This is the most popular side dish I serve with the turkey on Thanksgiving. This year, I’m making a sugar-free version for my diabetic daughter in law using the baking version of Splenda. There are probably other sweeteners you could use — the measurements will be based on whatever the manufacturer says. Since it isn’t cooked, the only thing you have to worry about is texture. You should use something which has a bit of bulk to it.

There are many variations of this and I’ve included some in the “related articles” section. The basic recipe is much the same, but the things people add to it vary quite a bit. It’s a popular recipe and has been around for at least 50 years.

They used to publish a version of it on the Ocean Spray package, but stopped a couple of years ago. This is a simple recipe. Takes less than 10 minutes to prepare and a big favorite with everyone. It is the easiest recipe for cranberries I know of. Everybody prefers it to the  traditional cooked cranberry sauce, though I still make that too. For traditionalists.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 package of fresh cranberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 orange
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• A food processor.

Variations:

• Brown sugar instead of white (or half cup white, half cup brown)
• Add nuts — walnut meats sounds great (thank you my fellow blogger!) to give it crunch (unless someone has diverticulitis in which case, scratch that!).
• Add a dash of nutmeg and/or cinnamon — I mean a pinch, not a lot. Especially nutmeg, less is more.

DIRECTIONS:

No cooking required.

Cut up the orange, rind and pith and all into bite-size pieces. Put the entire bag of cranberries, the orange pieces, the sugar and the lemon juice into the food processor. Grind it all up. If you need to add a little water to get it processing, use tiny bits of water. Too much and you’ll have soup.

When it’s approximately the texture of coarse applesauce, you’re finished. Put it in a container with a lid. Let it chill. It will thicken as it gets colder. You can eat it like applesauce for dessert, serve it with the turkey, as a relish with chicken or pork.

NOTE:

If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a blender. It is more difficult and you’ll have to keep mixing stopping the process and stirring the mixture until it starts to process. You may a bit of extra liquid.

DONE!

That’s it. You’re done. The hardest part is cleaning the food processor. I promise, you will like it. If you don’t, send it here. We will take care of it for you!

Related articles

• Daily Prompt: Simply Irresistable (Dailypost.wordpress.com)
• Easy Cranberry Relish (keitochansays.com)
• Homemade Natural Cranberry Sauce and Relish (lovelifenaturally.org)
• Drunken and Spiked Orange Cranberry Sauce: redundancy is good (chefshawnsei.wordpress.com)
• Cranberry-Orange Relish (nanasneapolitankitchen.wordpress.com)
• honey ginger cranberry sauce (omamas.com)
• My awesome cranberry relish, with help from a Ninja (shrinkingsisters.com)
• Raw Cranberry Cilantro Relish (chefdavies-tight.com)
• Cranberry Sauce Recipe (accidentaleats.wordpress.com)

Categories: #Food, #Recipes, Holidays

Tags: Cranberries, Cranberry relish, Cranberry sauce, Food processor, NaBloPoMo, Nano Poblano, recipe, Splenda, Thanksgiving