Allergy Free Holiday Recipes: Homemade Cranberry Sauce

November 10, 2011 By 4 Comments

I’ve never been a big fan of the canned cranberry sauce. It just doesn’t look too appetizing. It doesn’t seem natural to eat something that maintains the shape of the can once you take it out. Not to mention that it’s full of corn syrup, which I can’t have. Why not make your own cranberry sauce?

Start with a package of cranberries and follow the simple directions on the package. Measure out the amount of cranberries you want to make. We made about half of the package.

Cranberries

Mix water and sugar together and heat on the stove.

Measuring sugar

Bring water to a boil and stir until all the sugar has dissolved.

Dissolve sugar

Add cranberries and stir until it is boiling once again.

Add cranberries

Remove from heat when the cranberry juice is turning the water red and the berries are bursting open.

Boil cranberries

The sauce may still seem watery, but it will thicken as it cools.

Finished sauce

Once cool, transfer to a serving dish… and you’re done. It’s that simple!

Cranberry sauce

Enjoy!

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Rice Is the New Pasta

May 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I’ve shared the recipe before for my ultimate comfort food, homemade Mac ‘n Cheese. That has to be one of the recipes that I miss the most since discovering my wheat allergy. Obviously, the macaroni is not allowed because it is made from wheat flour. But would you believe that regular tomato soup contains all three of my enemies… wheat, soy, and corn (high fructose corn syrup)?!

I’m proud to say that I have fallen in love with this yummy meal all over again now that I have found new ingredients to substitute with. The only down side is that with these organic ingredients, it is no longer the $3 meal it once was.

I combined and baked:

Six large handfuls of rice pasta (very precise measurement)
One container of creamy tomato soup (16 oz)
Half a bag of shredded cheddar cheese (1 cup)
A little pepper to taste

Although it was not quite as good as the original, I’m more than happy with my replacement. I was a little surprised that all that cheese didn’t bother my stomach. I really wanted to go for the leftovers the next day, but I knew that would be pushing it on my milk tolerance. Now I’ve started looking through some of our other old favorite recipes to see how they can be reinvented.

Mac 'n Cheese

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Cranberry Pork Roast

April 20, 2011 By 1 Comment

Yet another easy peasy slow cooker success!  I know I say this about every recipe that I post, but you really have to make this one.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 4 hours

1 boneless pork loin roast (2-3 lbs.)
2 tbsp. butter
1 envelope golden onion soup mix
1 can (14 oz.) whole-berry cranberry sauce
2 tsp. dijon mustard

In a skillet, brown roast in butter on all sides. Transfer to slow cooker; sprinkle soup mix.

Browning pork

Add cranberry sauce to skillet, stirring to loosen browned bits from pan. I had to search a little to find a cranberry sauce without corn syrup in it. I finally found an organic sauce that had only sugar.

Cranberry sauce

Pour cranberry sauce over roast.

Roast in crockpot

Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours. Remove roast to serving platter; keep warm. Strain cooking juices and stir in mustard. Slice roast; serve with sauce.

Instead of using the soup mix, I just used onion powder and some black pepper. The roast was SO moist and we topped it with the cranberries and sauce… so good!

The only thing I keep forgetting is to take a picture of my final products. I guess I’m always too hungry at that point to think about anything except eating. So instead you get to see what was left when we finished eating. That will make a very nice lunch for tomorrow.

Dinner leftovers

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