What Did I Eat on Thanksgiving????? Plus my Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Update: See my new recipe for cranberry sauce here.

I'm sensing a theme in these last two posts ;)

For somebody as obsessed with food as I am, it's hard to believe I've never cooked a whole turkey before. Sure, I've helped my mom when I was younger but I've never made one by myself. Especially since I'm only cooking for two now. I decided to go ahead and make one this year so I could have turkey for two Thanksgiving dinners, leftovers, and freeze some for the several holiday parties I'll attend around Christmas. Plus I get the carcass which is the best part because I LOVE turkey bone broth! It was also my first time making giblet gravy which turned out great as well.

For as long as I can remember, I've been on "cranberry sauce duty" for the holidays. It's my favorite side dish. It's also the single reason a food processor ended up on my wedding registry (thanks lil brother!) I've experimented with the recipe quite a bit and made 3 variations this year.  It was pretty cool to taste all 3 versions side-by-side.  I just wish I would have had time to post the recipe before Thanksgiving instead of after. Oops. Sorry.

I had two dinners to go to this year so I packed up two identical meals (see my previous post if you're wondering why). Turkey, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, and gluten free pumpkin pie with coconut milk whipped cream. I didn't feel like I was missing out at all. Actually Thanksgiving two years ago, I was terrified of getting sick and stressed about it for probably an entire month before it happened. Then last year, I was so scared that people would be offended because I couldn't eat their food anymore. I really thought everyone was going to hate me....but everyone completely understood and was really supportive! This year, I was finally looking to the holiday. Everyone understands why I have to do what I do and it wasn't a big deal. It was just a normal holiday dinner again.That made me SO HAPPY!

I had to throw in these pictures of our annual (day after) Thanksgiving bowling outing. It has become a pretty big part of the holiday over the years and is always so much fun.

Recipe

Cranberry Sauce

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• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Total Time: 10 mins
• Yield: 4 cups 1x

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Ingredients

See my updated recipe for cranberry sauce here.

• 2 C cranberries
• 1 orange with zest
• ½ C pecans
• 1 C cherry juice
• 1 20 oz can crushed pineapple
• 2 Tbsp gelatin

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Instructions

1. Heat cherry juice on the stovetop or in the microwave. I just put mine in the microwave on the beverage setting. You want it just hot enough to dissolve the gelatin.
2. Whisk the gelatin into the cherry juice and transfer to a large bowl. Stir in the crushed pineapple with juice.
3. In a food processor, pulse cranberries and pecans until just roughly chopped. Stir into cherry juice mixture.
4. Stir orange zest into the mixture. Add orange wedges to the food processor and process until you get a uniform consistency then stir that in too.
5. Place cranberry sauce in the refrigerator overnight or just until cold (about 4 hours). Serve chilled.

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Notes

Allow 4 hours to chill.

Try substituting cranberry juice or half cranberry juice for a more tart cranberry sauce.