Saturday, November 26, 2011

What's Thanksgiving Without Cranberries?

I love fresh cranberries and they are so easy to make.  A lot of people don't know how easy they are, so I'm going to show you.

First, buy a 12 oz. package of fresh cranberries.  I buy whatever kind the store has in stock, this time they happened to be Ocean Spray....


Rinse the cranberries and pick out any smooshed ones....


The directions on the package call for 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar.  I tweak it a little and use 1 cup of water and 2 cups of sugar.  I am a rebel like that!

Pour the water, the sugar and the cranberries into a pot.  Turn up the heat.  Start stirring.  The cranberries will start to pop and get soft.  I start to crush them against the side of the pot at this point....


Turn down the heat and keep stirring.  They will easily boil over if you don't keep an eye on them.  I keep boiling them until they cook down and start to get thick.

Turn off the heat, pour into a container and refrigerate.  You can eat them hot or cold.  I prefer them cold, on my turkey.  I really like it on toast, with mayo and sliced turkey.  Yum!


In between cooking, look out the window and admire the lake....


Chablis helped me cook this year and she made the broccoli rice casserole and the green bean casserole.  And yes, I cheated and used instant potatoes.



This cute little bird kept hanging around the back deck...

The turkey took longer than expected to cook, but it still turned out....


Louie, Chablis and Kyle weren't shy about digging in.  This was a hard year for me - Tony decided to spend the day with his girlfriends family.  It was the first time in 18 years that our little unit of 4 wasn't together.  I know they have to grow up and do their own thing, but it was still hard for me.  Than goodness for Facetime - at least I still got to see him for a few minutes.  My nephew, Kyle, came and spent the day with us tho, so that was really nice.


Afterwards we all drove out to the hunting property and sat in the deer stands.







Here's a short video I shot tonight.  This is the first time I've tried shooting video on my camera and it's also the first time I've tried to upload video to the blog, so we'll see how well this works....



Can you see the deer in this picture?  We didn't shoot any, but it was nice to sit out in the woods and enjoy the quiet of the evening.



It was a nice Thanksgiving.  Hope yours was nice as well!

12 comments:

  1. OMG! You eat turkey sandwiches just like I do! There isn't anything in the world that compares to turkey, mayo, and cranberries on toasted bread! It is my fave sandwich, and I will buy a turkey any time during the year just to make this sandwich!

    I will be trying cranberries made the rebel way! :) My mother in law has had me thinking I didn't like homemade cranberry sauce...but I think I would love it with an extra cup of sugar in it! I found a cranberry cheesecake bar recipe and they are to die for delish! Your sauce on these bars would be incredible.

    Your video was perfect, I felt like I was right there ;)

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  2. Della: If I have leftover stuffing I put that on the sandwich too. I prefer homemade cranberries BY FAR over the canned. Try mine - the extra sugar makes a huge difference. And I'd love your cranberry bar recipe please!

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  3. lololol... I am sitting here eating a turkey, cranberry, & Helman's mayo sammie as we speak.

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  4. Holidays aren't quite the same when everyone isn't home. I think us women tend to let that gnaw at the backs of our minds all day long more than men to. If I had my way everyone would be home everyday and never move out, but I knwo that's unrealistic. I'm glad that you had a good day.

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  5. YUM!! That's all I have to say. YUM!!

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  6. You HAD to point out the one major item missing from our table! It's impossible to get cranberries here in Alicante! Not only do they not know this fruit in Spain, but it shares the same name in Spanish as blueberries, so when you're asking for it they say "of course, here!" and you're like "nooooooo!" The past several years in Belgium I was astonished to find cranberries (Ocean Spray too!!!) in the supermarket, so I always brought my dad a bag home for Christmas. But since I haven't been up north this year, no cranberries for us!

    Here's a tasty modification on your recipe for next year if you feel like it (and remember): add in a cinnamon stick or two, then grab an orange and grate some rind in there and then squeeze the juice and mix it in with the water. Thousand times better than just water and sugar and just as easy! ;o)

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  7. And yeah, thank you Facetime!!! We got on with my sister in New Zealand so managed to have the family virtually together for a little while. ;o)

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  8. Me again: I'm currently making a turkey sandwich to take hiking! I've never thought of putting cranberry sauce in it... will have to try that nex time I have cranberries! In the meantime will make o wth a slice of carrot cake for dessert. ;o)

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  9. Cris: I like the sound of the orange juice in there. I will do that next time for sure and let you know how I like it. Where are you going for your hike?

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  10. Cris: you want me to send you some cranberries??

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  11. That cranberry sauce looks yummy! Our local sub shop sells "The Bobbie" year round...a turkey sub with cranberry and stuffing. HA! It a big hit around here too. It's always a great day when you can spend time in the woods...even if you don't see or shoot anything!

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  12. Thanks for the offer Kim, but I doubt the cranberries would survive a transatlantic shipping! ;o)

    I hiked around the Sierra de Bernia today. A spot with gorgeous views up and down the coast... or at least that's what I told since we did the whole hike in a big dark cloud!!! Was still fun, finally a "cool" hike (as in wearing long sleeves and a vest instead of a t-shirt!) and I'm grateful it wasn't raining! :p
    I'll go through the pictures tonight and tomorrow and try to get a post up asap. I think I finally might be able to put up less than 30 pictures for one hike since there's only so many times you can put up a photo of mist! :D

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