One of our family's most anticipated time of year is autumn. We are thrilled by the ushering in of crisp, cool air, of reading soul-filling books by the crackling fireplace and remembering the many blessings God has given us throughout the past year. One favorite part of the fall festivities was the planning and preparations for our Thanksgiving celebration.
Often because we have moved a lot, we found ourselves alone around Thanksgiving. Beginning with our years overseas as missionaries, we began to ask all sorts of people over to our home on Thanksgiving. I know that even this year, Joel and Joy are celebrating at least 3 different thanksgivings with friends in Scotland.
But I am now quite sure that trying to do everything perfectly by myself creates stress for everyone around me. So even though my sweet ones prefer my cooking (Isn't that how it often is?) I knew that I would be more pleasant to live with if I delegated a lot of the work to others. It is not worth wrecking a special day if the mama is a martyr and punishes everyone for all the work she is doing. I decided to have a good attitude about the work I would be doing for my family, and to delegate some of it so I would not be under the weight of too many ideals. (Of course, there are grocery stores and restaurants if your season requires having some of the food catered! Mary verses Martha, you know.)
I learned to start early. I would make corn bread a week or two before the day and freeze it so my stuffing would be easier to make. Pies and bread are made on Tuesday and Wednesday. Children's crafts would be prepared the week before—usually those cute turkeys that decorate the table!
My dear friend Brandee passed this recipe on to me, and I held on to it as a simple favorite! It can be used throughout the year. While Brandee was still in college, she worked as an aide for a kindergarten teacher named Connie Fritch and every year she made this recipe with her students for their Thanksgiving Feast. She just so happens to be the same lady who started the Honey Baked Ham stores, so as you can imagine, it was a fabulous recipe then and still is every year at our house.
The boys in my family actually prefer the plain cranberry jelly right out of the can "like Mimi used to do," — can you believe it?— so we have all sorts of varieties of cranberries on our table. Here's Brandee's recipe.
Cranberry Relish
Ingredients:
2 pkgs. fresh cranberries (rinsed and sorted)
2 Cups Orange Juice
2 Sticks cinnamon
2 Oranges (cut in wedges)
2 Apples, chopped
2 Pears, chopped
1 1/2 Cups Honey
1 Cup Sugar (Optional)
Strawberries, sliced (Optional)
Add cranberries to large/extra large pot.
Add O.J. to pot and boil medium high heat.
Boil cranberries in O.J. until popping stops.
Add other ingredients.
Cook until thickened.
Turn off heat and add honey or sugar. May need additional sweetener to taste.
Before chilling, remove orange wedges. I usually keep the cinnamon in until just before serving. Voila! How easy was that! Enjoy! This is amazing on a turkey sandwich or used with a pork roast, or simply poured over your first slice of Thanksgiving turkey.
Enjoy this relish throughout the year by freezing small batches!