Make way for the cranberry sauce… I never understood why anyone would serve cranberry sauce out of a can. That weird gelatinous tube with the indents from the can still imprinted in it’s side. No wonder I refused to eat it as a young girl. It wasn’t till my teenage years that I witnessed a friend of mine make it fresh. I was not only facsinated with the process, but couldn’t believe how incredibly easy it was to make. People add cinnamon and all sorts of other things to the versitale cranberry sauce, I decided to add tangy hibiscus to the tart cranberry for an exquisite side to my turkey this Holiday season. Enjoy!

Ingredients for cranberry hibiscus sauce:

• 1/2 – cup dried hibiscus flowers
• 2 1/2 – cups water
• 2 – cups sugar
• 24 – ounces fresh cranberries

Directions:

1. In a pot over a medium flame add in hibiscus flowers and water.  
2. Bring to a boil and let boil for 10 minutes. 
3. Remove flowers from water. 
4. Pour sugar into the hibiscus water, and mix until sugar is completely dissolved. 
5. Bring mixture to a boil, creating a hibiscus syrup.
6. Add in cranberries. 
7. Mix cranberries to coat in hibiscus syrup.
8. After about 5 to 10 minutes you will hear the cranberries start to pop. At this point take a potato masher and smash the mixture down, until all cranberries have popped. 
9. Place mixture in a bowl, and place in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours or until mixture firms. 
10. Enjoy!

If you’re anything like me then you need some spice to bring the Thanksgiving table to life. This stuffing will do that and then some. The chorizo works well with the pistachios and pears, adding a subtle taste of sweet to the potent taste of spice. It’s seriously perfect for turkey and will be a real treat if sitting next to a batch of sweet potatoes or cranberry sauce. I posted my recipe over on the Babble site, click here for the recipe. You’ll be happy you did.

My Grandpa always made calabacitas. They were probably my first introduction into the vegetable world. This is exciting news for me to share…. I just posted my calabacitas recipe on Babble’s The Family Kitchen. I am proud to announce I am their new food contributor and the first Latina they have ever hired in the kitchen! 🙂 Jump over to the Babble site for my recipe. 

The idea of having a bar-b-que doesn’t exist if corn on the cob isn’t thrown on the grill.  I take pleasure in watching people eat their corn.  So many different ways to enjoy each kernel.  Some people eat it like a old typewriter on fast speed….very crickety.  All the way down one side and back at the top again for another go at it. Some people pick each kernel and savor it slowly. Some people just hack away at the corn taking big bites here and there with no rhythm or coordination.  I am a meticulous corn eater, I eat one side and then more on to the next….  never leaving a kernel untouched.  Then you have your funny people that bite a kernel and place them strategically in their teeth and leave them there to resemble messy mouth.  Maybe that last one just happens in my family, I don’t know.  Whichever the case, delight in this corn and eat it the way you know how.

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley

Ingredients for grilled corn on the cob:

Fresh corn on the cob

Kerrygold garlic and herb butter

basil infused olive oil

fresh lime juice

salt and pepper

aluminum foil

Take a piece of aluminum foil (7×7)and place down on  as a work space/wrapper. Place corn on aluminum foil and spread butter around entire corn to cover it.

Then drizzle with olive oil and squeeze with fresh lime juice.

Next season with salt and pepper to your liking.

Then wrap the corn in aluminum foil nice and tight, and start on the next one.  One you finishing wrapping all your cobs. Throw them on a bar-b-que grill and cook on each side for 5 to 6 minutes. A corn has 4 sides…. a total of 20 to 24 minutes.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!