Sweet Potato and Gouda Gratin

Sweet Potato and Gouda Gratin 

A couple of days before Christmas I got a huge box of produce and eggs from Edgerton Farm and when I saw the beautiful sweet potatoes, I knew that I had to serve them at Christmas dinner.  Believe it or not, this fabulous side dish has only three ingredients. It is so easy to make and truly delicious. The total cooking time is about an hour and a half so plan accordingly.

Ingredients: 

Shredded gouda and
sliced sweet potatoes

4 to 5 large sweet potatoes - thinly sliced
1 1/2 to 2 cups shredded gouda cheese
2 cups heavy cream or half and half

Directions: 

1. Thinly slice the sweet potatoes and layer half of them in a baking dish that can go from the oven to the table.

2. Sprinkle half the shredded gouda cheese over the sweet potatoes and about 1 cup of the heavy cream or half and half.

Sweet potatoes, shredded gouda, and a little cream

Layer the remaining sweet potatoes

3. Layer the remaining sweet potatoes.

4. Sprinkle remaining gouda cheese over the top and pour the remaining cream gently over everything.

5. Cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

6. Remove the foil and cook for another 45 minutes or so until the top gets a little brown and the potatoes are cooked through.

A few notes ...

Why gouda? I decided to use gouda cheese because I had half of a wedge of gouda left over from a party on Christmas eve. The gouda tasted absolutely delicious but I looked up a few recipes for a sweet potato gratin with cheese and saw all types of cheese being used - goat cheese, manchego cheese, fontina, cheddar ... you name it. I don't think you can go wrong with a good cheese, good cream, and fresh sweet potatoes.

Slow pasteurized half & half

Cream ... I would use half and half or heavy cream but I wouldn't venture into any milk option with less fat than whole milk. If you try something else, please let us know how it turns out! We recently started getting our milk delivered and I can really taste the difference. The milk is slow pasteurized instead of ultra-pasteurized like most of your options at the supermarket. Slow-pasteurized milk (heated to 170 degrees) has a shelf life of about 16 days while ultra-pasteurized milk (heated to 280 degrees) can have a shelf life of up to 60 days. Yikes.  I'd rather have milk with a shorter shelf-life and way more flavor! If you are in the Charlotte area, definitely check out Lakeview Farms Home Delivery.

Mandoline vs. hand slicing ... I used to have a mandoline but I recently broke it. It really wasn't that hard to cut these potatoes thin enough to use in this recipe. The sweet potato slices don't have to be paper thin - shoot for about 1/8 of an inch to a 1/4 inch thick.

Enjoy!! I promise you that everyone will love this recipe! Yum.

Sweet Red Pepper Jelly (With No White Sugar!)

Ginger Goat Cheese from Looking Glass Creamery
Topped With Sweet Red Pepper Jelly 

I love to make pepper jelly and my friends and family love to eat pepper jelly - win-win. With Christmas right around the corner, what better homemade gift than red and green jars of pepper jelly?

Pomona's Universal Pectin

This year I decided to make my green pepper jelly the usual way - with a little spicy kick and a lot of sugar. (Click here to check out the recipe.) But I decided to try something a little bit different with my red pepper jelly - I wanted it to be sweet and I didn't want to use any white sugar. Generally, when you use the regular Certo pectin, you need a lot of sugar to make the "jelling" action turn your lovely pepper puree into actual pepper jelly. After a little searching, I came across Pomona's Universal Pectin - a pectin that doesn't require the use of any sugar. Bingo!

Making this sweet red pepper jelly was almost as easy as making my usual hot pepper jelly, I just needed to do a few extra steps. The red peppers, of course, were a gift from a friend. I am sure that will make this jelly all the sweeter!

Before you make the jelly ... 

First, the box of Pomona's Universal Pectin comes with two packets. One packet is the pectin and the other (smaller) packet is the calcium powder. Before you start the jelly process, you need to make some calcium water. Put 1/2 teaspoon white calcium powder and 1/2 cup water in a small clear jar with a lid. You can keep this jar of calcium water in your fridge for a couple of months and use it as needed.

Beautiful sweet peppers

Gather the ingredients ...  

1 to 2 pounds of red peppers (or mostly red peppers)
1 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 teaspoons Pomona pectin powder
2 teaspoons calcium water

Peppers ready to be blended

Directions ... 

1. Finely chop peppers and put into a blender. Add 1 cup of apple cider vinegar. Puree.
2. Put pureed peppers and the remaining 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar into a large pot.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer covered for about 5 minutes.

No need for food coloring! 

4. Stir pectin powder into 1/2 cup of the honey until the pectin powder is dissolved.
5. Add the remaining 1 cup of honey. Stir.

Honey from the bees at beautiful Lake Lure

6. Add the pectin-honey mixture into the pot. Bring to a boil. Stir vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes. Return to boil and remove from heat.
7. Using a funnel, pour into prepared jars.

Preparing the Jars ... I wash my jars in the dishwasher right before I need them. Some people keep their jars on a cookie pan in the oven at 250 degrees. Sometimes I do this, sometimes I don't. For the lids, I simmer the two piece lids in a pot of water on the stove - don't let it boil. I keep them in the hot water until I need them and then pull them out as needed with tiny tongs.

Sweet red pepper jelly

Boiling the jars ... After you have filled the jars leaving a bit of headroom and secured the two piece lids, you should probably boil them for about 5 to 10 minutes. If I make a really small batch of jelly and I know that we are going to eat it in the next couple of weeks, I skip this step. However, if I am making a lot of jelly or giving it away for gifts, I boil the jars - you wouldn't want your jelly to spoil after all this hard work!

To boil the jars, bring a large pot of water to boil - you can put a canning rack in the bottom or a round cake cooling rack. When the water comes to a boil, place the jars in the water - it's best to use jar lifting tongs - they are only about $4 and they will prevent you from dropping glass jars or splashing boiling water on yourself. The water should be about an inch or so taller than the jars. Cover and let boil for 5 to 10 minutes. 5 minutes for the small jars, 10 for the bigger jars. Carefully remove from the heat and place on a towel to cool.

Gluten-Free Cheese Crackers

In general, my philosophy when it comes to gluten-free food, is that it is best to NOT try to recreate beloved foods to make them gluten free. I find that I am usually disappointed because the new version is just not-quite-right. If there is one food that I miss terribly from my gluten-loving days, it would have to be cheez-its! Hands down my favorite snack ever. Love that orangey, salty, crispy goodness! I had never even tried to make a gluten-free version  because I thought that I could never come close ...

Gluten-free cheese crackers

Drumroll, please ... May I present to you... gluten-free cheez-its!! Wow are these delicious! The tricky part to this recipe might be my use of Chebe bread mix - I used to buy it at Whole Foods but now I just order it by the case on Amazon. Chebe bread mixes are made from tapioca flour and it makes amazing biscuits and breads. My kids devour them as fast as they come out of the oven.

For this recipe, I used a cup of Chebe Bread Mix as my "flour" - I imagine that you can substitute one cup of whatever you normally use for "flour" into this recipe and everything should work fine. I will test more options and keep you posted.

8 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese

Ingredients: 

1 cup flour (I used Chebe bread flour)
8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded (I love Cabot extra sharp Cheddar)
4 tablespoons butter, chilled
4 teaspoons water, chilled
Salt

Directions: 

1. In a food processor, combine flour, cheese, and butter.

Combine flour, cheese, and cold butter

2. Process until it resembles fine crumbs.

Process ingredients in a food processor

2. Transfer to a mixing bowl and gradually add 4 teaspoons chilled water. Using your fingers, combine the ingredients to make the dough.

3. Divide the dough into 3 even balls, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about a half hour.

Divide the dough into 3 small balls and chill.

4. Remove from the fridge - one disc at a time - and roll out until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Flour the disk and the surface before you roll it out.

5. Using a pizza wheel or butter knife, slice the dough to make cracker squares.

Crackers ready for the oven

6. Space out the crackers evenly on a cookie pan lined with parchment paper. Put back in the fridge for about 10 or 15 minutes so the crackers can firm up before going into the oven.

7. Cook crackers at 350 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes until the crackers are nice and crispy.

Notes ... These were such a hit! There aren't really any local ingredients in here but I have to give a shout out to Cabot Cheese! We love Cabot for a lot of reasons ... growing up in New England, I saw Cabot everywhere so I am pleased to be able to find it down here in Charlotte.

Gluten Free Granola

Homemade granola makes a great gift

Weeks ago, I saw a recipe for homemade granola bars that used buckwheat groats. I was intrigued. If you follow a gluten-free diet, buckwheat is completely allowed! Buckwheat groats look like a grain, but it is actually a fruit seed - related to sorrel and rhubarb. Who knew? I found buckwheat groats in one of the bulk bins at Earth Fare and came home eager to put them in something yummy.

Papa's Pecan Pie

Papa's Pecan Pie

My dad makes the best pecan pie. It is practically world famous. Throughout college, I would bring classmates to my parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner and weeks later I would still be hearing about the pecan pie. Needless to say, I had to learn how to make it. For this Thanksgiving, I made ten pies. Five of them were pecan pies and four of those were given away to very loving homes. For Christmas, I think that I need to keep two here ... one was not enough to share!