Cranberry Sauce Should Not Have Rings

Cranberry sauce is a staple for most Thanksgiving dinners. Whether you are entertaining family at home or you are going over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house, making cranberry sauce is simple and a wonderful way to give thanks.

The cranberry is native to North America. The name “cranberry” is a shortened form of the original Pilgrim name “craneberry”, named so because the blossom of the plant resembles the head of a Sandhill crane. Cranberries had long been used by Native Americans as a fabric dye, a healing agent and a food. The most popular use was in the Native American’s pemmican: a combination of crushed berries, dried deer meat and melted fat. Today cranberries are traditionally served as a sauce or jelly with Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.

Cranberry Sauce

2 – 12oz bags of fresh cranberries, rinsed

1 ½ cups white sugar

1 Tablespoon orange zest

½ cup water

1 cup orange juice (fresh squeezed from zested orange plus additional juice)

Salt and pepper

Preparation:

In a medium sauce pan combine cranberries, sugar, orange zest and water.  Bring to a boil over a medium-high heat.  Lower heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes until thick. Remove from heat and stir in orange juice until desired consistency is achieved. Salt and pepper to tasted

This Thanksgiving don’t reach for the can of cranberry sauce. Spend a little time in your kitchen and make this traditional side dish. Your loved ones will be thankful for the cranberry sauce without the rings this year. 

A Crock Full of Breakfast

The air is crisp. Wind blown leaves cover the sidewalk. Saturday and Sunday are filled with football. Fall has arrived. With its arrival comes one of my favorite seasons, Crock-Pot Season! Soups, stews, chilies and more cook all day long filling the kitchen with their delicious aroma. Slow cooker cooking is easy. Toss in your ingredients, select the heat level, wait a few hours and enjoy.

With the ease of crock pot cookery, I thought why couldn’t it work for one of the busiest times of the day: Breakfast. Here’s a great slow cooker breakfast recipe I use. It’s ready when I wake up, it’s nutritionally packed and, best of all, it’s good!

Pumpkin Quinoa Porridge


1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained (soak in water for up to 30 minutes, if time permits)
     -Check out my post “Hail, Hail the Grains All Here” for more info on quinoa.

4 cups unsweetened almond milk (substitute hemp milk for nut allergies)

1 cup canned pumpkin

½ cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

Dried cranberries or raisins for topping

Oil of non-stick cooking spray (Sunflower seed oil recommended)

Preparation:

Using a 4 quart crock pot/slow cooker, coat the inside of the crock pot/slow cooker insert with oil or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Combine all the ingredients, except the quinoa in a bowl and mix well. Pour the mixture into the cooker. Add the quinoa. Cover and cook on Low until the quinoa is soft and plump, about 6-7 hours.

Serve in bowls and top with dried cranberries or raisins.

The crock pot is an easy way to make great food. If you follow the recipe and select the right temperature, you’re almost guaranteed prefect results. I’ve used slow cookers for many a dinner meal. Now I’ve found a way to use them for breakfast and you can too. With a little time and preparation the evening before, you’ll awake to a fragrant kitchen and a wonderful hot breakfast.