So, what’s new, you ask?

Here’s the thing. I fell in love with canning and, as it turns out, I’m pretty darned good at it. I decided (with the support of my husband, who also thinks I’m pretty darned good at it) that I’m going into business to sell my jams, marmalades, and assorted other products I’ve been canning. I’m incorporated (LLC), having my logo trademarked, and even have a bank account! The name?

Freakin’ Flamingo.

That’s me – all over. (Thanks, Barb.) I’m working on a retail website right now which, when it’s ready, will be found at FreakinFlamingo.com. But not yet. Soon. I’ll let you know.

You may find this strange, but I want to keep this small scale. Really small scale. The basic premise is that my stuff is not only hand-crafted and small-batch, it’s micro-batch. Everything is prepared and canned during it’s proper season (usually local, or as local as I can get it), and no more than about a dozen half-pints or pints at a time, and with my own South Florida twist. I’ll be offering it to you as it’s prepared, and when it’s gone, it’s gone. Until next season. At my whim, or if you demand it. As I like to say, you never know what you’ll find until I cook it up and write it down.

So, why am I telling you this now?

Because it’s the holidays, I wanted to do a turn on the iconic cranberry sauce. I found myself inspired by tweets from my friend Maria (@ViceQueenMaria on Twitter), who as it turns out, kinda lives in my ‘hood. Maria’s been doing a lot of traveling around Florida lately, and has kind of gotten into the coastal and Caribbean pirate culture.

I got to thinking about my favorite pirate, Ann Bonny. Yes, there were female pirates, boys and girls, and she was one of the best. What would Ann Bonny do? Well, you know, after she got out of pirate prison, got married, and had a bazillion kids. She’d infuse those whole cranberries (acquired on a daring New England coastal raid, no doubt) with lots of limes and just a tot of Jamaican spiced rum. I present to you my first offering:

Ann Bonny’s Pirate’s Reserve Caribbean Cranberry

Half-Pints $8.00 each plus shipping
(5 available)

Perfect with your holiday turkey, pork, chicken, and equally delicious on toast or English muffins.

Blueberry Mojito Jam

Half-Pints $8.00 each plus shipping
(6 available)

Feeling a little chilly? Imagine yourself on a sunny, warm Caribbean beach, sipping Mojitos in the middle of January. Well, this Florida blueberry jam, infused with lime, a hint of mint, and the merest suggestion of rum, might not get you there, but if you close your eyes…

Carambola Honey Jam. Carambola, also known as Starfruit, is a crisp and sweet-tart tropical fruit that is usually only seen as a garnish. I used locally-sourced carambola and local wildflower honey to make this a treat you’ll want to spread on toast, stir into yogurt, and spoon onto everything in sight!

Carambola Honey Jam

Half-Pints $8.00 each plus shipping
(1 available)

See the Freakin’ Flamingo Facebook page for more flavors. All are half-pints and are priced at $8.00 per jar.

Um, want some?

**NOTICE**

This is totally embarrassing, but these stupid PayPal links aren’t working. Again. If you’re interested in ordering jam, please e-mail me at: FreakinFlamingo@att.net. I will be more than happy to accommodate you. So sorry for the inconvenience, but hopefully, the web site will go live soon – watch this space!

My office’s big annual Thanksgiving pot-luck luncheon was yesterday, which I’ve organized and contributed to for the last 10 years, and frankly, I was too pooped to post. So, I bring you Recipe Monday on Tuesday. Shoot me.

Everyone’s tossing their favorite holiday recipes into the internet ring, this week, and I want to share a couple of our favorites with you, too. These two dishes, Amaretto Cranberry Sauce and Bourbon Yam Casserole, only appear at Thanksgiving and Christmas at our house, which is – I guess – what makes them special to us.

This house is a fan of chunky, whole berry cranberry sauce. Love biting into those tart/sweet berries along with that bite of turkey. Mmmm… A couple of years ago, MJ decided that we should stop buying it in the can and make our own.

He was right, of course. Making your own cranberry sauce is one of the easiest things to do on the planet, but for some reason, other people are greatly impressed when you put a bowl of this sticky, ruby goodness on the table and say, “I made it myself.”

Here is a variation that he discovered in his travels on the internet, looking for something that was just a wee bit out of the ordinary:

Amaretto Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 (12 ounces) package fresh cranberries
2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup amaretto
2 Tablespoons orange marmalade
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind

Preparation:

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add cranberries, sugar, and lemon juice; stir well to combine. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 10 to 15 minutes or until cranberries begin to pop. Remove from heat; stir in amaretto, marmalade, and lemon rind.

Yield: 3-2/3 cups

*Note:

This recipe is easily multiplied (or cut) to suit your needs. Last year we quadrupled it and shared it with family and friends, wherever we were invited, presenting it in lovely Ball jars and tied with a ribbon. It should be kept refrigerated, but take it out of the fridge about 15-20 minutes before serving and give it a good stir.

This year, we cut the sugar to 1 1/3 cups rather than the full 2 cups. This will make it a slightly softer sauce, but no less flavorful. You can also substitute lime juice for the lemon juice as a delicious variation.

Original recipe found at about.com: America’s Best Recipes: 1992 Hometown Collection (Oxmoor House) – out of print; Camellia Delights, The Altrusa Club of Gulfport, Mississippi

This next dish was served to us at the home of some friends who had spent some years living in New Orleans. To bring a taste of that time home to them wherever they lived after that, they turned to The New Orleans Cookbook by Rima and Richard Collin (first printed in 1975, and then in soft cover in 1987). When I begged them for the recipe back in 1989, I copied it nearly verbatim out of the cookbook.

Of course, over the years, I’ve made several modifications to make my life easier, since this is one of those dishes that I contribute to the office potluck and generally double to feed a crowd. The New Orleans Cookbook is still available in softcover and has received many favorable reviews as to its authenticity and flavor, so if you want more Creole-style cooking in your life, you should check it out. Here is my version:

New Orleans-Style Yams

Ingredients:

6 large sweet potatoes
1/3 cup Grand Marnier (or other orange liqueur)
1/3 cup bourbon
6 Tbs. butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. white pepper

Preparation:

Roast the sweet potatoes for about 45 minutes at 375º F and allow to cool thoroughly, then peel and cut up coarsely in roughly 1/2″ slices, arrange in a large casserole dish, piling the slices on top of each other.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter or margarine over medium-low heat, add the remaining ingredients, and stir to combine well. Pour this sauce over the prepared sweet potatoes, and with your cooking spoons, just “cut” it into the sweet potatoes. It’s not necessary to stir it – you just want the liquid to reach through your layers. Press down and smooth the top.

Cover the casserole and bake at 375º for 45 minutes. Fluff it up a bit before serving.

*Note:

If you’re expecting a crowd, you can easily add an extra sweet potato or two to this recipe without increasing the liquid.

These are my favorite “secret” holiday recipes. We’re all about the spices and flavors around here, and these just holler “Happy Holidays!” at the tops of their little lungs. Can’t you hear them?

If you have a personal favorite Thanksgiving recipe to share, please add it here!