seasons. On my first holiday season as a bride in 1985, trying to impress my new husband with my cooking skills, I decided to make homemade cranberry sauce. No one told me cranberries pop while they boil. Our kitchen was covered with sticky cranberry sauce right up to the ceiling over the stove. This year's recipe cooked slowly in a crock pot and is uniquely delicious without spatters or mess (see below).

This year, Christmas music was playing on my stereo November 2nd because I'd like to make the most of the holidays this year—not DO the most. If that sounds appealing to you, I'm glad! Homemade holiday goodness is possible without spending hours and hours in the kitchen. It can also be affordable.

This recipe was inspired by my birthday trip to Hawaii. You'll find the fruited cranberry sauce is tangier than most cans of cranberry sauce, with a clear note of pineapple.

Slow Cooked, SLO Coast Fruited Cranberry Sauce

• 2 (12 ounce) bags fresh or frozen cranberries
• ½ (32 ounce) jar Tropical brand Pineapple-Apricot Preserves, available at Spencer's and Albertson's
• 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple
• ½ (6 ounce) bag dried apricots, diced
• 1 cup orange juice

Place all ingredients in your crock pot (slow cooker) and cook on high for one hour. Stir, reduce heat to low and cook an additional 6-8 hours, stirring occasionally if desired—it's not necessary to stir once all ingredients are blended.

Carefully spoon hot, cooked sauce into sterile jars, leaving ½ inch head space; seal tightly with lids. Using canning tongs, place jars in a boiling water bath [this is a large pot of boiling water on the stovetop]. Boiling water must cover lids. Boil the filled jars for up to 15 minutes. 

Again using canning tongs, remove jars from boiling water and place on a folded, clean towel on your kitchen counter. Pat dry with another clean towel and do not disturb for 24 hours. Jars will pop as they cool to room temperature, insuring a safe seal. OR cool the fruited cranberry sauce slightly and spoon into clean jars with snap on lids, refrigerating after they reach room temperature. Please note these will not have the same jell as traditionally home-canned sauce.

Recipe makes 8 half pint jars or 4 full pint jars of sauce. Chill before serving. My total cost was less than $1.00 per jar, not including the cost of the jars.

It's terrific as a side to roasted turkey or ham and can also be used in other holiday goodies or gifts from your kitchen, such as . . . 

Festive White Chocolate, Cranberry-Oat Bars

• 2 ½ cups Bisquick brand baking mix [there's a gluten free version, too]
• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened to room temperature
• 1 ½ to 2 cups above whole cranberry sauce
• 1 cup white chocolate chips + 2 tablespoons water
• Chopped nuts, if desired [optional]

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare a small, rectangular baking dish with canola oil spray or shortening. Stir together Bisquick baking mix, oats and brown sugar [can substitute Splenda Blended]. Cut in softened butter or margarine with a fork or pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Spoon and press ½ the mixture evenly into the bottom of prepared baking dish. Spread cranberry sauce evenly over the bottom layer and top with remaining ½ of mixture, again pressing evenly. Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Place white chocolate chips in a microwave safe measuring cup, add water and microwave on high 45-60 seconds. Stir and continue to microwave if necessary until chips are thoroughly melted and liquid; drizzle over cooled, uncut bars; sprinkle with chopped nuts if desired. Cover baking dish and refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting.

Recipe makes up to one dozen deliciously festive holiday treats-depending on how large you cut your bars-and are an ideal substitute for higher sugar desserts.

In my last column, I mentioned easy sweet potatoes or yams. Although I grew up with sweet potatoes swimming in butter, brown sugar, and melted marshmallows, having a diabetic in the house means I must reduce sugar.

California Golden Sweet Potatoes

• 3 medium, rounded light or golden sweet potatoes
• ¾ cup loose light brown sugar or Splenda Blended
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ cup (half stick) very cold butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, trim pointed ends from unpeeled sweet potatoes, place them on a foil lined cookie sheet or in a foil lined baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes, turn over using tongs, and bake an additional 15-20 minutes. Remove potatoes from the oven and cool to room temperature.

Once cooled, the skins come off easily; cut each in half, remove skins and cut sweet potatoes into small cubes or pieces. Prepare a casserole dish with cooking oil spray or softened butter (or margarine), and arrange one cut up potato into a single layer on the bottom of your dish.

Stir together brown sugar and cinnamon until well combined. Sprinkle one third of the sugar mixture over your first layer of sweet potatoes. Cut half of the very cold butter or margarine into thin slices and arrange over sugar and potatoes. Arrange another layer of sweet potatoes, sprinkle with sugar mixture, and top with another layer of sweet potatoes. Arrange the rest of the butter or margarine cut into thin slices, and sprinkle the last of the sugar evenly over all.

Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to bake. Bake, covered, in a preheated 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes; the recipe makes 8-10 very tasty servings with much less fat and sugar than my grandma's recipe, and at a fraction of the price.

What if making cornbread dressing was as inexpensive and simple as seasoning a package or two of cornbread and muffin mix with fresh herbs as a base? Many brands of boxed stuffing and dressing mixes are usually no more than dried bread crumbs/cubes or cornbread with herbs; they still require celery and onion. True, southern-style cornbread dressing recipes also require cream and eggs, as well as a stick or more of butter. Here's a healthier, budget-friendly, basic recipe with a few options for various added ingredients.

Quick and Easy Herbed Cornbread Dressing Base

• 1 (6.5 ounce) package Betty Crocker Cornbread mix
• 1 sprig each fresh thyme and rosemary, minced [or ½ teaspoon each, dry]
• 3-4 medium, fresh sage leaves, minced [or ¼ teaspoon dry, ground]
• 1/3 cup low fat milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare a pie pan with canola cooking oil spray. In a medium mixing bowl, combine dry cornbread mix with herbs; beat together milk, melted butter or margarine and egg, pour over herbed mix and stir until just moistened. The batter will be lumpy. Spread batter into pie pan and bake at 400 degrees for 16-18 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven, cool completely and cut or break up into small pieces.

Spread broken cornbread pieces in one, even layer on a cookie sheet and return to oven. Reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees and toast for 10-12 minutes, or until hard. Do not over bake. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature before storing in an airtight container or dated, zip top bag.

Recipe makes about 4 cups of cornbread dressing base that will keep for up to one month in your pantry or cupboard.

To prepare for oven baking:

Sauté ½ cup each chopped celery and onion in 1 tablespoon butter or margarine and 2 tablespoons canola oil until vegetables are soft (3-5 minutes), add one 14.5 ounce can of creamed corn, stir and heat on low, uncovered, for 2-3 minutes. Turn burner off and stir in ½ cup milk or chicken broth. Pour creamy, liquid vegetables over 4 cups cornbread dressing base in a large bowl and stir/fold a few times just until evenly moistened. Transfer to an 8 X 8 inch baking dish or 2 quart casserole dish that's been prepared with cooking oil spray. Cover and refrigerate until ready to bake.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake dressing, uncovered, for 25-30 minutes. You may want to double the recipe for a larger crowd at your holiday table.

Variations include adding chopped pecans and a diced apple or golden raisins, browning ½ pound of sausage and sautéing celery and onion with the sausage in place of butter or margarine and oil, even stirring in a few diced, fresh oysters. Stuffing and dressing are very adaptable dishes—be creative!

An even simpler stuffing mix is as easy as cubing and drying bread you already have on hand, such as:

San Luis Sourdough Rosemary and Sage Stuffing Mix

• 6 slices San Luis Sourdough bread, rosemary and olive oil version
• 6 slices San Luis Sourdough bread, original or cracked wheat version
• ½ teaspoon ground sage

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Cut bread slices into cubes and spread out evenly on two cookie sheets. Sprinkle sage over the original or cracked wheat sourdough bread cubes. Dry in your oven at 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes, remove from oven, cool to room temperature, and transfer to an airtight jar or zip top bag. The resulting 6 cups of dried cubes will keep for up to one month in the pantry.

To prepare for oven baking:

In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté 1 cup each diced celery and onion in 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or butter for 3-5 minutes. Add 2 cups water plus ½ cup dry white wine to the skillet bring to a boil, and simmer, covered, for 2-3 minutes; you're making a vegetable wine broth. While that's simmering, place sourdough stuffing mix into a buttered 3-4 quart baking dish. Pour the vegetables and broth over the mix and stir/fold gently to combine all ingredients (just until moist).  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. For crunchier stuffing, bake uncovered.

It's a terrific budget-friendly recipe for a potluck holiday gathering, and serves 10 easily.

*** From where I cook . . .  winter holidays are a time of gratitude, sharing, and (of course) food. A tin of homemade fudge or cookies won't ever go to waste; other gifts of food often mean a lot as well.

One very dear friend in New York shipped out a small box of fresh-from-the-orchard, huge apples just before Halloween this year. They were each comfortably tucked into a brown paper bag and shipped two day priority mail. She included a note instructing me to dry, dry, dry away, because last year she'd sent a container of dried apple rings that I was able to use in muffins, stuffing, oatmeal cookies and more for several months.

This holiday season, as you're gathering a bag of canned or boxed goods to donate to the food shelter, or picking up a free turkey to donate to a church drive, consider your neighbors or other acquaintances. There are many in our community who won't go to a food bank. By sharing a half pint jar of crock pot cranberry sauce or whipping up an extra batch of seasoned corn bread dressing mix, you may be helping more than you know for pennies.

Contact Elise
Image on Banner by Nathan Drew

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