My parents are home for the holidays!  Safe and sound and freezing cold. They drove up from South Carolina.  My mother has been wearing “Snuggies” under her clothes since THINKING of coming to New York in the winter.   I assured her the house would be warm but she didn’t want to take any risks.

Mocha has her own sweater. 

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She’s wishing she had some “Snuggies” as well. 

Shane got jealous.   “Mocha has a sweater?  What about me?!”

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Shane:  “Let me check this out”.   Mocha:  “OMG! Get him away from me!”

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Ah well….it’s all fun as the family gathers, it marks the official arrival of the festive season in our house.   Let Christmas Commence!

MAKE AHEAD CRANBERRY SAUCE

Getting ahead of the cooking game for Christmas, I made the cranberry sauce.  I made it a bit “soupy” but still…it’s homemade and you can’t beat that.  Here’s my recipe but there’s another really easy and SO GOOD cranberry relish recipe found HERE from A Taste of Utica. I made that one last year and couldn’t stop eating it.

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The tart cranberries coupled with the sweet cherries give this sauce a “rounded off” sweet flavor but not so sweet you’d want to heat it up and eat it with ice cream…. but then, on second thought?!!!

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Makes about 4 cups

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup water *If you want a thicker sauce, reduce water to 1/2 cup)

12 oz orange juice (Again, if you want a thicker sauce, reduce to 10 oz along with the water reduction above)

2 bags fresh cranberries (12 oz each)

1 can cherries – pitted and tart, drained.

Using a large saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar, water and orange juice until the sugar dissolves.  Add the cranberries and cherries and bring to a boil.  Cook for 8 minutes, uncovered. 

Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue cooking about 25 minutes or more until slightly thickened.  Pour into a serving dish and chill. 

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For years we used to have the cranberry sauce from a can. After I discovered how easy it is to make, no more cans for us!

Have you ever made your own cranberry sauce? What’s your recipe?

Joanne

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