Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Thanksgiving in April

It's always nice to give thanks, and it's especially nice for an extra occasion to eat stuffing and potatoes covered in marshmallows.



So when my friend Emily decided to have a Thanksgiving Potluck for her birthday last weekend, I was more than a little excited!

I was planning on making THIS and actually serving it IN a pumpkin! But it's almost impossible to find a pumpkin in April so I was a little relieved when I was assigned cranberry sauce.

Except then I realized... it's almost impossible to find cranberries in April too!

Matt said "So we'll just buy a can, right?"

I said "Nay! Boo!"

He said "We can like, take it out of the can and serve it on a plate to make it nice"

I said "Are you crazy!? We're going on a scavenger hunt to find cranberries. Real, actual cranberries."

In hindsight, i'm not actually sure which idea was crazier...

It turned out to be more difficult to find a can of cranberry sauce than a bag of frozen cranberries so the home-made way won in the end! My apologies to any of those families out there who swear by the gelatinous tower of cran.  It's really so easy to make it yourself!  And what could be a better excuse to mix practically equal parts sugar and fruit together than Thanksgiving in April!?



 Homemade Cranberry Sauce

12 oz fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 orange

Boil the water and simmer with the sugar until it is dissolved.  Add the cranberries. Add some orange zest to taste. You can even squeeze some of the orange juice in.  Wait a few minutes and the berries start popping!  After about 10 minutes, when all of the berries have popped and the liquid is half reduced and starts to thicken, remove from the heat and cool in a bowl.  As the sauce cools, it will thicken by itself.  Keep it cool in the fridge until you're ready for your Thanksgiving feast!

Everything else that everyone brought, incidentally, was AMAZINGDELICIOUS as you can tell from the table!

Happy Birthday, Emily! Thanks for Thanksgiving!

Princess hats should be a Thanksgiving tradition!

2 comments:

  1. HaHa, I come from one of "Those Families" Though we have evolved into one of "Those-those families" who makes and prefers fancy homemade sauce, but also serves the can sliced and served on a plate to make it nice.

    Also what a wonderful party idea. I miss you all in SoCal.
    (Collyn)

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    1. I should have pegged you for a double-cranberry family! Well if it's Gallant tradition, it must be good! :D

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