Thanksgiving

Almost hard to remember back as far as Thanksgiving since I've taken so long to post. We had a wonderful lunch for 14 people. We were worried about the prospects of rain so we even set up for indoor seating for everyone. Tables looked great!

Our menu consisted of

• A dry-brined natural (non-frozen) organic turkey (dry brine was lemon zest, salt and rosemary)
• Honey-baked ham (MIL brought)
• Great cheese platter with various cheeses and fruits and nuts and crackers
• Stuffing with ciabata bread, dried apricots and sausage
• Green beans
• Cranberry sauce (recipe to follow as this is my go-to recipe for cranberry sauce and I can't imagine any other turning out this tasty)
• Mashed potatoes
• My mom's yam casserole
• My mom's famous gravy
• Homemade pumpkin dinner rolls
• Julienne apple pies
• Costco pumpkin pie

Here's the cranberry sauce recipe from recipegirl.com (http://www.recipegirl.com/2007/11/12/maple-tangerine-cranberry-sauce/)

MAPLE- TANGERINE CRANBERRY SAUCE
www.RecipeGirl.com

Servings: 12

2 cups strained fresh tangerine juice (from about 12 tangerines)
3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (12 ounce bag)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup pure maple syrup, preferably Grade B
1 whole cinnamon stick
1 tsp finely grated tangerine zest
pinch of kosher salt

1. In a 10-inch skillet, combine all of the ingredients. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and then reduce to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has thickened somewhat and looks slightly syrupy, about 30 minutes.

2. Remove the cinnamon stick and let the cranberry sauce cool in the pan- it will thicken a bit more as it cools. Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature.

Cooking Tips
*12 tangerines is an estimate (depends on the size of your tangerines and how juicy they are). You can also buy fresh squeezed tangerine juice and strain out the pulp. I used half tangerine juice and half orange juice and it turned out wonderful. You do need the zest from a tangerine, so be sure to use at least one fresh one.
*Be sure to remove the cinnamon stick when the sauce is done simmering. The cinnamon flavor will be plenty noticeable, but you don’t want it to overpower.
*This sauce may be made up to a week ahead. Cover and chill.