Well, This Was Unexpected!
Can you believe it’s November already? Even more alarming than the cold wind blowing in the backyard is the calendar — the calendar that tells me that Thanksgiving is creeping closer and closer everyday. I’ve made mistakes in the past with my annual turkey feast, mostly mistakes involving dish after dish that my children don’t want to eat. A massive table loaded with comfort food, celebrating a year of plenty, and my children want little more to eat than the pickles and a tiny slice of turkey. I am determined to not repeat that same mistake yet again, so this year, we’re practicing ahead of time. I want my children to enjoy their Thanksgiving as much as the grown-ups do, so I decided to try a few dishes ahead of time and check their reaction.
What I didn’t expect was that the first one out of the bullpen would be a home run. I had decided to start with something simple, a basic cranberry sauce. It would be really easy to just purchase a few cans of the whole berry sauce, mush it up and call it part of dinner, but I wanted something homemade and something my children would enjoy. I combined cranberries with sugar and water and cooked them together until the berries had all popped and the sauce started thickening up on it’s own. Then I added the secret ingredient: a can of crushed pineapple, as well as a pinch of salt. A little more cook time, and I had a beautiful bowl of deep red cranberry sauce — but would they eat it? Both children dug right in wholeheartedly. Their eyes were practically rolling back in their heads, they both liked it so much. When asked if we should have these cranberries for Thanksgiving, my daughter became worried and asked if they really had to wait that long to eat them again. I take that as a recommendation.
Cranberry-Pineapple Sauce
12 ounces fresh cranberries, picked over and rinsed
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple in syrup
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 pinch salt
In a medium saucepan, combine cranberries, sugar and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add crushed pineapples, lemon juice and salt to the pan, stir well. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until nicely thickened.
Sauce can be served warm or cold, and can be made up to two days ahead of time. Store in the refrigerator, tightly covered.
