Wild rice, pecan, and cranberry salad recipe

I now present my favorite dish that I made for Thanksgiving #1.  The best part of this salad is that it's good warm, room temp, or cold, so you can make it whenever you feel like it.  I started cooking my rice about the time the turkey went in the oven, then prepared the rest whenever I had a few minutes to spare.  I loved the combination of rices, pecans, and cranberries, and the dressing was subtle enough to let the other flavors shine through.  Quality nuts do make a big difference - I used ones from the new crop of south Georgia pecans that my mom picked up a few weeks ago.  I love them so much that I put pecans in just about everything I made for both Thanksgivings (and quite a few sneaked into my mouth during preparation).

Wild rice, pecan, and cranberry salad (adapted from Simply Recipes)
(Printable version)

2 cups brown and wild rice mix (I used Lundberg Wild Blend)
4 cups water (or more, depending on rice directions or if you're using a lot of wild rice)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp butter or oil
1 cup dried cranberries (I prefer the ones sweetened only with fruit juice)
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp honey
zest of 1 orange
salt and pepper to taste

Combine rice, water, salt, and butter in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 50 min.  Remove pan from heat and let sit an additional 10 min (or more, if you're not ready to assemble the salad).  Stir rice, cranberries, pecans, and green onions together.  In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, oil, honey, and orange zest, and season with salt and pepper.  Toss this dressing with the rice mixture.  Serves 8.

Millet and sweet potato burgers recipe

Well, it's about time to wrap up November's cookbook of the month, The Whole Foods Market Cookbook.  The book has an entire section dedicated to burgers, patties, and griddlecakes, and I wanted to try at least one.  I ended up picking these because millet and sweet potatoes are two of my favorite foods, and I almost always have them around. 

They were good, and despite all of the ingredients, I appreciate that you could taste the millet and sweet potato.  They have a lot of different textures, with the sunflower seeds providing a particularly distinctive crunch.  They definitely do not resemble hamburgers (or those veggie burgers that try to imitate meat), but it's great for an alternative burger.  This recipe was supposed to only make 3 burgers, and I would hate to see the mouth of the person who could fit one of those in.  Overall, this book is pretty good.  I LOVED the King Ranch casserole (though I made a few big changes), and I really enjoyed the lentil and sausage soup, parsnip mashed potatoes, and these burgers.  I also made a red beans and rice dish that was only so-so.  I'm sure I'll open this book from time to time, but it's hard to compare it to the previous cookbook of the month, Vegetarian Planet.

Millet and sweet potato burgers (adapted from The Whole Foods Market Cookbook)
(Printable version)

1/2 cup millet
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cubed into 1/2" cubes
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup cooked chickpeas
1 Tbsp soy sauce (use wheat-free tamari for gluten-free)
1/2 tsp olive oil
1 carrot, grated
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 Tbsp potato starch
2 Tbsp parsley, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Combine millet, sweet potatoes, and water in a medium saucepan.  Bring the water to a boil, and then cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 min, or until the water is completely absorbed.  Add the chickpeas and mash with a potato masher or the back of a spoon.  Stir in the remaining ingredients and season with salt and pepper.  Divide into 6 equal patties and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Spray patties with olive oil and bake at 400 for 20-30 min, until patties are golden brown and firm.  Serves 6.

Crunchy broccoli and apple salad recipe

It's been a while since I posted anything, and it feels as if I've neglected my child (please don't tell on me).  I've had a lot to share from the cookbook of the month and my two Thanksgivings, but between hours of cooking, sporadic internet at my parents' house, and having to say goodbye to my dog and best friend, it just never happened.  Hopefully I can catch up over the next few weeks before I return to the land of no internet.  It seems appropriate to dedicate this post to Rascal.  One of her more unique traits was her undying love for vegetables and fruit.  If she heard the rustling of a bag of spinach, she came running no matter where she was in the house.  A few of her other favorites were carrots and broccoli, and her Christmas and birthday presents were usually some combination of these vegetables (she was never that into toys, and couldn't have most dog treats).  In more recent years, she would anxiously watch while you ate an apple, knowing that she would get to enjoy the core.

While I was chopping the broccoli and apples for this salad, all I could think about was Rascal.  I wanted to "accidentally" drop a few pieces, but she wasn't there to eat them.  Hopefully she's now enjoying all of the fruit and vegetables that she can imagine.  Even though my opinion might be biased because of my associations, this salad was good, and probably would have been even better if I had used almond butter.  I liked the crunch from the broccoli, apples, and pecans, but it wasn't nearly as good the next day after the dressing had soaked into everything.  I still enjoyed it because it reminded me of her.

Crunchy broccoli and apple salad (adapted from 101 Cookbooks)
(Printable version)

1 Tbsp olive oil
4 shallots, sliced thinly
2 large heads of broccoli, cut into small florets
1/3 cup almond or other nut butter (I used peanut)
1 garlic clove, minced
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp honey or agave nectar
3 Tbsp hot water
salt and pepper to taste
2 large apples (I used one granny smith and one pink lady), diced
1/2 cup toasted, chopped pecans

Heat oil over medium-low heat in a medium skillet.  Add shallots and saute until very tender and brown (about 15 min).  Then set them aside and let cool.  While shallots are cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add broccoli florets, let the water return to a boil, and drain broccoli after about 15 seconds.  In a small bowl, whisk together the almond butter, garlic, lemon juice, honey, and water, and season with salt and pepper.  Toss this dressing with the broccoli, shallots, apples, and pecans.  Serves 8.

Cranberry chutney recipe

I've never been a big fan of cranberry sauce, especially if it still has indentations from rings in the side of the aluminum can.  No thank you.  But, I found myself with 2/3 of a bag of fresh cranberries, so I thought about doing something with them for the Pre-giving feast.  (Don't ask what happened to the other third of the bag.  It was a catastrophe.)  As luck would have it, I turned on the Food Network while I was working out on Saturday morning, and the Neelys were making this fabulous looking chutney that didn't involve 4 cups of sugar. 

Despite my trepidation for all things cranberry-based (especially considering the recent failure), I really liked this.  It retained much of the tartness from the cranberries, but had just enough balance from the other fruit and honey to prevent my face from puckering up.  To celebrate my first successful dish using fresh cranberries, I'm submitting this to Weekend Herb Blogging.  Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once organizes this event, and Winnie from Healthy Green Kitchen is hosting this week.

I heard many good comments from my taste-testers, and we tried to figure out what you're really supposed to do with chutney.  We mostly ate it by itself, but also decided that it would be good on yogurt.  What's your favorite way to eat chutney?

Cranberry chutney (adapted from The Neelys)
(Printable version)

1 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup diced onion
2 granny smith apples, diced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 cups cranberries
juice of 2 limes
juice of 4 small oranges (about 1/3 cup)
3 Tbsp honey

Melt the butter in medium saucepan over medium heat.  Then saute onion, apples, and thyme until tender.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients, reduce heat to low, and let simmer for 20 min.  Serve hot or let cool.  Makes about 4 cups.

Red cabbage and apple salad recipe

When I was planning my pre-Thanksgiving feast, I decided to include a salad so that I could prepare it in advance and save oven space for other dishes.  The last red cabbage salad that I made turned out fabulously, so I decided to give this one a shot.  This brings up an interesting question: last time I made it, I called it purple cabbage... what's your preference - red or purple?

No matter what you call it, the salad was good.  It had a nice crunch, and a great mix of flavors.  Next time I'll use a little bit less onion, but I've been finding raw onion very strong lately (my eyes watered for several hours after cutting Vidalia onions the other day... what's wrong with me?).  I doubled the recipe, and realized that I would have two identical bowls of salad.  I was already trying out tons of recipes, so I thought I might as well try a different dressing on each bowl.  Because I can no longer eat my favorite wheat berry salad, I decided to use a similar version of its dressing.  I preferred this sweet one (#2), but others liked the dilly one better, so I guess you can't go wrong.  I've provided the smaller version of the recipe, so pick a dressing, or put it into smaller bowls and try both.

Red cabbage and apple salad (adapted from Dani Spies, and 2nd dressing inspired by Eating Well)
(Printable version)

1/2 head red (purple?) cabbage, shredded finely
1 red apple (I recommend gala, fuji, or pink lady), diced
1 granny smith apple, diced
3 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly (next time I'll use about half of this, or maybe none at all)
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup toasted pecans

Dressing #1
1 Tbsp dried dill
juice of 2 lemons
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Dressing #2
juice of 4 small oranges (about 1/3 cup)
3 Tbsp strawberry balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp walnut oil
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all salad ingredients in a large mixing bowl (if making well in advance, it's best to add the pecans until serving).  Choose a dressing and mix those ingredients together in a small bowl.  Toss with salad, and ideally refrigerate overnight.  Serves 6-8.