Fresh Cherries and Hibiscus Holiday Sauce Recipe

Hola Amigos: Today I'm mixing it a little bit and sharing with you a twist on side dish eaten by all throughout the holiday season, Cranberry Sauce. This year since I'm not hosting any of the holidays for family and friends, just my guys I get creative freedom when it comes to dishes and do things outside the can.

We only serve or eat cranberry sauce of juice when we have guests or we are sick, lol. This time of the year coincides with summer in my country so we instead of cranberry juice we have Hibiscus Cooler or "Saril" very popular drink around the holidays there. As refreshing and vibrant colored as Cranberry Juice Cocktail only a bit spicy since we add ginger to the infusion! Anyway, it is this Hibiscus Cooler concentrate infusion what I have used to prepare the base of this sauce.

It's not only good by itself, but goes great with ice cream, cake, pancakes anywhere where you use sauce you could use my plain Hibiscus Sauce.

To make it more festive and to resemble the whole cranberry sauce thing, I made a little cherry reduction with some sweet Moscato and mixed it all up!

The result made me skip dinner because I just got a bowl of my favorite ice cream and pour this still warm over it and at it all! Oh my guys! this stuff is addictive!

You can taste the sweetness and tartness of the hibiscus with notes of ginger and a bit of the Moscato on every cherry bite! yumm

I made enough of the hibiscus sauce to use for future recipes and this particular combination makes about 1 1/2 cup of goodness to have with your turkey or ham.
Thank you so much for visiting the blog today! I hope you enjoy this recipe a little bit our of the ordinary but delicious and easy to make. Remember my friends, everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos,

Lizy

Cherry and Hibiscus Holiday Sauce
Ingredients
For the Hibiscus Infusion and Sauce
1 Cup Hibiscus Flowers
6 Cups Water
1 Inch piece Ginger, peeled
1/2 Cup Corn Syrup
8 TBSP Sugar
1/4 Cup Fresh Orange Juice
2 TBSP Cornstarch
Directions:
In a large saucepan, bring 6 cups water to a rapid boil. Add hibiscus flowers, remove from heat and cover with a lid for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Using a large colander, separate the infusion from the flowers, but do not discard the flowers. They will be use to prepare something delicious soon.
Add 2 cups of the infusion, ginger, corn syrup and sugar to saucepan on medium high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
Combine orange juice and cornstarch and add it to the infusion mix, continue cooking until the mix begins to boil, reduce heat at cook for abut 5 more minutes until the sauce coats a spoon. It will thicken a bit more as it cools.Remove and discard  ginger piece and  remove the sauce  from heat.
For the Cherries
1 Cup Fresh Cherries (could be frozen too), pitted
4 TBSP Moscato wine
1/2 tsp Orange Zest
In a small hot saucepan, add wine, cook for about 1 minute until the alcohol evaporates. Add cherries and orange zest. Cook until  the wine reduces to almost nothing, about 8 minutes. 
Add Hibiscus sauce to the fresh cherries, mix until everything is well blended. Serve and Enjoy!

Prep Time   20 minutes                           Cook Time 13 minutes                            Serves 2 Cups

Sharing my Delicious Creations at these Fabulous Parties:

The Chicken Chick, Under the Table and Dreaming, Coastal Charm, Between Naps on the Porch, The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen, Cooking for the Seven Dwarfs, A Pinch of Joy, Create with Joy, The Tumbleweed Contessa, Kathe with an E, Feeding Big, Home Stories A to Z, Hun...what's for dinner?, Our Table for Seven, The View from 510, Mandy's Recipe Box, Nap-Time Creations, Chef in Training, Pint Sized Baker, Lady Behind the Curtain, Ducks'n a Row, Fluster Buster, The Taylor House, Ginger Snap Crafts, Diana Rambles, Sweet Haute, Juggling Real Food and Real Life, My Turn (for Us), Craft Dictator, Tatertots and Jello, Rain on a Tin Roof, Huckleberry Love, Craft-O-Maniac, Skip to my Lou, Say Not Sweet Anne, Alderberry Hill, Boogieboard Cottage, Mad in Crafts, Frugality Gal, Carrie This Home, Smart School House, Kleinworth & co, Homemade Ginger, Memories by the Mile, All She Cooks, Kitchen Meets Girl, My Girlish Whims, Pink Box Recipe, The Best Blog Recipes, Artsy Fartsy Mama, Craft Dictator, Sweet Haute

Baked Pork Loin with Dried Plums Sauce Fall Recipe

Hola Amigos! Sharing with you today a recipe full of Fall flavors! Have you cooked with prunes before, how about prune juice! I happen to be one of those weird people who would sit in front of the tv with a can of juice prunes and eat them like crazy just to get a whole bunch of seeds at the end , crack them and eat the inside!!!! I know...I said it was weird, lol
Prunes are just Dried Plums! They are high in antioxidants, fiber and a mild natural "extra thing" to keep you regular.

Can you believe that people are so sensitive in a negative way to the word "prune" only associating it with old people and digestive problems? to the point producers changed their name to "Dried Plums" in order to commercialized them and  sell them.. Personally I don't care...let's call things for what they are..but since I want people to read this post I going to follow the masses this one time.

As with any recipe I started with a well seasoned piece of pork and let it marinate for a few hours. That I think is the secret of a tasty meal. I also bake it with a bit  the delicious marinade, to keep it moist while it's in the oven.

I'm aware that the perfect piece of pork should have a little pink in the middle...but..and this is a big But, no one in my family will eat any pork product if it's not cooked all the way through (read overcooked) , therefore this particular pork is on the well done side. I will suggest you cook it according to your family's taste as long as it's between the safe temperature of 140-150 degrees and everybody will be happy and healthy.

This is a savory sauce and it get even better with the addition of the sweet golden raisins! I believe I made a healthy recipe without even planning on doing so, ha! Love that!

Thank You friends for coming to the blog today...give good ol' prunes<----sorry, Dried Plums a try! They are good for you and they taste wonderful. All plates were licked clean after dinner and no one knew what was on the sauce! and remember, everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos,

Lizy

Baked Pork Loin with Dried Plums Sauce
Ingredients:
1 (2 1/2-3 lb) Pork Loin 
For the rub:
1 TBSP Curry Powder
1 TBSP Garlic Powder
1 TBSP Onion Powder
1 TBSP Celery Salt
1/2 tsps Tumeric
1/2  tsps Nutmeg
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 1/2 Cup Dried Plum  Juice
2-3 TBSP Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Golden Raisins
Directions:
In a bowl mix all the ingredients for your rub. Remove pork loin from refrigerator and rub it with your mix all over. Place it in a zip lock bag and add 1 cup of your Dried Plum Juice, refrigerate for a couple of hour or even over night. Once in a while during the marinating time, move it around in the bag to make sure every side gets permeated with the juice and spices.
Pre heat your oven at 450 degrees. Remove loin from the bag and place it in your baking dish, Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove aluminum foil and baste with some of the liquids coming from the pork and marinade. Cook uncover for another 15 minutes for a total of 45 minutes, 
With a thermometer take pork internal temperature and make sure it has reached 140-150 degrees. Remove from heat and let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting it.
Save some of the drippings on the pan for the sauce. Place them in a small saucepan and add the remaining 1/2 cup of dried plum juice. brown sugar and golden raisins. Cook on medium heat for 5-8 minutes until raisins are fat and plump. Serve the sauce over you sliced pork loin and enjoy.

Important note about cooking pork : I want to emphasis the I've done a lot of research about for how long you should safely cook it regardless of what "chefs" say, I cook things the way I like it and the way I think is safe for my family and still comes out tasting good. The guideline I use is 20 minutes per pound if the pork loin is about 2 lb and a 15 minutes per pound if the pork loin is between 3 1/2-5 lb and always when the internal temperature reaches 145 and remains that way after 3 minutes. 

Prep Time: 4 hours (includes marinating time)   Bake Time 45 minutes    Serves 4-5

Sharing a slice of this loin at this Fabulous Parties:

The Mandatory Mooch, Sweet Haute,White Lights on Wednesday, Polkadots on Parade, Pink Recipe Box, House Wives of Riverton, Made in a Day, Creative Geekery, The Girl Creative, Love and Laundry, A Simple Five, Living Better Together, Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons, 504 Main, My Romantic Home, Tidy Mom, Home Maid Simple, The Best Blog Recipe, Craftionary, The Brambleberry Cottage, Practically Functional, Townsend House, Craft Dictator, Juggling Real Food and Real Life, Today's Creative Blog, Sara Howe, Six Sister's Stuff, The Answer is Chocolate, Cheerios and Lattes, Cassidy's Cooking Collection, Sewlicious Home Decor, Classy Clutter, Suburbs Mama, Twigg Studios, Life on Lakeshore Drive, The Tablescaper, Navy Wifey Peters, Titi Crafty, The Velvet Moon Baker, Your Home Based Mom, Flamingo Toes, Nifty Thrifty Things, My Mixing Spoon, VMG206, Huckleberry Love, Sumo;s Sweet Stuff, Under The Table and Dreaming, The Chicken Chick, I Should be Mopping the Floors, This Gal Cooks, Carrie This Home, Ms enPlace, A Southern Fairytale, Jam Hands, The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen, Feeding Big, The Gunny Sack, Our Table for Seven, Chef in Training, Memories by the Mile, Love Bakes Good Cakes, Between Naps on the Porch, A Peek into my Paradise, Lady Behind the Curtain, My Turn (for Us), Pint Sized Baker

Butterscotch Banana Harvest Cake with Apple Butter Maple Sauce Recipe

Hola Amigos! Happy to have you join me and share a piece of this gooey cake with me! As you can see, I'm getting better with the "bundt' pan and so far no other accidents.
I have a hard time giving this cake a name..why..because it's really put together with all the things I love other than chocolate. It reminds me of fall because of some of the ingredients but you could actually have it all year long! It's good anytime and with everything.  Here is the recipe:

Butterscotch Banana Harvest Cake with Maple Apple Butter Sauce

1 Box Yellow Cake

1 box (3.5 oz)  Butterscotch Instant Pudding

1 (6 oz) Container Banana Yogurt

2 Ripened Bananas, Pureed 

1/2 Cup Butterscotch Chips 

Banana Chips for garnish (optional)

Heat you oven at 350 F or according box instructions. As a suggestion, substitute the amount of water called in the recipe for apple juice. Mix ingredients called on the box until moistened. Add yogurt, pudding and bananas. Mix for about 2 minutes as called in the recipe. Fold in the Butterscotch chips and bake according to the box instructions.

Garnish with Banana Chips and drizzle with Mapple Applebutter Sauce

 Apple Butter Maple  Sauce

1 Cup Apple Juice

3/4 Cup Maple syrup

3 TBSP Brown Sugar

1 1/2 Tsp Lemon Juice

1 Cinnamon Stick

3 Tablespoons Apple Butter

3 TBSP Butter

3/4 Cup Butterscotch  Chips 

In a sauce pan on medium heat, add Apple juice, Maple Syrup, brown sugar Lemon and Cinnamon and let this simmer for about 5 minutes without letting in boil. Remove Cinnamon Stick and add Apple Butter and Butter, simmer for another 2 minutes. Finally add the Butterscotch chips and bring to a slow simmer and boil until it thickens enough to coat a spoon. It is not going to be a thick sauce while it's hot, it thickens as it cools. 

Once it has cooled drizzle it liberally on your cake.

Listo,

The cake is delicious even without the Apple Butter Maple Sauce!

So good, my hubs couldn't resist having it sitting there waiting to be photographed and had a slice of it!!!

Needless to say I pretty much took it out of his mouth and send him to "blogger hubby retraining camp" LOL

I figured this would be the perfect cake to welcome the fist days of fall. You can find it's ingredients anytime of the year!

Thank you so much for your kind visit. Let's keep enjoying our summer...after all this cake has a good dose of bananas to take you back to your tropical summer vacation mood with every bite!

Keep in mind my dear friends, everything you do tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos,

Lizy

Sharing some Harvest Cake at these Fabulous Parties:

The Princess and her Cowboys, Cooking for the Seven Dwarfs, A Pinch of Joy, The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen, Jam Hands, Boogie Board Cottage, Mad in Crafts, Making the World Cuter, Feeding Big, Love Grows Wild, The Blackberry Vine, Pint Sized Baker, Kathe with an E, Nap-Time Creations, Coastal Charm, Sugar Bee Crafts, Today's Creative Blog, Mandy's Recipe Box, My Mixing Spoon, I Gotta Try That, Love Bakes Good Cakes, Cozy Little House, Smart School House, Thank You Honey, Daisy Cottage Designs, Ducks'n a Row, The Lady Behind the Curtain, Ginger Snap Crafts, The Style Sisters, Twin Dragonfly Designs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Worthing Court, Life with the Crust Cut Off, Rose Chintz Cottage, Trendy Tree House, The Mandatory Mooch, Real Coake.com, The Crafty Blog Stalker, Live Laugh Rowe, 52 Mantels, Saving 4 Six, House of Hepworths, Sew Crafty Angel, A Handful of Everything, Living Well, Spending Less, Artsy Fartsy Mama, Consider Me Inspired, The Best Blog Recipes, Craftionary, Naptime Crafters, Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons, The Answer is Chocolate, Living Better Together, The Jenny Evolution, Becoming Martha, Happy Hour Projects, Rooted in Thyme, Home Maid Simple, One Tough Mother, Tidy Mom, 504 Main, The Pin Junkie, My Turn (for Us), Love and Laundry, Happy and Blessed Home, Chef Picky Kid and Me, The Wondering Brain, Lovely Crafty Blog, A Little Claireification, Homemade Ginger, 4 Little Fergusons, 30 Handmade Days, Five Days 5 Ways, Dessert Now, Dinner Later, 4 You with Love, Angles Homestead, Be Different Act Nomal, Too Much Time on my Hands, Cheerios and Lattes, It's Overflowing, Serenity You, Mama Gab, Spatulas on Parade, Life on Lakeshore Drive, Bowdabra, Titi Crafty, WCFS, Crate with Joy, Frugal Foodie Mama, Claire Justine oxox, Uncommon Designs, Alderberry Hill, Flour Me with Love, Keeping It Simple, Sew Can Do, Cupcake-n-Bake, Jembellish, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Chicken Chick, Craft-o-Maniac, Huckleberry Love, Under the Table and Dreaming, Ms enPlace, My Romantic Home, I Heart Naptime, All She Cooks, Six Sister's Stuff, Esskunst, Cheerios and Lattes, My Sweet Mission, Gina's Craft Corner

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Smoothie Recipe

Hola Amigos, It's been a while since I made a smoothie! Well why not celebrate our Nation's Birthday with one classic dessert favorite by lots of people! Pineapple Upside-Down Cake! but you guys know I'm no baker...so before having a disaster of " I never want to see my oven again" proportions, let's play it safe with a smoothie.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Smoothie

3/4 Cup Fresh Pineapple, frozen

1/2 Cup Vanilla Rice Milk, chilled

1/4 Pineapple Juice, chilled

1 (6oz) container Pineapple Yogurt, Frozen

1/2 tsps Vanilla Butter Extract 

Caramel topping (optional) 

whip cream (optional)

Put the first 5 ingredients on a blender and blend until smooth, if want at this point you could add some sugar or a sweetener of your liking.

Cherry Sauce

1/2 Pd Cherries Pitted and cut in half

1/2  blood orange juice (or orange, I just had the Red oj handy)

2 TBSP Agave Vanilla Sweetener

In a heavy saucepan put the cherries, juice and sweetener and heat up on medium to low heat for 10 minutes until cherries are soft and the sauce starts to caramelized.

Remove from heat and when is cool enough to the touch, put this mix into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. 

To serve

Pour some of your cherry sauce at the bottom of your drinking glass, slowly pour the smoothie mix on the side of glass, Top it off with pineapples, cherries, whip cream and caramel!

Serves 2 (8oz) glasses

Listo!

I believe you can find all the elements you love about your pineapple upside-down cake here. The vanilla buttery taste of the cake, the cherry (not maraschino you guys know I can't stand the stuff) and a little caramel not from brown sugar, but caramel after all!

Stir and enjoy this combination of flavors!

I think is even low in calories since instead of sugar I used Agave and Rice Milk!

Thank You for sharing this treat with me! I hope you turn it around and create your own special smoothie cake recipe soon!

Remember anything you serve to celebrate among family and friends tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Have a great weekend!

Besitos,

Lizy
As seen at:

Sharing a "slice" of this yummy smoothie at these Fabulous Parties:

Under the Table and Dreaming

Titi Crafty

WCFS

Classy Clutter

VMG206

A Little Claireification

Life on Lakeshore Drive

The Tablescaper

Natasha in Oz

Who Needs a Cape

twelveOeight

Claire Justine oxox

Frugal Foodie Mama

Spatulas on Parade

A Pinch of Joy

Ms. enPlace

The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen

Between Naps on the Porch

The Tumbleweed Contessa

I Gotta Try That

The Dedicated House

Cupcake-n-Bake

Navy Wifey Peters

Cozy Little House

Our Home Away from Home

Hun...what's for Dinner

Kathe with an E

Pint Sized Baker

Nap time Creations

Sugar Bee Crafts

Love Grows Wild

Feeding Big

Anyonita Nibbles

Better with Age

Chef in Training

Fien Craft Guild

Memories by the Mile

The Blackberry Vine

Fluster Buster
Mom's Test Kitchen
Love Bakes Good Cakes
Clean and Scentsible
Ginger Snap Crafts
Oh My Creative
Ducks' n a Row
Daisy Cottage Designs
Marty's Musings
Real Coake.com
The Mandatory Mooch
The Princess and Her Cowboys
Clippie Dips
A Handful of Everything
Easy Living Mom
The Creative Geekery
The Best Blog Recipes
Somewhat Simple
One Tough Mother
Craftionary
Home Maid Simple
My Turn (for Us)
Simply Designing
Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons
A Beauty Moment
Jennifer Rizzo
Just Us Four
Dear Creatives
The Pin Junkie
Dessert Now, Dinner Later
Pink When
Cooking for the Seven Dwarfs
Serenity You
Pursuit of Functional Home
The Chicken Chick
Raising Imperfection
Sara Howe
It's Overflowing
Chocolate, Chocolate and More
The Lady Behind the Curtain
Designed Decor

Broccoli Salad Recipe with Baked Vidalia Onion Dressing

Hola Amigos! Another installment of the Deli Salad Series here for your consideration. Today I'm sharing with you my version of a very pretty salad but to be honest, sometimes you can't have more than the first bite. Again Thank Goodness for those little samples!!! Broccoli Salad! The problem (at least to me for health reasons) uncooked broccoli, too dry, too soggy and the worstof them all....smells like broccoli..you know, that smell...can't even describe it, but if you've had them before, you know what I'm talking about.
In my version of this salad I quickly steamed and  blanched the broccoli and instead of mayo for dressing I used a sweet, creamy but light Baked Vidalia Onion Dressing, easy to make and in my humble opinion,  not as packed with calories and sugar as the ones sold on stores or even the ones you can find online since there is no oil and very little to no sugar at all. Here is the recipe

Broccoli Salad with Baked Vidalia Onion Dressing

1 Head of Broccoli

1 Medium Carrot, Shredded

1 Small Red Bell Pepper, chopped

1 Small Green Bell Pepper, chopped

1/2 Cup Craisins 

4 oz Prosciutto 

4 oz Smoked Gouda, shredded

2 oz Natural Almond Slivers 

a Large Bowl with Ice and Water

Wash your broccoli thoroughly with running cold water to get rid of any dirt or bugs. Break it into pieces that would fit into a steam pot. I season my steam water with salt,  garlic powder, lemon pepper and a slice of lemon. Steam for 5 minutes and quickly remove the broccoli from the heat and submerge it into a bowl of  iced water to stop the cooking. At this point the broccoli will be bright green but crunchy. Once they are cool, let them drain or pat dry with a kitchen towel and they will be perfect and ready for your salad.

In a large salad bowl add the broccoli, carrot, chopped bell peppers, craisins and prosciutto. Mix.

Add as much of the Baked Vidalia Onion Dressing as you wish, mix to coat all the vegetables. Top your salad with the shredded cheese and the slivered almonds.

Listo

Baked  Vidalia Onion Dressing

1 Large Vidalia Onion

1/2 Low Fat Buttermilk

1 tsps Balsmic Vinegar

1 1/2 tsps Mustard

1/4 tsps Celery Salt
a Pinch of Sugar (optional)

salt, pepper, cayanne pepper to taste

aluminum foil

Heat your oven at 450 degrees. Prepare your onion by peeling it and cutting both ends of it (to get rid of the little heads) Drizzle a little of olive oil if you want and wrap it tightly with heavy duty double aluminum foil.
Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it cool until is easy to handle.
Once it's cool enough place the onion and it's cooking juices trapped in the foil into a blender, add buttermilk vinegar, mustard and the rest of the seasonings, Blend on high until smooth. Adjust seasoning, if not sweet enough to your taste, add a little sugar until you are satisfied with the results.

Serve over salad.

The secret to the sweetness of this dressing is baking the onion to get the sugar in it to an almost point of caramel.

This Salad is a custom designs! The broccoli is cooked but crunchy, it's creamy with a natural touch of sweetness and sprinkled with little bites of saltines from the prosciutto.

And if this wasn't enough the Smoked Gouda and the almonds add a final note of deep flavor and texture!

I think I will stay away from the Salad Deli Counter for a while, I don't know why I never tried this before, but "Everything Under Heaven has it's Time"....this was mine.

Thank You so much for your visit today, I hope you are enjoying this series so far. 2 More to go...do you have a favorite you wish to try? Let me know...the more salads, the merrier! And remember friends, everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos,
Lizy

Sharing some Green Goodness at these Fabulous Parties:
Sara Howe
Clean and Scentsible
Cozy Little House
Anyonita Nibbles
Feeding Big
Nap Time Creations
Sugar Bee Crafts
Pint Sized Baker
I Gotta Try That
WCFS
The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen
Sunny simple Life
Food Done Light
The Home Girl
Jennifer Rizzo
Rattlebridge Farm
Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons
My Turn (for Us)
My Romantic Home
One Artsy Mama
The Pin Junkie
The Best Blog Recipes
Simply Designing
The Thriftiness Miss
Dessert Now, Dinner Later
Classy Clutter
Swe-Licious Home Decor
Heatherly Loves
Life on Lakeshore Drive
Navy Wifey Peters
Pink When
The Chicken Chick
Ms. enPlace
Frugal Foodie Mama
twelveOeight
Claire Justine oxox
The Tumbleweed Contessa
French Country Cottage
Under the Table and Dreaming