Monday, November 23, 2009

Monday Morning Musings



NaNoWriMo word count: 32,198

I've been writing this morning, and feeling better about reaching the 50,000 word goal by next Monday. I should be able to wheedle out writing time between now and then, right?

In the meantime, I though we could talk cranberries. We have several active cranberry bogs here in town, believe it or not. Real estate may be at a premium with million dollar beach front homes, but the cranberry bogs are down the middle of Cape Cod, where you can't see the ocean anyway. They are beautiful in their own right, and if you bike or walk the Cape Cod Rail Tail, you'll pass by a number of them. Stop and take a moment to appreciate their beauty.

Some of them are official Ocean Spray Cranberry Growers, with signage to that effect. So their berries get turned into the can-shaped gelatin that my kids and husband prefer. My husband actually likes it to be served with the can lines still visible. Whatever.

Before we moved to Cape Cod, my middle child had a preschool teacher named Mrs. Tripi who taught the kids about Massachusetts cranberries and how to make cranberry sauce from scratch. They started with fresh berries, of course. We've made it in our house every year since. My sister the chef just called last night for his recipe, so I thought I'd share it here for everyone to see how easy it is to make your own cranberry sauce for the upcoming holidays.

Except, of course, fresh sauce doesn't have the fun little can stripes on the sides.

Mrs. Tripi's Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 pound package of cranberries
2 oranges (Mandarin, Clementine, or Navel)

Wash and sift through cranberries, removing stems and bad berries. Peel oranges and take off as much of the inner peel as possible.

In saucepan, stir together water and sugar. Bring to boil. Add fruit to saucepan, and bring to boil again. Reduce heat to low boil for ten minutes. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Enjoy!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Go ahead - leave a comment! You know you want to! But don't be Anonymous - that'll just get you deleted. And who wants that?