Cocktail Sauce

One of my holiday treats is to buy shrimp. I don't do anything special to it...I just buy it already cooked, deveined, peeled and all that and simply dip it in cocktail sauce and eat it. Truly one of the simple pleasures in life! Well if you like shrimp it is. ;) Anyway, the cocktail sauce that came with the shrimp platters I bought was absolutely nasty and we had company coming over. So I sent DH to the store for cocktail sauce. Not always an easy thing when you also have to make sure whatever you buy is gluten free. While DH and DD were at the store looking at the few varieties available, a woman leaned over to DH and conspiratorially whispered "I never buy it anymore. Homemade is sooo much better". So she proceeded to tell them how to make it and they bought the supplies (along with a bottle of storebought sauce just in case).

Well we tried her recipe and I wish I knew who she was so I could thank her. I am in love! LOL I don't have any real measurements so it's something you'll have to play around with.

Ketchup (I think I used about a cup)
Lemon Juice ( I used 2 caps full, from a 32 oz bottle)
Horseradish to taste

Just mix it all together and if you want it zestier, simply add a little more horseradish. Incredibly simple with stunning, taste bud pleasing results. Now I have to figure out what to do with the bottle of store bought cocktail sauce because it just doesn't even compare. LOL

Sweet & Sour Sauce

This recipe originally came from "Deseret Recipes", a cookbook published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I altered the recipe to better suit our tastes and it is definitely a favorite in our house. It is great served over the homemade chicken nuggets I posted a couple of weeks ago. It is also good served over chicken that has been baked or sauteed if you are trying to cut the amount of fat in your diet. This makes quite a bit of sauce, so you may need to halve the recipe if you have a small family. :)

Sweet & Sour Sauce

2 cans (13 0z) pineapple tidbits - drain juice and reserve

add enough water to pineapple juice to equal 3 3/4 cups of liquid

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tablespoons soy sauce or gluten free, low sodium Tamari sauce

1 1/8 cups vinegar

Cornstarch (about 2-3 Tablespoons) Sorry I don't have an exact measurement on this...the original recipe calls for flour and to make it gluten free I switched to cornstarch.

Optional: thinly sliced onions, celery, and carrots

If using the veggies, saute them lightly in just a little bit of oil until crisp tender. Add all other ingredients except cornstarch and pineapple tidbits. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Dissolve cornstarch in a bit of cold water and add to mixture. Stir quickly to keep it from clumping together and stir until thickened. Add pineapple tidbits and serve over steamed rice and chicken.

Cranberry Sauce

I realize that the holidays are over but I thought that for those of you who still have an extra turkey or two in the freezer (like I do) that this recipe would come in handy. Even though I love cranberry sauce and have cooked many Thanksgiving dinners over the years, I had never until this year made homemade cranberry sauce. Shocking huh? We started participating in Bountiful Baskets and I ended up with a bag of fresh cranberries that I had no idea what to do with. So I went to the trusty allrecipes site and found this simple recipe. Let me warn you now that it is so yummy that it'll spoil you for the canned stuff. When we were eating leftovers the next day, I had to stop Alex from taking a spoon and eating the leftover cranberry sauce by itself! LOL

1 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice
1 (12 oz.) package fresh cranberries

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in the orange juice. Stir in the cranberries, and cook until they start to pop (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat, and transfer to a bowl. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.

Basic Gravy

My daughter brought this recipe home from a Young Women's meeting where they were learning how to cook. It is by far the easiest gravy recipe I have ever tried. Now it is my go to gravy recipe.

1 Tablespoon Butter
1 heaping Tablespoon flour
1 cup pan drippings or broth

In a skillet, melt butter. Do not allow the butter to burn or go dark brown. Sprinkle flour across butter. Blend to make a roux ( a creamy, buttery paste). Little by little add the stock. Simmer until thickened.