Curried Cranberries

At first glance, these flavors might not sound good together. However, the curry flavor is light and adds an interesting dimension to your traditional cranberry sauce for the holidays. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup port wine
• 3/4 cup orange marmalade
• 1/3 cup raisins or chopped dates
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 bag (12 0z) fresh cranberries

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
• Combine all ingredients except cranberries in the order listed. Use a large bowl.
• Add the cranberries and mix well.
• Spray a 2-qt baking dish with cooking spray (canola oil works great...not PAM!)
• Pour in cranberry mixture and cover with foil.
• Bake for 50 - 60 minutes (little more if cranberries frozen), until cranberries are soft.
• Let sit 10 - 15 minutes before serving to thicken slightly.
• Can be made a day ahead and placed in refrigerator until ready to eat.

*Recipe source: spiceislands.com

Grandma Sprenger's Carmel Corn:

If you like Carmel Corn, you can't go wrong with this family recipe!

• 8 qt. plain popped corn
• 2 c. light brown sugar
• 1/2 c. light corn syrup
• 2 sticks of butter
• 1/2 t. soda
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 t. vanilla
  

Pop corn. Place in large roaster pan. Combine sugar, syrup and butter in heavy pan. Bring to boil and boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add soda, salt and vanilla. Pour over popcorn mixing well. Bake at 200 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Pour out on waxed paper, separating grains. When cool, store in airtight container.

Sausage, Basil, & Port Fettuccine

The foundation of this recipe came from Sunset: Quick, Light, & Healthy...

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb sweet pork Italian sausage, casings removed
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 bundles sliced green onions (about 1.5 cups)
  
• 2 medium purple onions, thinly sliced
• 1. 5 cups port
• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 6 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 lb fettuccine

DIRECTIONS:

• Start your pasta water so it will be ready to use.
  
• Stir-fry sausage about 7 - 10 minutes breaking into pieces as you go. Remove sausage from pan with slotted spoon and keep warm (I like to put the meat in a glass dish and place in the oven on low heat...maybe 200 degrees). Pour off and discard all about 1 tsp of pan fat.
  
• Add garlic, green onions, and red onions to pan and stir-fry until soft (5 - 7 minutes). Add water, 1 tbsp at a time, if pan appears dry. You can also add olive oil but not too much as you don't want the dish to be too greasy.
  
• Somewhere along in here make sure you drop the pasta in the boiling water and cook according to package directions.
  
• Add port and bring to a boil. Boil, stirring often, until liquid is reduced by about half (5 - 6 minutes).
• Add tomatoes, vinegar, and sausage.
• Reduce heat and simmer for 2 - 5 minutes.
• Stir in chopped basil.
  
• Drain pasta well and add a little bit of olive oil to slick up the noodles a bit.
• Transfer to a warm bowl (or back to the cooking pot) then add sausage sauce.
• Stir to mix then serve topped with basil sprigs and Parmesan cheese. Yummy!