Cranberry Orange Relish, How do I love thee?

Hi! Have you missed me? I have been busy with the peanut. She had surgery down at Boston Children's Hospital last week and her surgeries always throw me for a loop. She is fine by the way, its all standard for us. And she is the Miracle Child. We have A LOT of togetherness time. She does skype school the week before and then we have the week of surgery and this year with have the WHOLE Thanksgiving week. So I have neglected you all.
One of my absolute favorite foods around this time of year is cranberries. Some of you love the cranberries in a can, others love the boiled on the stove with sugar. In my family it's Cranberry Orange relish. YUM! I have been known to actually eat the whole bowl. I did it a few weeks ago in fact. Come on! Its good for you. I don't feel a bit guilty.

Cranberry Orange Relish
1 lb of Vermont Cranberries
2 McIntosh Apples from Shelburne Orchards
1 large Navel Orange
1 cup of SugarTree Maple Farm Maple sugar flakes

And that is it! All you have to have is a food processor or food grinder.

Wash up your cranberries!

Have I ever told you how much I love my Kitchen Aid? 

Put those cranberries in the grinder and crank her up.

Next come your apples.

Isn't that a beautiful orange?

Maple Sugar flakes, Yowza!

Add your sugar.

Stir.

Restrain yourself, it should sit in the frig for a day for the flavors to meld but I have been known to sample some here or there...

Happy Thanksgiving Folks! Cherish your families and eat some cranberry relish!

Don't buy the Kale Chips...

People buy a lot of  ridiculous foods. For example Kale chips. Have you ever tasted store bought kale chips? Disgusting. Gives health food a bad name. I was not even a big fan of Kale unless it was in Portuguese Kale soup and that was only because of the sausage. Before homemade Kale chips, I would avoid it all costs. Give me cauliflower, give me beets! That Kale went into the trade box quicker then Kim Kardasian gets a divorce. But homemade Kale chips brought me around. Even the Peanut will eat them and say Yum.
So without further ado, I present to you Kale Chips in 15 minutes, bada boom bada bing!

Step 1. Put a few glugs of olive oil in a large bowl.

Step 2. Sea Salt

Pour some into the bottom of the bowl and mix with the olive oil.

Hello Kale rescued from the trade bin! Now you can use any type of Kale. I actually prefer the flat leaf Kale but beggars can't be choosers.

Step 3. Strip the leaves from the stalk. Cut them into chips size pieces. 

 Wash and spin them. They have to be dry to have the oil stick.

Step 4.Turn your oven on to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Step 5. Throw the Kale into your bowl with the olive oil and salt.

Now start massaging that Kale like it's Clive Owen asking for an application of sunscreen.

Get Clive, um, the Kale slick and shiny.. get your mind out of the gutter people.

 Step 6. Place on cookie sheet.

Put in the oven for about 8 to 10 minutes. You want your Kale to be green but crunchy. Try to avoid getting it brown.

Voila! Green but crunchy.

There it is! Kale Chips! 

This is not rocket science people, you can do this and be happy with the results. Once you try them you will be scrounging Kale from every trade bin you can find and you will be thinking, why the hell would I ever buy  Kale Chips, I mean that is just as ridiculous as buying creme fraiche. What do you mean you buy creme fraiche? Okay, okay.. that will be post for another day.