Never eat cranberry sauce out of a can ever again (gluten free)

                                                            Holiday Cranberry Sauce

I have a friend that told me "if it does't resemble a can it's not cranberry sauce". He was joking but the thing is I think too many people assume that the cranberry, sugar filled gelatinous stuff is what holiday traditions are are all about. They are so WRONG, you all have been missing out on some delicious stuff, and excellent left over turkey sandwich condiment bliss.

Things you're going to need

1) blender, vitamix, or food processor

2) 2 bags of raw cranberries

3) 40 ounces of quality orange juice

4) 1/3 cup brown sugar

 5) teaspoon of orange zest

In a large stew pot (that has a lid) add your 2 bags of cranberries, 40 oz of orange juice and orange zest. Set on medium/high and boil until cranberries are tender and starting to burst.

stir in 1/3 cup brown sugar (you can add additional sugar if you prefer sweeter) and reduce heat to simmer for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and set aside with lid off for at least an hour then with a slotted spoon scoop the cranberries into a blender/vitamix/food processor and puree until smooth (add additional juice from pot if mixture is too thick).

Refrigerate and enjoy!

Want to know what to do with the left over juices? Strain with a small hole colander and use for bellini mix with a sparkling wine of your choice =) Also works well with club soda for kid friendly drinks.

Italian style baked Spaghetti Squash (gluten free)

I'm not a big fan of squash but I saw an episode of Diners Drive-in and Dives where a restaurant was serving half shell baked spaghetti squash and it looked amazing! So I took note of the ingredients and went to work making my own version with out beef or cow dairy. Incidentally it's gluten free as well!

Things you need

One whole spaghetti squash

One jar spaghetti sauce (I prefer O organics)

Ground Italian sausage

Goat Cheese (comparable texture to mozzarella or white cheddar) -If you you want to use regular cheese go for it! I have friends that have made this with mozzarella and provolone and it was delicious.

Olive Oil

Salt and pepper

Ready set go!

Cute the squash in half length wise

Drizzle or spray with a little olive oil (lightly!)

Salt and pepper the flesh

Pop in the oven at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes, while that's in the oven brown up your sausage in a medium sautee pan or wok. add the sauce to heat up.

pull out of the oven (careful it's hot!)

Fork out the flesh into the length of angel hair pasta and toss gently into the sauce.

pack back into the squash shells and top with cheese. Now place back into the oven until the cheese is gooey and just starting to turn golden brown.

Pull it out and either serve in the shell (I cut in half as is and serve like that as a nice presentation) you can also just pass it around family style. This makes about 4-6 hearty servings.

The best Lamb stew you will ever eat!

I know my title is so humble right? Haha but seriously, if you want a recipe that is lick your bowl until is clean delicious this is it! Perfect pairing for the cold fall weather or a snow day in. Originally I developed the recipe with standard gluten products and recently figured out a couple small tweaks to make it gluten free and still deliciously full of flavor!
For those of you who are going to go gluten free keep in mind that some cheap cooking wines do have gluten in them (I don't understand why, but I have come across this) I love supporting local companies so I use Honeywood Cabernet all of the Honeywood wines are gluten free and the winery is right here in Salem!
Also if you do not have potato starch you can use dehydrated potatoes just read the ingredients thoroughly for dairy or gluten products.My rule of thumb is that if it has more than 4 ingredients and does not specify gluten free or vegan I don't trust it to not have something hidden in the "natural ingredients".

Ok, let's get cooking!

Toss in a bowl 1 1/2 lbs cubed lamb (or beef) with 4 tbs of flour (for gluten free substitute potato starch), season with salt and pepper

In a large soup pot melt 2 tbs of butter (or dairy free margarine) and 1 tbs olive oil

Brown the meat in the bottom of the pot.(I prefer Lamb but Beef works well too)

After the meat is browned add 1 cup red wine, 2 tbs of balsamic vinegar scraping up all of the browning pieces in the bottom of the pot.

Add to the pot 3 large carrots (cut all veggies into rustic bite size pieces), 1 large yellow onion, 3 minced garlic cloves, 4 red potatos, 3 stalks of celery.For liquid add 32 oz of low sodium stock (I use chicken since I don't eat beef, but most stew recipes call for beef broth)

For seasoning add 3 baley leaves, a pinch of annise seed, a pinch of cinamon, 1 tbs rosemary, 1/2 tbs peperika, 2 tbs savory herb, salt and pepper to taste.Simmer for 1 hour on medium/low heat. To thicken add 1 tbs butter (or dairy free margarine) and slowly stir in (sprinkling so as not to clump) flour (or potato starch). Simmer on low for 20 minutes, stiring occasionally so the bottom doesn't burn while thickening.

I know most of you are used to making a roux by mixing the thickening agent (flour or potato starch) a head of time with some water you can do this but you will need to re-taste your stew and see if it needs additional seasoning to compensate for the additional water. Also when reduce the heat and let it cool down some before doing this method or you will likely end up with clumps.

The bowls were so steamy I didn't get some great shots to share but I will add more soon I promise!