Thanksgiving

I am really excited about Thanksgiving about this year. It is my absolute favorite holiday. The food, the family time, the chance to think about the things that you are thankful for. It is just perfect. We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house with both sets of parents, Drew and some family friends.


In fact, I am so excited about Thanksgiving I woke up at 6am to make not one, but two types of cranberry sauce. The first is sort of a cranberry “slaw” and the second is a cranberry-raspberry compote. I am not particularly good at following recipes. I tend to just throw things together until it tastes good to me. It’s a cooking style that serves me well, but can be sometimes a challenge to duplicate. However, these are so darn easy I thought I would share.

Cranberry Slaw
1 bag of fresh cranberries
1/3 cup of orange juice
1 orange – grate a bit of the peel zest
¼ to ½ cup of sugar (or more!) to taste

Throw it all in your food processor and chop. Just a few quick blends will get it to the right consistency. You want to be able to clearly see some fine white and red parts remaining. Be careful not to over chop it and turn it into a soggy pink mush! This is great for cranberry purests. This is my mother’s recipe, because she definitely falls into the cranberry purest category. Varieties have included an chopping apple slices in with the rest of the ingredients, or mixing in pomegranate seeds after the rest has been chopped. Yummo!

Cranberry-Raspberry Compote
1 bag of cranberries
1 cup of water
¾ of a cup of sugar
3 tablespoons of orange juice
1 container of raspberries

I just made this recipe up, but it was pretty tasty this morning when I was done. I am looking forward to trying it out on Thursday. Add the water and sugar together and bring to a boil. Add the cranberries – I blended about ¼ of them in the food processor, and left the rest whole – so it would be a chunkier sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then reduce to a slow boil for 10 minutes or so. You want to make sure you regularly stir this mixture. It seemed like the sort of sauce that could burn easily. Once the cranberries have softened and some have burst, add the raspberries and keep on a low boil for another 5 minutes. After the raspberries have cooked a bit, take it off the burner and transfer to a storage container. I would let it cool completely before you serve it!

That’s it! I will be serving cranberry sauce three ways on the big day – both of these, plus a can of the jellied stuff. You just can’t knock the classics!