I always have to have sweet potato and cranberries represented on my thanksgiving dinner table, usually in the form of the traditional cranberry sauce, and baked sweet potatoes with an orange honey syrup…but, I have come to realize that not everyone enjoys these two staples in their traditional way so I created this bread to represent both these items in one recipe 🙂 .

This bread is a play off of my banana nut bread (original recipe given to me by my sister). It basically uses the same ingredients but substitutes the banana with the sweet potato and 1/2 of the nuts with dried cranberries (although fresh would be nice too), and has the addition of milk.

You will need:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 package (4 serving size) instant vanilla pudding
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 cups mashed sweet potato (1 large potato)
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten with fork
• 1/2 cup whole milk (or any kind if you don’t have whole)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Steps:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients, except for nuts and cranberries, well.
2. Fold in the nuts and cranberries, and distribute the batter (which will be thick) between 2 greased, regular sized, loaf pans, or one bigger one.
3. Bake at 350F for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
4. Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes and then turn it onto a rack to cool completely.
5. Service with homemade cinnamon butter (1 stick room temperature butter with 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, and a pinch of salt, well mixed).

Kali Orexi!

I made up this concoction to have a non-alcoholic, flavorful red drink for a Super Bowl party. I wanted to make it red, being that it is one of the colors of our home team…the Chiefs (you can also use this as a Valentine’s day drink), and I wanted it non-alcoholic because there were some young people at the party 🙂 . Well, it turned out to be very tasty and refreshing, so I thought I would share it with you. I didn’t even think it would be so good so I didn’t take any good pictures of the process.

I also had some leftover soaking liquid from some alcoholic Pina colada treats that I made, so I put that in a small pitcher for adult drinkers to add to the cherry limeade if they wanted something with more power…lol. The liquid was a coconut vodka that I marinated fresh pineapple in overnight, which gave it a coconut pineapple vodka flavor that worked VERY WELL with the cherry limeade.

You will need:

• 1 container of frozen limeade (12 ounce), thawed
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 jug of 100% cherry juice (64 ounce), chilled
• 2 cups seltzer water, chilled
• 1/2 of a 6 pound bag of ice (or equivalent from ice maker)

Steps:

1. Add limeade to pitcher big enough to hold everything, then stir in cold water until dissolved.
2. Add Cherry juice and seltzer water and stir well.
3. Finally add ice and stir well, and enjoy!

Kali Orexi!

Saganaki is a Greek dish that is prepared in a small frying pan with two handles. This process is best known using floured semi-hard cheese and frying it in olive oil (or butter). Traditionally, in Greece you fry up the cheese and serve it with lemon, although at some point restaurant owners started lighting it up with a shot of brandy or ouzo and yelled “OPA” and extinguished it with a squirt of lemon juice. It definitely brings up the “Kefi”, which means fun, doing it this way 🙂 .

The cheeses usually used for saganaki are graviera, kefalograviera, kasseri, and kefalotyri, but you can try it with your favorite semi-hard cheese if you can’t find these. You only need a little bit of olive oil to fry them up (there is no need to deep fry, especially for your arteries). Just start with a hot pan, I find cast iron is the best, add a couple tablespoons of olive oil and then add the dredged cheese. Once it gets golden on one side (and the cheese slightly starts to melt on the sides) flip it and golden up the other side. Serve with a generous squirt of lemon and pita bread. You can dip the bread in the sauce which is sooo good!

You will need:

• 8 oz wedge or block of kasseri, graviera, kefalotyri, or other semi-hard pale yellow cheese
• 1/2 cup cool water
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 lemon cut in half
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 shot 80 proof liquor, such as brandy, ouzo, vodka, rum, etc. (optional)

Steps:

1. Cut cheese into 1/2 inch thick pieces. It can be rectangles, squares, or you can keep it in a big chunk but make sure it’s not more than 1/2 inch thick.
2. Dip both sides into cool water and then dredge well in flour. Set on plate and continue with the rest of your pieces .
3. When you are ready to fry, heat a medium sized iron skillet until hot and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Once oil is heated, gently shake off excess flour from cheese and carefully lay in hot oil.
4. Cook cheese for about 2 minutes then using a small spatula and fork (use fork to make sure it doesn’t splatter into the oil when turning it) turn pieces over and cook another 1 to 2 minutes on the other side. Both sides should be lightly golden brown and starting to melt on the edges.
5. Turn heat off and quickly pour the liquor around the middle (if using) and light with a long neck lighter. As it lights up, yell “OPA!”. Flambéing is optional. If you never have done it before then wear a heat resistant glove, and only do it if you are an adult.
6. Once flame has mostly gone down then squeeze 2 lemon halves around the cheese to extinguish the rest of the flame. If you do not choose to flambé just squeeze lemon onto fried cheese straight off.
7. Serve with pita bread to dip in the oil and lemon sauce…yum! Make sure you eat cheese soon after done, otherwise the cheese firms up as it sits, but it is still tasty.

Kali Orexi!