Thanksgiving Eve

Stupidity reined!

For the past month I’d desperately needed to clean out the pantry and kept putting it off.  It got really messy with summer and canning then I bought a bunch of items in bulk…..It was a messy job I just kept putting off.  The night before Thanksgiving I couldn’t find anything in there…so I had enough, got real stupid and started emptying shelves……deep shelves.

Mr.Fix-It thought I’d lost my mind and bravely stayed to help & watch the comedy show.

My entire kitchen quickly became trashed. 

Hour and a half later, it was all cleaned up with neat, reorganized and clean shelves. 

Was I ever surprised and upset with myself over some of my finds of expired food.  I thought I had a decent rotation system in place but evidence of full trash bags proved me very wrong.   Such a waste & I and now have a better rotation system in place.

And,,,

Just in case you ever run into a syrup bottle stuck to a shelf & hot water won’t loosen it (Not that it has ever happened to me *Snort*) ..a blow dryer on high will loosen that sucker right up.   

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,thanksgiving prep,food rotation,pantry clean out

The Cranberry Debate

Is a biggie in our house.

Growing up, Mom cooked the most wonderful cranberry sauce. Real cranberry sauce…boiled till the berries popped, sugar added and cooled in the fridge.   Thanksgiving and Christmas would not be the same with out it. For me it was a memory scent of Christmas. We gobbled it up with our meal and later slathered on leftover turkey sandwiches.  A turkey sandwich just is not the same without cranberry sauce.   Then there was the year cranberry jelly appeared on the table..along with cranberry sauce.  Not just cranberry jelly, but cranberry jelly from a can.( <---insert ominous voice)  My Dad loved it…& had to pretend he didn’t.  I don’t think I’d ever seen my Momma so insulted……

The first Thanksgiving after Mr. Fix-It & I were married, I made cranberry sauce.  And he asked what is that…where was the cranberry jelly and……the…cranberry relish he grew up eating!  What?!?!?!

Blaspheme!!

What the heck is cranberry relish?????

Well……(insert a *fluffy huff*)

It’s on the cranberry package ……and oh so good! 

Sweet and sour at the same time….similar to the candy sweet tarts. As the years went by cranberry jelly and cranberry relish were what has graced our table. 

Today for the first time in YEARS I made cranberry sauce. Because, I miss my Mama & I wanted her cranberry sauce.

Actually, I ended up making a double batch and canned it all.  .

It’s excellent with pork chops. Preserved, I now have small jars to use year round

So this year we will have cranberry sauce, cranberry jelly and cranberry relish. 

Yes, we will have very clean kidneys by weeks end.

Cranberry sauce

It’s super simple to make…

1 bag of cranberries rinsed (I like half the bag chopped so I put some in the blender)

place berries in a pan with 1-1.5 cup water (just enough to see a few floating about)

Bring to a boil and listen for the cranberries to pop (yes really they pop) and soften.

 

(Keep stirring so they don’t scorch)

Once they are soft add 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar (hey, Its Thanksgiving!)

Bring to a full boil for 1-2 minutes and turn it off. 

Chill in a pretty bowl for the table… and slather on your turkey slices!

It’s pan lickin good!

What’s on your table?

Technorati Tags: Katidids,Thanksgiving prep,Cranberry relish,sauce & Jelly,canning,preserving