Thanksgiving Round Up - My Favorite Cranberry-Pear Sauce!

I love cranberries. And pears. No, really - together, separate, either way. But for lots of people, they either love or hate cranberry sauce that is typically found on the table at Thanksgiving celebrations across the US. No surprise, these tart little gems are often unrecognizable in many recipes - ranging from plain old canned cranberry sauce to jello varieties, perhaps in an effort to make them more palatable.

The truth is, cranberries are tart. They're supposed to be tart. If they were supposed to be sweet, they'd taste like apples or jelly beans or high fructose corn syrup :) Now, I'm not going to lie and say this has been my favorite recipe since I was a little tiny girl. Nope. I discovered it JUST LAST YEAR when my Dad made a similar version due to some of the changes we all were making in our diet. He did, however, still make his legendary - and my Mom's favorite - cranberry sauce with oranges and jello, etc. So, until last Thanksgiving, I had no idea what pure goodness I was missing. (That's not to say I didn't LOVE his jello sauce - it is also delicious - love you Dad!)

 

Soooo...fast forward to this year. The thought of HAVING TO MAKE IT BEFORE THANKSGIVING made my mouth water. Seriously. I thought "YES! I can make this and share it with my friends and family AND I get to enjoy it before Thanksgiving!" I love it that much. I really love how the pure tart cranberry flavor comes out in this easy, clean cranberry sauce. We're not enjoying it with turkey tonight (I tossed our last lamb roast in the crock pot to complement, however), but let me tell you, I will enjoy it tonight, on Thanksgiving, and maybe I'll pick up some extra cranberries to enjoy it throughout the winter, too!

My FAVORITE Cranberry-Pear Sauce
Makes about 3 cups

WHAT YOU NEED
12 oz fresh, organic cranberries (sometimes hard to find - I like to sub local berries, we know the grower)

1 ripe organic pear, peeled and diced into 1/4"-1/2" pieces

3/4c organic apple juice

1/2c organic or local honey

zest from 1/2 organic orange (optional)

PUT IT TOGETHER

Rinse cranberries. Combine all ingredients together in a small pot and bring to a boil. Stir then simmer until cranberries burst and the sauce thickens, about 15-20 min. Cool, refrigerate, and ENJOY! ...I sometimes "taste test" while it's still warm...YUM!

*my bags of cranberries are generally 12 oz, but if you have a 1# bag, you can use the same ingredients, just use 1c organic apple juice instead of 3/4c.