Cranberry Turkey Pizza

Remember that cranberry sauce you made for Thanksgiving ages ago and didn't eat all of it?  Oh, you ate it all?  Well we had some and I thought it would make a delicious barbecue sauce.  My recipes almost always have destiny.  This particular recipe is destined for a turkey and cheese pizza.  Yep I was reinventing Thanksgiving dinner as a pizza.  Anyway, you don't have to try my idea, but if you do, I think you'll like this new spin on a Thanksgiving pizza.  

Pizza is our Friday tradition, and this was a great addition to our traditional pepperoni. 

Cranberry barbecue sauce, the secret sauce of the delicous cranberry turkey pizza.

Cranberry Barbecue Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup Cranberry Sauce
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Orange Juice
1 tablespoon Spicy Brown Mustard
1 tablespoon Worcesthershire Sauce

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.

Pour sauce into small saucepan and boil over medium heat and reduce heat to low
and simmer until thickened about 10 minutes.

Remove sauce from sauce pan and pour into lidded container, I used a pint sized Mason Jar.

Refrigerate remaining unused sauce.

Cranberry Turkey Pizza Ingredients:

Cranberry Barbecue Sauce
4 Slices Turkey Breast (sliced into strips)
2 cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese (grated)
Pizza Dough

Preheat oven to 500 Farhenheit for atleast a half hour after the oven has reached temperature.

Roll out pizza dough to 12 inch wide thin circle.  Spread a thin layer of sauce.

Add all the cheese, then the turkey and finally drizzle some more sauce on the pizza.

Bake pizza on the bottom of the oven for 5-8 minutes, until golden brown around the edges
and underneath.  Rest for three minutes before slicing, this allows the cheese to cool
enough to cut and become slightly solid.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Turkey Pizza

Cranberry Barbecue Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup Cranberry Sauce
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Orange Juice
1 tablespoon Spicy Brown Mustard
1 tablespoon Worcesthershire Sauce

Process:

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.

Pour sauce into small saucepan and boil over medium heat and reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened about 10 minutes.

Remove sauce from sauce pana and pour into lidded container, I used a pint sized Mason Jar.

Refrigerate remaining unused sauce.

Cranberry Turkey Pizza Ingredients:

Cranberry Barbecue Sauce
4 Slices Turkey Breast (sliced into strips)
2 cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese (grated)
Pizza Dough

Process:

Preheat oven to 500 Farhenheit for atleast a half hour after the oven has reached temperature.

Roll out pizza dough to 12 inch wide thin circle.  Spread a thin layer of sauce.

Add all the cheese, then the turkey and finally drizzle some more sauce on the pizza.

Bake pizza on the bottom of the oven for 5-8 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and underneath.  Rest for three minutes before slicing, this allows the cheese to cool enough to cut and become slightly solid.

Enjoy!

Cajun Coleslaw

I really like coleslaw.  I'm not sure what it is about crunchy cabbage in sauce, but it is so yummy to me. Our friend's in Maryland introduced us to Duck Dynasty.  I have heard of it, but had never had a reason to watch it truthfully.  I tend to swear off all reality TV.  We watched with them and we were hooked. I love the funny antics in each episode and the redneck premise of the show.  For dinner I decided to channel my inner Southern and cook a Louisiana inspired meal to eat while we watched Duck Dynasty for our Friday night movie.  The first part of our Louisiana feast was coleslaw, not just your average sweet coleslaw from KFC, I chose a spicy Cajun coleslaw instead.  My husband and I love flavor, and he agreed this was a very good coleslaw.  This recipe is best served the next day.  If you give the flavors a day to really develop, your tatse-buds will be rewarded I promise.  Our dinner also included biscuits and blackened catfish, so stay tuned for the catfish in the next post.

 This is what coleslaw should be.

Ingredients:

1 small head of Cabbage
1 small head of Red Cabbage
2 Yellow Onions
1 Lemon
5 tablespoons Mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Spicy Brown Mustard
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Louisiana Hot Sauce
2 tablespoons Ketchup
3 teaspoons Kosher Salt
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar

 Whisk mustard and mayonnaise together in a very large bowl.

 Add hot sauce and whisk until thickened. 

 Add ketchup and whisk until thickened.

 Add salt and and garlic powder, whisk.

 Add red wine vinegar, juice the lemon into sauce and whisk.

 This beautiful sauce will accompany the cabbage and bring it to perfection.

 Peel, cut onions in half, and slice thinly.

Remove outer leaves of cabbage, rinse, cut in half, and cut the core out.

 Slice cabbage thinly.

 Repeat process with the red cabbage.

 Add cabbage, and onions to large bowl with sauce.  Stir and refrigerate for at least a day.

Enjoy!

Cajun Coleslaw

Printable Recipe Found Here

Ingredients:

1 small head of Cabbage

1 small head of Red Cabbage

2 Yellow Onions

1 Lemon

5 tablespoons Mayonnaise

2 tablespoons Spicy Brown Mustard

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Louisiana Hot Sauce

2 tablespoons Ketchup

3 teaspoons Kosher Salt

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar

Process:

Whisk mustard and mayonnaise together in a very large bowl.

Add hot sauce and whisk until thickened. 

Add ketchup and whisk until thickened.

Add salt and and garlic powder, whisk.

Add red wine vinegar, juice the lemon into sauce and whisk.

This beautiful sauce will accompany the cabbage and bring it to perfection.

Peel, cut onions in half, and slice thinly.

Remove outer leaves of cabbage, rinse, cut in half, and cut the core out.

Slice cabbage thinly.

Repeat process with the red cabbage.

Add cabbage, and onions to large bowl with sauce.  Stir and refrigerate for at least a day.

Enjoy!

Baked Beans

Every once in awhile my refrigerator surprises me with just the right leftover to make something I enjoy eating, and it didn't even take much effort.  Today was one of those days, a spontaneous recipe came to my mind.  Remember when I made white bean and vegetable soup?  I used only half of the brined beans and put the other half in my refrigerator.  My mind immediately thought of those beans today and decided it was time to make baked beans.   Granted, neither my mind nor my body knows how to make baked beans from scratch.  When I looked up a recipe, I was surprised to find that almost all of the recipes started with a can of pork and beans.  This won't do.  I have uncooked beans and a van frozen on the street.  The buses are not working in my favor (late and sporadic).  Only one answer, make it up, find the ingredients that produce the wonderful flavor of baked beans and make it or fake it. I should mention, none of my family like beans.  So, when I make beans, it is really just for me and so this recipe doesn't feed a family (you'll need to double it if you are feeding more than two people).

 What do you think for my very first totally from scratch baked beans?

 Ingredients for this recipe are: Water, 1/2 lb. white beans(already brined, recipe for quick brining here), 1 small yellow onion, 1 green bell pepper, 12 slices bacon, 1 cup barbecue sauce (I used homemade, recipe found here), 1/2 cup turbinado sugar (brown sugar would also work), and 2 tablespoons
spicy brown mustard.

 Dice onion and bell pepper.

 Saute vegetables in your choice of 2 tablespoons of oil.  I used Olive Oil.

 Cut six slices of bacon into 1 inch pieces.

 Saute bacon slightly, to render some of the fat (reduce the fat).

 Just a little golden brown, and a little less fatty.

 Add all the ingredients (only add 1/2 cup of the barbecue sauce) and enough water to cover beans by two inches, to a pressure cooker pot, or a stock pot.  Cover with lid, set pressure cooker to high for 30 minutes.  Cook on stovetop on medium until boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 1-2 hours until beans are tender.

Preheat oven to 325 Fharenheit

 Using a slotted spoon or fine mesh spoon ladle everything into an oven safe dish.  I used a 9 inch
square non-stick metal pan.

 Add 2 tablespoons molasses and 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce.

 Cook the remaining 6 pieces of bacon slightly, until some fat is rendered and golden brown.

 The beans with the extra goodness added.

 Place bacon on beans.  Bake in oven for 1 1/2 hours.

 Do you see the difference?  Oh my goodness does this smell spectacular?

I dished some up for me and my friend Whitney and she said they were even better then her
mom's.  The good news is, you can make baked beans from dry beans to finish and they taste
 amazing.  Whitney's husband love's baked beans so I sent the other half home with her.  Again
this doesn't make very much, so remember if you are cooking for a family, double it.

Enjoy!