food, crochet, merriment
“If you desire to find the true spirit of Christmas and partake of the sweetness of it, let me make this suggestion to you. During the hurry of the festive occasion of this Christmas season, find time to turn your heart to God. Perhaps in the quiet hours, and in a quiet place, and on your knees—alone or with loved ones—give thanks for the good things that have come to you, and ask that His Spirit might dwell in you as you earnestly strive to serve Him and keep His commandments”
Howard W. Hunter
We here at Gracious Rain hope you have the happiest of Thanksgivings and that you eat so much turkey and cranberry sauce and potatoes and pie that you sleep for a week…well, no…then you’d miss all the cool sales tomorrow and that would be would be terribly counter-productive. Maybe, use moderation…
oh, forget it.
So, ok…go eat stuffing.
My cute little son in Lithuania breaking dry bread for stuffing–8 hours ago–
because HE knows that some traditions must go on, even in a far away land.
Have a wonderful holiday!
I ran out to pick up some frozen cranberries and found, to my dismay, that they don’t actually exist. Mr. Walmart and I did try to find them, but no luck in frozen foods. Then, while wandering around in the produce section, I serendipitously discovered the little red devils sitting innocently enough, right next to the packaged salads. I grabbed four bags, and ran. Well actually, I paid for them and then ran…home…in my car.
I did just what the recipe said and it was a pretty fun adventure. And now, I can honestly say that my sauce tastes better than theirs. The back of the cranberry bag said you can store them in the freezer just the way they are. So, I saved the other three bags for a great winter tonic that we’ll talk about soon.
The Elusive Sieve
The previous post mentions a sieve, so, while at the market, I went to the homey gadgets section and found a colander, a strainer, a sifter, a steamer…but nothing that said the word, “sieve.” So I chose a large mesh wire strainer and crossed my fingers. Turns out–sieve and strainer are about the same thing.
Cranberries have teeny, tiny seeds…about a billion of them, and so what you want is a wire strainer with small mesh. The new one was too big and let all the seeds through. So I re-poured the hot jelly through a smaller one–that I discovered in a drawer. Then, I found an old pointy, metal strainer of my mom’s that would have worked too. Yeah…I’m a noob.
So, now we have three. But don’t you worry. I’ll be totally prepared if another seed extraction project comes along…
ahhh…when..
I mean when…
True Story
So my friend Jenny says to me–“…we’ll be making pies and real cranberry sauce tomorrow.” Just like that.
“REAL cranberry sauce?” says I.
Hmmm…I’ve only seen the kind you squish out of the can, into a glass dish during the Macy’s Parade.
So upon further inquiry, I find that–lucky for all of us–Jenny shares–all the way from Albuquerque.
And yes, I should get extra points for being able to spell Albuquerque.
Take it away Jenny…
“Here’s a recipe for the cranberry sauce that we make every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas:
Ingredients:
12 oz. bag of cranberries
1-1/2 cups cold water
2 cups sugar
Directions:
Place cranberries and water in a saucepan. Boil rapidly until skins pop open, approximately 5 minutes.
*Do not wear anything white during this process, there will be little red dots everywhere in the kitchen, including you as you step up to the pot to check on the cranberries.” Maybe a lid is a good idea here.
Press the hot cranberries through a sieve (strainer) to remove skins and seeds.
You may need to wait until they cool a bit so that you can easily handle them.
Add sugar.
Return the sauce to the pan and boil rapidly for three minutes, stirring occasionally. This recipe makes nearly 1 quart of incredibly good cranberry sauce.
Cool at room temperature until it sets.
Pour into a mold…or a bowl.
Store in refrigerator.
…at this very moment…
1) A sister who brings over Turkey Cupcakes–they look like turkeys, they taste like chocolate–that are so, so cute–I couldn’t let anyone eat them until we got a picture. Plus, I figured if I could distract everyone long enough…I wouldn’t have to share. Heh, heh, heh…
2) A big black cat named Beany, that sleeps at the foot of my bed–the far right side of the foot of my bed so that I can still move my feet if I want to OR scoot my feet under him to keep them extra toasty. Yeah…he’s a good sport.
3) Thanksgiving decorations all over the place. Laurie–the cupcake sister–made the pilgrims for me a billion years ago.
The turkey bailed into my cart at JoAnn’s last year.
4) The piles on my ridiculous desk. So much potential for fun stuff. I can’t wait to sort them out and see what’s in there. I must point out…this s not a mess. I mean it. This is total order in my world.
5) “Thing 1” and “Thing 2.” The squishyist and most magnamonious babies in the world. It’s quite possible that I made both of those words up. If so…don’t tell me. They are perfect for my needs–thank you.
“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.”
~Meister Eckhart
