cranberry sauce

because you asked...

1 (16-oz) bag of fresh cranberries

1 c. water

1 c. sugar

1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans

1 apple, chopped

1/4 cup Grand Marnier

1 orange

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

rinse the cranberries in a colander and throw them into a large saucepan. add the 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar. turn on med-low and start simmering.

meanwhile, chop the apple and throw in with the cranberries. then take the orange and get a good tablespoons of zest off it and throw the zest in the saucepan, too. then cut the orange in half, juice it, and add the juice to the pan. finally, add the walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, and Grand Marnier.

once all ingredients are added, simmer for a total of about 15 more minutes, being careful not to let the bottom of the pan scorch due to the high sugar content of the dish. the sauce will be finished when the cranberries have released their red color and have "popped"/collapsed and the apples have soaked up some of the red.

pour into a glass Pyrex bowl and cover. let chill overnight - this is definitely a make-ahead dish. the pectin released from the cranberries in the boiling process will set as it chills, so don't worry if it's a little runny when you take it off the stove.

this makes enough for two Thanksgiving dinners, or one me. when ready to serve, spoon into a pretty glass dish, still slightly chilled.

cranberries are great sources of antioxidants and vitamin c. for the record, i didn't even google that. like most berries, they also freeze very well - so take advantage of the after-thanksgiving clearance at your grocery store. buy a few bags and throw them directly into your freezer. then when you're craving them in march, you can open the bag and dump it directly into the colander to rinse.

speaking of rinsing, i've started using a vegetable wash and i really like it. especially for fruits like berries and apples where we eat the peel, it does a good job of removing wax and pesticides (i'm not so worried about dirt or germs). it's reasonably priced and i've started spraying down every bunch of grapes, rinsing them, then just storing them in a paper-towel-lined colander in the fridge. seems to work well, and they don't go bad because they've been forgotten in a refrigerator drawer.

happy thanksgiving!