I’m usually the prep cook not the cook in the house so I seldom post recipes. Few have the passion for cranberry sauce that I do; thus I took it upon myself this Thanksgiving to make it myself. I adapted this recipe to make…

Brandied Ginger Orange Cranberry Sauce

• 4 oranges (used to create fresh orange zest and juice)
• 1½ tablespoons of grated fresh ginger*
• 4 cups water
• ¼ cup of brown suger
• 3½ cups white sugar
• 2 tablespoona lemon juice
• 6 cups cranberries
• ¼ cup brandy*
• ½ teaspoon each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground clove*
• optional: ½ cup ground pecans (add during step 5)

*measurements for ginger, brandy, and spices used in step 5 are best guesses. I recommend adding slowly and tasting as you go.

1. Using a fine grater, grate the outside of the oranges to make fresh orange zest. Grate ginger. Squeeze the oranges to create orange juice.
2. Combine in a small pan 4 cups of water, all the orange zest, and 1 tablespoon of grated ginger. Cover and bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Using a strainer separate the liquid from the orange zest/ginger mix, keeping both.
3. Using the same pan, combine 2/3 cups of the reserved liquid with 1/4 cup of the orange zest/ginger mix (you can toss the rest). Add both brown and white sugar, 1 1/3 cups of orange juice, and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes uncovered, stirring often (watch as it can easily over-boil!).
4. Add cranberries; increase heat to medium-high and boil for about 10 minutes or until the cranberries have popped and a small spoonful of sauce sets on a cold plate.
5. Remove from heat, stir in ½ tablespoon of grated fresh ginger, 1/4 cup of brandy, and then cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground clove to taste.*
6. The sauce can be jarred sealed and stored for up to two weeks in a refrigerator.

Makes about 5 cups of cranberry sauce. Yes it’s a lot but I like cranberry sauce! To make less, half all ingredients except for during steps 1 & 2: Combine 3 oranges worth of orange zest and 3/4 tablespoon of grated ginger with 2 cups of water. Drain and reserve 1/3rd cup of liquid and about 1/6 cup of orange zest/ginger mix.

My wonderful partner Nifer got me a fabulous gift of a steel Zojiruchi Stainless Bento Lunch Jar. It’s pretty slick. It’s not something I ever asked for but it fits right into my desire to start bringing lunchs from home rather than buy the crap from the food court here at work.

To kick it off I picked up a Bento cook book over the weekend. Inspired by one of the recipes, I picked up some ingredients at the store and last night dove into making dinner with plans to leave some aside for lunch. My concoction differed from the actual recipe, and I don’t cook often (mostly I’m the prep cook/cleanup crew), so I was a bit crossing my fingers. However, happily turned out delicious! Nifer scraped her plate clean last night and I had more than enough for an incredible lunch today. I gotta say it was as good today for lunch as it was last night!

Papaya Ginger Beef with Sliced Daikon on Brown Rice and a Side of Sautéed Shredded Potato, Daikon, and Red Pepper.

Main Dish Ingredients

• 1lb – thin sliced beef (I sliced up an inexpensive tri-tip steak which turned out great)
• 1 1/2 cup – daikon radish sliced in long 3-4″ strips
• 2 tbl – soy sauce (I used a garlic soy sauce marinade but normal soy sauce will do)
• 1 tbl – sake
• 1 tbl – ginger juice from a freshly grated ginger root (it’s fine to have some pieces of ginger in there but avoid big chunks)
• 1/2 cup – pickled papaya (with juice)
• olive oil*
• sesame oil
• salt and pepper (I use a fancy white pepper but normal pepper should do)
• 1 cup – brown rice

Side Dish Ingredients

• 1/2 cup – potato (about 1/2 of a potato)
• 1/2 cup – daikon (about an equal amount of daikon to the half potato)
• 1 whole – red pepper
• olive oil
• sesame oil
• salt and pepper (I use a fancy white pepper but normal pepper should do)

*Note: all my oil measurements are approximations as I just kinda added what seemed right. When I saute I use oil kinda like a spice: add a bit at first then maybe more if it seems like it needs it.

Cooking Instructions

1. Make the brown rice; Don’t start the rest of the cooking till this is nearly done

Side Dish (it’ll keep so we make that first)

1. Shred potato and daikon into thin strips using food processor
2. Shove the red pepper though the food processor (it’ll just kinda grate it rather then make strips which is fine)
3. Mix potato, daikon and red pepper together and drain/squeeze most of the water out of it
4. Add ~1/2 tbl olive oil* and a drop of sesame oil to pan and heat
5. Add potato, daikon and red pepper and saute for about 10minutes
6. Add salt and pepper to taste

Main Dish

1. Pore about ~1/2 tbl of olive oil* and a drop of sesame oil into a pan and heat it
2. Throw daikon strips into the pan and saute for about 1-2 minutes (they should be only slightly softened)
3. Pore another ~1 tbl of olive oil* and drop of sesame oil into the pan
4. Throw sliced beef into the pan and cook till it’s about browned but still slightly rare
5. Pore in soy sauce, sake and stir
6. Add pickled papaya and ginger juice and stir
7. Cook for about 10 minutes till beef is fully done and all the flavors are nice and infused together
8. Add salt and pepper to taste

Serves enough for three, or in my case two people for dinner and enough left for a nice sizable amazing lunch.