thanksgiving table decor 2
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Thanks for all your love this week for my Southern Side Dish feature. If you are just dropping by, be sure and check out the recipes for Corn Casserole and Macaroni and Cheese, Candid Yams and Potato Salad, Marinated Carrots and Mixed Greens. We are down to the final day and even though I have more side dish recipes, I think you have plenty to get your “side dish sass on” next week. If you have a side dish you would like me to post that I haven’t already shared, leave me a comment and I will peek inside my Pandora box of recipes for you.

As promised, here is my Thanksgiving menu and depending on how much steam I have; will determine if all these dishes make it to the table. Turkey and cornbread dressing, giblet gravy, ribs, mixed greens, crowder peas, corn casserole, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, praline sweet potato casserole, green beans and potatoes, banana pudding, pecan pie, sweet potato pie, Italian cream cheese cake, peach cobbler, chocolate pound cake, rolls, cornbread muffins and sweet iced tea. Just thinking about all the dirty dishes, makes me tired so say a prayer that I won’t throw in the cup towel and order out. This final recipe comes from my nephew, Tim. Tim lives in Manhattan but comes home for Thanksgiving and helps me out in the kitchen. Tim loves to cook and this cranberry sauce is his specialty and it is out of this world good.

Cranberry Sauce
#cranberry sauce #citrus cranberry sauce #gourmet cranberry sauce
I ask Tim to write down the recipe and here it is in Tim’s on words:
“For me, a good cranberry salad is a must at the Thanksgiving Table. This version is great because it is quick, easy, and delicious. It acts as a good counter to the richness of the feast and cleanses the palate. Many of the ingredients below are optional so if you don’t have an item on hand or do not like an ingredient, feel free to omit. Do not, however, omit the Granny Smith apples. The pectin from the apples will help the entire mixture thicken and gel as it cools.”
He’s serious about his cranberry sauce, huh?
This is definitely a make-ahead dish so you needn’t worry about prepping it on the big day. In fact, you will want to make this dish ahead because it ‘sets up’ in the fridge. It will never get as thick as the sauce from those ‘Ocean Spray’ cans, (sorry)but it does achieve a nice texture and tastes a whole lot better.
You can easily double or decrease this recipe just keep the 1:1:1 ratio for the cranberries, water and sugar content and adjust the proportions of the flavorings.
Ingredients:
Serves 10-12
2 packets of fresh cranberries from the produce section
2 cups of water
2 cups of light brown sugar or 2 cups of turbinado sugar*
*Cook’s note: you can easily substitute white sugar for brown/turbinado sugar, but I prefer the deeper flavor from the ‘brown’ sugars
2 Granny Smith Apples, peeled and diced into small pieces
The zest and juice from an orange (or two tangerines), one lemon and one lime
½ cup of golden raisins
½ cup of Thompson (dark) raisins
¾ cup of walnuts, chopped and toasted
Splash of tangerine juice (totally optional)
Directions:
Place walnuts on baking tray and put in a pre-heated 350 ⁰ oven .Toast for five to ten minutes, being careful not to burn nuts. As soon as you smell the nuts in the kitchen they should be done.
In a large sauce pot, combine the cranberries, raisins, apples, water and sugar and bring to a boil. When cranberries begin to burst and disintegrate lower heat slightly and continue cooking for about three to five minutes, just until the mixture becomes a little more cohesive.
Remove from heat and add the zest and juice from the citrus fruit and the splash of tangerine juice.* Cool and place in fridge until well chilled.
*Cook’s note: I remember when I first made this dish I had some tangerine juice in the fridge so I added it to the mixture after it cooked. It added a nice tart note, but it is not necessary. If you happen to have tangerine juice on hand, by all means, add it but don’t feel the need to buy it just for this purpose.
Thanks Tim for your delicious recipe.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday filled with family, friends and delicious food for the soul.
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