Cranberry Orange Sour

After running around all day to make your Thanksgiving Day perfect, you'd need one of these. Just cook down fresh cranberries with a hint of amaretto or brandy and cut it with sparkling water. Most of alcohol will be cooked off. Add vodka or gin for more kick!

Cranberry Orange Sour

1 cup cranberries
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp apricot jam or marmalade
1 piece, thinly sliced ginger
2 Tbsp amaretto di saronno or brandy
A splash of vodka or gin
Elderflower syrup to taste, optional
A few ice cubes
Sparkling water to top off 

In a sauce pan, add cranberries, apricot jam, orange juice and water and cook until the mixture gets syrupy. Add amaretto or brandy and cook for another few minutes. Cool. In a tall glass, add about 1 Tbsp of the cranberry mixture, ice cubes, a splash of vodka, elderflower syrup and top off with sparkling water. Stir and serve.

My favorite jam. Smells so good.

Cook until syrupy.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

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No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Thanksgiving is upon us, and that means PIES, lots of pies! I want something simple and yummy around the kitchen so I can eat a piece for breakfast, snack on it in the afternoon, or just have a bite at night. 

No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Pie 

1 graham cookie pie crust
1 tub Cool Whip, 8 oz.
1 jar Hershey's chocolate ice cream topping, or any chocolate ice cream topping
1 1/4 cup milk
2 packages JELL-O vanilla flavor instant pudding
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

What you need.

Use a silicone spatula to spread it evenly.

Freeze for 10 minutes.

Take 1/2 jar, or about 1/3 cup of chocolate topping and spread it on pie crust. Freeze for 10 minutes. In a bowl, combine milk and peanut butter and whisk well. Add instant pudding mix and stir for 2 minutes. Take 1/2 tub of Cool Whip and mix it in. Spoon the mixture on the pie crust and smooth out the top. Put rest of Cool Whip on top and spread. Refrigerate it for three hours. Just before serving drizzle chocolate topping.
Recipe adapted from Kraft.

Mix in Cool Whip.

Smooth out the top.

More Cool Whip on top.

Voila!

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Chicken with Cranberries and Orange in Pressure Cooker

I'm loving my pressure cooker. I'm amazed by what a little pressure does to food. It's like a science experiment. 

This could make a pretty nice Thanksgiving meal, don't you think?

Chicken with Cranberries and Orange in Pressure Cooker

3 chicken breast
2/3 cup cranberries
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup Trader Joe's Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar
2 Tbsp orange marmalade
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp olive oil
Sprinkle of salt to season chicken, 1/2 tsp salt for the sauce
1/2 tsp pepper
A pinch dried thyme
2 tsp ginger, julienned

Orange juice, vinegar and cranberries.

Marmalade

Heat olive oil and butter in pressure cooker. Coat chicken with salt, pepper and thyme. Brown the chicken on both sides and add onions and ginger. Toss in cranberries, orange juice, vinegar and marmalade and place the lid on. Cook on high-med for 8 minutes. After the pressure goes down, take the chicken out and reduce the sauce by almost half. Drizzle sauce over the chicken and serve.

After cooking in pressure cooker for 8 minutes. 

Reduce the sauce.

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Chestnut Cream Smoothie

With the chestnuts I cooked earlier last week, I made a smoothie. Why not incorporate a flavor of the season into your morning smoothie?

A flavor of fall

Scooped out chestnuts

Chestnut Cream Smoothie

1 cup cooked chestnuts, scooped out of the shells
2 cups coconut almond milk
1/2 cup ice cubes
2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
2 dates, pitted
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp instant espresso
2 tsp maple syrup

Combine everything and blend until smooth. 

Flavor enhancers!

Molasses like flavor of maple syrup compliments the chestnuts.

This is where the magic happens!

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Cheesy Roasted Kabocha Pumpkin

I had half of a kabocha leftover from the other day, so I decided to go ahead and make something before it starts getting spoiled.  

Crispy parmesan cheese on top. How bad can it be?

Cheesy Roasted Kabocha Pumpkin

1 lb. kabocha pumpkin, cut 1 inch thickness
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp rosemary, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup parmesan cheese 
Sprinkles of onion powder
Sprinkles of paprika

Coat them with seasonings.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a foiled cookie sheet, place pumpkin and coat with olive oil. Add seasonings and coat with your hands. Bake for 20 minutes. Take them out of oven and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Broil for 5 minutes or until the cheese gets crispy and golden brown.

I packed the cheese on there pretty good! 

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Boiled Chestnuts

I think boiling is my favorite way of preparing chestnuts. My mother always makes them this way. I like how boiling adds just the right amount of moisture to the chestnuts. You scoop them out of the shells with a serrated spoon and eat them. 

Boiled Chestnuts

2 cups chestnuts
3-4 cups water

Soak chestnuts in water over night. Drain. In a pot, add chestnuts and water just enough to cover them, about 3-4 cups. Turn on the heat to high. Once it starts boiling, turn down the heat to med and keep cooking for 40-50 minutes or so. 

I tried my second batch with a pressure cooker for 20 minutes, and they came out fine. Start it with high heat then turn it down to med-high for about 20 minutes, and let the pressure go down on its own. I even let them sit in the cooking water for a little while. Drain and cut them in half with a knife. Serve them with a serrated spoon.

I cooked them without soaking once, and they turned out ok.
You can omit this process if you're in a hurry.

Sometimes it takes longer to cook. Test one and see if you like it.

Cut them in half with a knife.

Scoop them out with a serrated spoon.

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Mackerel Pike Cooked in Pressure Cooker

Here's another dish I made with my brand new pressure cooker. My mother made this when we went home to Japan this year, and now it's become part of my repertoire. Ahhh, a taste of home!

I added frozen green beans at the last minute.
Garnish it with scallions.

Mackerel Pike Cooked in Pressure Cooker 

4 pieces mackerel pike, cut 3 inches long
1 cup water
1 cup sake
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp mirin
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp ginger, julienned
2 pickled plum, optional but helps to rid of fishy-ness.

Mackerel pike is in season now.

Set it and forget it!

My new toy.

Cut fish into pieces 3 inches long with bones in. Rinse them under running water. Combine all the ingredients in pressure cooker and turn the heat to high. Once it starts whistling, reduce the heat to med-low so the pressure regulator starts rocking slowly. After 15 minutes, turn off the heat, release the pressure from the regulator and open the lid.You could turn the heat back on and reduce the sauce. If you want to add frozen green beans, this would be the time to do it.

You can eat bones and all. Calcium anyone?

These taste good cold, too. I keep them in the fridge and snack on them.

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