Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Nothing says fall or the holidays like cranberry sauce. Its sweet yet tart flavor paired with the vibrant burgundy color brings life to any holiday table. It is even the perfect addition to leftover Thanksgiving sandwiches or as a topping for pancakes, ice cream or on quinoa burgers.

But gone are the days of the canned, jello like blobs of cranberry you might have grown up with. Homemade cranberry sauce is SO easy to make and all you need are a few simple + fresh ingredients. Here’s the details!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 bag cranberries

• 1/8 cup pure maple syrup

• 1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely diced

• Orange zest (use about 1/2 - 3/4 of the orange)

• 1/4 cup filtered water

• Salt + pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

• Add cranberries, filtered water, and pure maple syrup to a medium-sized sauce pan over medium heat.

• Finely chop 1 tsp fresh rosemary, zest 1/2 - 3/4 of an orange and add to the mixture; season with salt + pepper to taste.

• Once the cranberries begin to pop, turn heat down to a low simmer. Use back of spoon to help pop and soften the cranberry mixture.

• Let simmer on low heat until all cranberries have popped and the cranberry sauce is at your desired texture [for a thinner cranberry sauce, add more water]

Once the cranberries have broken down and all the flavors have combined, that’s it! You can either serve this warm or let cool and serve room temperature. This is great to bring to your upcoming Friendsgiving or Thanksgiving get-together; just garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary!

I also like to mix a scoop of this into my fall harvest salad. This is not an exact, scientific recipe but I wanted to share with ya’ll what I did since SO many of you wanted to try it! Here’s the details:

• bed of spinach

• tri-colored quinoa [I like to cook mine in vegetable stock/broth]

• roasted veggies: butternut squash, sweet potato, baby portobella mushrooms, red onion, brussel sprouts [toss lightly in avocado oil, salt & pepper and bake at 375]

• pomegranate seeds

• chopped pecans

• pumpkin seeds

• maple-orange-spicy mustard sauce [for 1-2 servings of the salad, mix together 2 spoonfuls of Sir Kensington’s spicy brown mustard [~2-3 tbsp], 1 tsp of pure maple syrup, a pinch of finely chopped rosemary and approx. 1/4 tsp of fresh orange zest. Mix all ingredients together. To thin to desired consistency, slowly ad avocado oil.

I like to put a bed of spinach at the bottom of the bowl and top with the mixture of everything else. Toss the roasted veggies, pomegranate seeds, pecans and pumpkin seeds in the sauce before serving.

This salad has been a go-to of mine this week and I am absolutely hooked! The maple-orange-spicy mustard sauce 100% makes the salad and the crunch from the pecans and pumpkin seeds, with the tart pop of the pomegranate seeds is a flavor explosion! Don’t forget to toss in a spoonful of the homemade cranberry sauce for even more of a flavor pop!