Quick and Easy Spiced Cranberry Sauce Recipe

I grew up eating Thanksgiving cranberry sauce from a can. I figured cranberry sauce must be hard to make and that's why so many people buy the canned stuff.

Nope.

I learned just how easy it is to make cranberry sauce the year Husband and I threw a Thanksgiving dinner for some international grad students. We wanted the dinner to be as traditional as possible because we were introducing them to their first American holiday.

Cranberries. Water. Sugar. That's it.

Cranberry sauce yum!

We've been making cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries ever since. 

In a house with two daring foodies with a large spice rack, it didn't take long for Husband and I to start tweaking the basic cranberry sauce recipe into a fantastic and still easy spiced cranberry sauce recipe.

Easy Cranberry Jelly Recipe

Hickory Farms #HolidayTradition Giveaway!

My earliest Thanksgiving memory is also my favorite. It comes back to me every Thanksgiving when we are sitting at the table and waiting for the turkey to appear.

My mom called everyone to the table for Thanksgiving dinner. We sat there and waited for my Mom to start putting the food on the table from the kitchen.

And we waited.

And we waited.

And we waited.

My grandfather tried to distract fidgety and hungry four year old me by teaching me a trick he guaranteed would make the food come faster.

Brown Butter Skirt Steak

Look at it.

My dinner.

I made brown butter skirt steak with wilted chicory and red potato salad.

 It tastes better than it looks and it looks magnificent!

It was such a success, I followed it the next night with this pesto shrimp orzo with summer squash carpaccio.

8 Days of Pumpkin

I did it! My pumpkin dog treat project was more budget than lazy, and it took eight days to do it, but I turned our three Halloween pumpkins into dried pumpkin dog treats and pumpkin powder to mix into Lacey's food.

Three Pumpkins Before

Three Pumpkins After

25 Gift Ideas that Save Money: Holiday Gifts You Actually Want to Give and Get

Ask 20 different people what they think makes the perfect holiday gift and you will get 20 different answers. Some people like holiday gifts to be an indulgence. Some people like holiday gifts to be insanely practical. Still other people have the pie in the sky notion that you should be able to read their mind and get them something they don’t even know they want to be the perfect gift.

At our house we do a little bit of each (except the mind reading one.) I have to say though, the gifts I like and use most often are the holiday gifts that help me save money.

 

Pin this list of Christmas gift ideas for later!

How to Make Dried Pumpkin Dog Treats

When Lacey gets nervous or anxious she sometimes has an accident and tries to eat the evidence.

It is as delightful to deal with as it sounds.

Our behaviorist suggested we give Lacey either pumpkin or pineapple because it is something dogs can eat safely that "goes down tasting good and comes out tasting bad."

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