Joanne's Easy Bake: Easy - Make Your Own Cranberry Sauce and Juice

Joanne's Easy Bake: Easy - Make Your Own Cranberry Sauce and Juice: Cranberry Sauce/Jam & Juice Long time ago, when I roasted my first Christmas turkey, I used to buy canned cranberry jam f...

Easy - Make Your Own Cranberry Sauce and Juice

Cranberry Sauce/Jam & Juice

Long time ago, when I roasted my first Christmas turkey, I used to buy canned cranberry jam from the grocery store and heat it up according to directions. I thought that was the only way I could get cranberry sauce for my turkey. Fresh cranberries are meant for decorating the platter then. After reading several cook books, I realized how easily one can make cranberry sauce/jam and cranberry juice and will never go back to the canned and bottled stuffs after my first try. Please give this a try and you can have cranberry sauce all over the place - on your turkey, ham, pancakes, ice cream, and whatever you fancy - even on your toasts because cranberries are so Good!

Cranberry Sauce/Jam

Utensils:-

Stainless steel saucepan

Sieve

Wooden spoon

Large measuring cup

Stainless steel ladle

Ingredients:-

6 cups or (680 g or 24 oz) fresh or frozen cranberries 

(buy them while in season; fresh cranberries freeze well)

1-3/4 cups granulated sugar

1-3/4cups cold filtered water

zest of one lemon

Methods:-

1. Rinse and drain cranberries and wash lemon before you zest. 

2. Place all ingredients into a heavy stainless steel saucepan that has lots of room for cranberries to expand and pop. 

3. Bring to a boil over high heat and turn heat to low. Let cranberries simmer until they are soft and most of them are popped, approximately 20 - 25 minutes. Watch the pot as mixture can easily boil over and make a mess! 

4. Turn heat off and let it cool off for 15 minutes. 

5. Ladle and strain mixture over a sieve using a wooden spoon to press the pulp. Let juice pass through the sieve into a clean bowl or mason jar. Mixture will thicken as it cools. Allow it to cool completely before refrigerating. May keep up to two weeks.

(Makes approximately 4 cups of cranberry sauce/jam).

6. Reserve the pulp in the sieve and return pulp to the saucepan when all is strained, to make cranberry juice! (Waste not, want not)! 

To make cranberry juice:

1. Add 1 to 2 cups of cold filtered water to the strained pulp, that which was left after making the sauce, in the saucepan and bring to a boil. 

2. Strain the juice over sieve into a jug or measuring cup. Discard the pulp.

3. Pour juice into a nice glass and serve! You now have the real cranberry juice instead of drinking the cocktail that comes in a plastic bottle!

4. If you would like to make more juice anytime, just add water to one or two tablespoons of cranberry sauce/jam, dilute to your taste and serve using your favourite glassware. 

If you make the sauce/jam now, it should keep well in a clean glass jar and ready for your Christmas dinner with friends and family! Enjoy!

   

Joanne's Easy Bake: So Easy - Hearty Butternut Squash Soup

Joanne's Easy Bake: So Easy - Hearty Butternut Squash Soup: Sometime ago, my Uncle Fred, came with several butternut squash that he harvested from his big garden in Niagara. I never thought I...

So Easy - Hearty Butternut Squash Soup

Sometime ago, my Uncle Fred, came with several butternut squash that he harvested from his big garden in Niagara. I never thought I could like anything made of butternut squash until I tasted the best butternut squash soup made by my friend, Mandy, at one of our church's 'lunch and bunch' events. Honestly, it was the best I have ever tasted and she shared with me her way of making it. She uses smoked bacon to give it the smoky flavor which is really ideal for this cold season. But in this version, I omit bacon because one of my boys do not like bacon fat. This can be a totally vegetarian soup if you use vegetable broth instead of chicken or beef broth.

Hearty Butternut Squash Soup

Utensils need:-

Chef knife

Vegetable Peeler

Cutting Board

Large stock pot

Electric Hand blender

Ingredients:-

3 cups butternut squash (peeled and cut into small cubes)

1 stalk leek (including green parts)

1 cup carrots (peeled and sliced into smaller pieces)

1 cup onions (peeled and sliced)

1 cup celery (cut into smaller pieces)

4 pips garlic (skins off)

5 black peppercorns

Dash of nutmeg (optional)

3 cups clear chicken or beef or vegetable broth

Salt to taste

Method:-

Wash thoroughly, peel and cut all vegetables and place them all at once into a large stock pot. Add the broth, peppercorn and bring to a boil over high heat. Once soup boils, turn heat down to low, cover pot and let it simmer for 20 - 25 minutes until all vegetables are tender. Turn off heat. Immerse an electric hand blender into the pot and blend all vegetables until it is in a puree form. Season with salt and a dash of nutmeg. Serve either hot or cold. You will love the creamy and nutty flavor of the butternut squash. It is yummy without adding any cream! 

Note: Enjoy and hope you won't turn 'orange' by eating too much of this!