Potato Salad

I know potato salad is traditionally a summer time food, except in my family.  When I was growing up, we always had potato salad for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Now, I cook the more traditional mashed potatoes on holidays, but I couldn't make it through the winter without potato salad.  Here's my recipe.

POTATO SALAD
5 pounds russet potatoes
12 eggs, hard-boiled
1 1/2 cups chopped pickles (I use dill and sweet)
2 cans sliced black olives
 1/4 of a small onion
1/2 jar of mayo
4 T apple cider vinegar
1 T celery seed

Boil unpeeled potatoes until tender.  Drain and cool.
Peel and cube potatoes.  Slice hard-boiled eggs and add to potatoes.  Add pickles, olives, and onion.  Mix well.  Stir in mayo, vinegar, and celery seed.  Sprinkle with paprika, if desired.  Chill before serving.

Roasted Acorn Squash

This is our recipe for roasted acorn squash.  It's so simple and very tasty.

Roasted Acorn Squash
3 acorn squashes, cut in half and remove innards.
Place on a baking sheet.
Put a 1/2 pat of butter in each half.
Add 1 Tablespoon brown sugar in each half.
Sprinkle on cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
Salt very lightly.

Bake at 350* for 45 minutes to an hour, or until tender.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce isn't just for Thanksgiving anymore.  At least not according to my kids!  They eat it like it's candy.  My sister and I made 10 quarts and canned them.  It was easy and fun too.

Cranberry Sauce
6 cups fresh cranberries
3 cups water or orange juice
3 cups sugar
cinnamon sticks or 2 T. ground cinnamon

Combine all ingredients over medium heat.  When berries start popping, turn heat down to a simmer.  Simmer until the sauce is the consistency you like.  I simmered it for quite a while and some of the berries were still whole, so it didn't turn to mush.  Remove the cinnamon sticks and can in boiling water canner for 25 minutes.  If you don't want to can this, it can be frozen.   You can also use a couple teaspoons of orange extract if you want the hint of orange but don't have any juice.  That's what I intended to do, but I forgot.  Oops.

This recipe does not make 10 quarts.  I tripled the recipe to get that amount and I even had a little extra for Thanksgiving dinner.

Homemade Applesauce

Several weeks ago, we went to the apple orchard and picked a lot of apples.  We made a whole bunch of applesauce.  We have canned applesauce, frozen applesauce, frozen apple pies, etc.  Here's our very simple recipe for applesauce.

APPLESAUCE
12 cups apples
2 cups sugar
3 T. cinnamon

Wash and core apples.  Cut in half.  You don't need to peel the apples.  Place them in a large crock pot or an electric roasting pan.  Add sugar; more or less depending on how tart the apples are.  Add cinnamon.  Cook for several hours until very soft.  Use a hand blender to make the sauce as smooth as you like it.  We like our homestyle with a few chunks in it.