Hot and sour rhubarb pork and noodles

Tangy rhubarb is used to make a hot and sour sauce for a delicious Asian-inspired pork and noodle dish that is bursting with flavor.

Rhubarb oatmeal bars

Sweet, tangy, and slightly spiced rhubarb filling is sandwiched between two layers of a buttery oat crumb mixture for a delicious and seasonal treat!

Baked gingerbread oatmeal

All the warm and cozy flavors of gingerbread are baked into oatmeal for a perfect winter or holiday time breakfast.

Cranberry gingerbread pancakes

All the flavors of the classic holiday gingerbread are in these delicious pancakes perfect for the Christmas season. An extra pop of fresh cranberries brings a tart and fresh contrast to these sweet pancakes.

Potato and spinach curry

A flavorful vegetarian curry dish made with Indian spices, yellow potatoes, and fresh spinach. This curry is a delicious way to enjoy potatoes and a meatless meal.

Slow cooker honey sesame ginger chicken

This tender chicken is sweet, savory, and has a touch of warmth from ginger and the best part is it cooks up easily in the slow cooker until it is falling apart. This is a family friendly dish that is both tasty to eat and easy to make.

Persimmon gingerbread loaf cake

This warming gingerbread loaf cake is full of robust molasses, spicy ginger, and sweet & sticky persimmon for a simple yet satisfying holiday treat! 

Carrot-ginger soup

A warm and creamy soup with a hint of sweetness from carrots makes a delicious and comforting winter time meal.

 

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Things have been quiet here on my blog recently.... That's because I was on vacation for a while. A completely unplugged vacation. I don't have a smartphone and didn't take the laptop - and, honestly, it was wonderful. It was wonderful to get away from the constant "chatter" of the online world. 

I slept a lot. I sat in the sun. I read an entire book. We looked at a lot of birds. And, my favorite part, we visited manatees. Those gray shadows are manatees that we visited in Central Florida at a state park where the manatees over-winter. They were so beautiful.

Hot and sour chicken, cabbage, and rice soup

We finally got our first real snow of the season here in western NY. It's crazy that it's a couple of weeks into January and we hadn't really had any measurable snow here yet. 

 

Posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase an item from these links, a small percentage goes to support the work of this blog. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

It's very unusual and just didn't feel like winter. Now that we have a nice white covering, I'm officially into comfort food mode. For me, that includes a lot of soup. This soup was inspired by a recipe I read recently on The Kitchn. 

 

I read it and couldn't believe the amount of jalapeno, fresh ginger and garlic that were in this soup. I knew that my husband, who is a big fan of spice and heat, would be able to handle it like nothing....but I wasn't so sure about me with the heat. I did cut back a little...

I loved it (sure, it made me cough a little when all those pungent ingredients hit the heat!). When I ate it, the ginger hit me in the back of the throat and it did clear up my nose a little bit, but it was a good heat. It was warming and spicy and delicious - perfect for a winter evening. 

 

I would highly recommend it if you or a loved one has a cold or is stuffed up. If you are not a big fan of heat, you may want to cut down on the jalapeno or ginger. This is a very versatile recipe. Y

 

ou could cut out the chicken and add more mushrooms and other veggies for a vegetarian version. You could substitute rice noodles or soba noodles for the rice. Whatever you like. It's great to make if you have some leftover chicken. Plus, I am always looking for new ways to incorporate cabbage into our diet. This recipe will make about six servings. 

Guinness gingerbread

If you have Nigella Lawson's cookbook Nigella Kitchen and you have not made her Guinness gingerbread yet, well, after you read this post, you should do so immediately! If you are looking for a holiday treat that is different from the usual cookies, look no further. This gingerbread (which is really a cake) is so good - it's moist, sweet, spicy, and just all around good. Plus, it gets better as it sits for a day or two - so try not to eat it all on day one! I served up a piece with some vanilla ice cream while it was still warm, but I thought it was better plain (for breakfast) the next day after the flavors continued to develop.

I did change the recipe ever so slightly so what I've posted below is a little different than in the cookbook. For one, I added molasses, so mine is a bit darker. I combined the molasses with the golden syrup that Nigella has in her recipe because I like my gingerbread to have that molasses flavor in it. The golden syrup is nice because it is made with cane sugar rather than corn syrup that is made with corn sugar. I found it in the European section of my grocery store (if you can't find it though, I would use a combination of molasses and corn syrup). I also added a bit more ginger because I knew her two teaspoons wouldn't be enough for me. There were a few other changes I made including adding some salt and decreasing the brown sugar. It was splendid. Depending on how small or large you cut your gingerbread, you should get between 16 and 24 pieces.

Cranberry sauce quick bread

Do you still have leftovers of cranberry sauce from your Thanksgiving dinner? If so, here's a creative way I found to use up some of it. I found this recipe on The Kitchn and thought it was a great idea. Not only did it use up some cranberry sauce, but also buttermilk that I had left. This bread takes your cranberry sauce and turns it in to something completely new, which is a great way to ensure that your leftovers actually get eaten. It also takes those Thanksgiving leftovers and turns them into something that touches on the flavors of Christmas. This bread is simple and versatile. You can add nuts, dried fruits, citrus zests, or spices of your choice. I did modify the recipe quite a bit to add spices and nuts because I thought it may be a little bland as is. My cranberry sauce had clementine and ginger in it, so I wanted to match those flavors. This recipe will make one loaf of bread and it makes a nice breakfast or snack with a cup of coffee or tea.

Ginger-clementine cranberry sauce

Cranberry sauce is something I make every year for Thanksgiving. I've never been a fan of the canned cranberry sauce "log" so I started making sauce with real cranberries years ago. However, I realized that I use the same recipe every year and always make cranberry-orange sauce (which, by the way, I posted here exactly one year ago). I love that recipe, but I decided to change-up my cranberry sauce a little by making it a slightly spicy sauce featuring ginger. Ginger is one of my favorite flavors and I thought that it would be nice to bring it into my Thanksgiving dinner. I've been seeing a lot of cranberry sauce/relish recipes with ginger recently that helped me decide to try the change.

Cranberry sauce is one of the Thanksgiving meal items you can make ahead of time and refrigerate for a couple of days. Those dishes are nice because it's one less thing you need to make the day of your meal. Plus, cranberry sauce is easy and ready in a snap. It's worth making yourself. We have more people coming for our dinner this year, so this recipe will serve about 8-10 people as a Thanksgiving side (and hopefully some leftovers to go on a turkey sandwich). I like my cranberries to remain a little on the tart side, but feel free to add more (or less) sugar according to your taste. 

Ginger-clementine cranberry sauce
2 bags (24-oz. total) fresh cranberries
juice and zest of 2 clementines 
2 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
about 1/2 cup turbinado sugar

Add all of the ingredients to a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring often, until the sauce comes to a boil and cranberries begin to burst. Continue to cook and stir, until the sauce reaches your desired consistency (add a little water or more clementine juice if it is too thick). Remove from heat, let cool, and refrigerate until ready to serve. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Carrot-zucchini-ginger muffins

I made these muffins on a cool Sunday morning. Ginger is one of my favorite flavors. I love carrot cake and zucchini bread as well. So, when I saw these muffins I knew they'd be a great way to use up some of the zucchini and carrots that are taking over our refrigerator. These muffins have a slight, warm ginger flavor in the background that works well with the warm cinnamon. The combination of carrots and zucchini is a nice change. It's also really pretty because you get flecks of orange and green throughout the muffins. Using vegetables in your muffins is a nice change up from the usual fruity muffins, too. I changed the recipe a bit and those changes are reflected below.