I could not find it in the grocery, so I just made it myself! sort of

 For weeks, I have searched for one holiday product--goat cheese with orange and cranberries. Saturday, I decided to make it myself. Of course, it is not identical but close enough taste-wise to make me happy. 

I cut in half a log of goat cheese, used leftover whole berry cranberry sauce I made, and bought a jar of orange marmalade. 

Here is how I did it:

*Put four ounces of goat cheese in a bowl.

*I used about a quarter cup or less of cranberry with whole berries and made with less sugar than it was supposed to have. This was all the cranberry sauce I had. 

* 3 big tablespoons of Smucker's Marmalade. 

* Mix with a fork. Don't mix too much. Or, mix away.

When Tommy tasted it on a cracker--Wheat Thins Lightly Salted--he liked it but said it needed more cranberry. Well, I had no more cranberry! So, I added the juice which made the cheese sort of runny but did not detract from the taste. Tommy explained he tasted cranberry on the first bite of the cracker, but then it was all orange. Now, I am just ignoring that, wishing I had not stirred it more...lol. 

I have the second half of the log of goat cheese and will make this again when I cook another bag of cranberries. Next time I will have more cranberries to use and will make sure they are at least cut in half, maybe not. Also, I used Smucker's instead of Bon Maman. Smucker's was cheaper. I chose Smucker's because I could see pieces/shreds of orange peel. Bon Maman was free of solids as far is I could tell, I wanted the pieces of fruit for the visual. If you have or can make your own orange solids in the form of marmalade, do it. Next time, I will stop mixing at the stage the goat cheese looks like cottage cheese. 

The cranberry and orange might be good just poured over the log of goat cheese. Maybe you would want to flatten the round log a bit or just crush it and pour the mixture over that. Don't get it too gloppy unless you like it that way.

This dip/spread was beautiful, great for Christmas! The other half will be made for NYE. This was much better than the log with cranberries and orange, but more expensive since I had to buy the marmalade. I am going to experiment with making some sort of orange add-in that is not exactly marmalade. This might be better on a Water Cracker. 

We watched Home Alone until A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart came on. I hope that Carol is shown that has Kelsey Grammer in it. I love that one. We watched a Bonanza Christmas story, too.

And, we had a little Christmas music.

In an hour or so, a person is coming to pick things up from the floor (main job) and dust and vacuum the living room. I am already exhausted, and it is only 11 am. 

Raggedy

 Since Wednesday, I have been fighting off illness. I have a cough, head congestion and pain. I feel miserable, too miserable to much but sit. Of course, I cannot sit too much. 

Friday, I wanted the blueberry goat cheese that is seasonal. It was there on the shelf, but the crackers I wanted were not! I eat Wheat Thins Lightly Salted. They were on sale at Publix, so it was the perfect time to buy. But, they were out. I asked the woman stocking there. She said all of Nabisco was "raggedy," a perfect description. It is true at other grocery stores, too. 

One of us will eventually sit down with blueberry goat cheese and crackers for a snack and end up making a meal of it. It is a little splurge we both enjoy. Of course, I have cut back on little splurges to afford these. 

The bowl of sweet potatoes are still in the refrigerator. Everyday, I say "today is the day" and still have not frozen them. We are eating from the frozen turkey breast I baked last week. I am too tired to do more. I may make turkey a la king. Tommy would be against it if I tell him. 

The cranberries are in the pan to cook. The package calls for one cup of sugar, but I asked Tommy if he minded my putting only 1/2 cup of sugar. I like them very tart. These will be frozen to keep me out of them until Thanksgiving Day.

Tommy loves the colcannon I cooked. I froze two meals of it and thawed one yesterday. It was way too watery for me. He loved it. Is this how it normally turns out when it is frozen and thawed? I know I could put dried potato flakes in it to firm it up, but I don't want to. 

The most beautiful head of celery came home with me. I will have to make potato salad and tuna salad while I have crispy celery. There is frozen in the freezer, but it has no crunch when thawed. Even though it is gross to eat celery sticks, having it buried in tuna or potatoes is a special treat. 

I was in Publix about 2 pm on Friday and people were coming out with carts overloaded. Same at Big Box. at 3 pm. I cannot imagine the crowd later that night or on Saturday. 

For the first time, I bought Sister Schubert's Yeast Rolls. They are delicious, but not as tall and light as I expected. Have you ever had these frozen rolls?

Do you ever have blueberry vanilla goat cheese? 

Does frozen colcannon thaw watery?

Have you found Nabisco products are abundant? Or, out of stock? Anything scarce or not available? What product shelves are raggedy?