Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Up North today is Thanksgiving. We celebrated with turkey dinner on Saturday. It was delicious! I always look forward to all the different side dishes that come along with the turkey. Everyday veggies like peas, carrots or corn are not on my menu. I like to load up my plate with sides we all associate with turkey dinner; sweet potatoes, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, turnip, etc. And of course there's always cranberry sauce!

 About 5 years ago I wanted to try my hand at making my own cranberry sauce. For some reason I thought it would be hard, I couldn't have been more wrong. It's the easiest part of the meal to make. I'm sure some of you out there have made it before, but for those of you that haven't, here's a little tutorial for ya.

Cranberry Sauce

1 bag fresh cranberries
1 cup water or orange juice (I used orange juice. I like the extra flavor it ads.)
1 cup sugar
*optional - 1/2 tsp cinnamon (This is a guesstimate, I never measure when I add it. Go by taste!)

• Put all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. 
• Bring to a boil. 
• Turn heat down to med/high and let gently boil for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. All the berries will pop open. 
• Now here's the part where you decide if you want a nice smooth sauce or chunky style. If you want yours chunky, pour into a small serving bowl and you're done. 
• If you want a smooth sauce place a mesh colander over/in a small serving bowl and carefully (it's hot!) pour sauce into colander. With the back of a spoon or spatula mash the sauce. Make sure you scrap off the bottom of the colander every few mashes. Do this as long as you want. The more you mash, the more sauce you'll end up with. 
• Cover and chill in fridge until set.  

 Notes -

•  I always add a couple tablespoons of the mashed cranberries to the smooth sauce. 
•  I've found if you use orange juice the sauce will not firm up as much as if you just use water. The consistency will be more of a spread than a gel.
• If you'd like to fancy it up, you could pour the sauce into some sort of mold before you chill it. 

Add this recipe to your Thanksgiving menu. I bet you'll impress them. Even people that don't like the canned kind like mine. 

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers! 

Sharing with: 

33 Shades of Green 
Serenity Now