It's the first Monday of the month. Around here, that can mean only one, momentous thing: it's time again for another Small Measure Giveaway! For those of you new to the contest, or to this blog, I'm staging a giveaway each month from now until the release of my book, Homemade Living: Canning & Preserving with Ashley English. Each month one lucky person will win an artfully crafted canned item featured in the book and made by yours truly.
From my pantry to yours, this month I'll be giving away a jar of Cranberry, Juniper & Rosemary Sauce. Could there be anything more appropriate, for my U.S. readers, than a cranberry giveaway for November? Guaranteed to festoon your table in time for Thanksgiving, this blend of tart berries, aromatic juniper and fragrant rosemary will perfectly compliment turkey and turkey-free tables alike. And the day after the big feast, it's the perfect companion to turkey sandwiches, sweet potatoes and sauteed greens. It's even a great foil for balancing the sweetness of pecan pie!
To enter: Simply leave a comment to THIS specific post by telling me your favorite way of cooking or serving cranberries. Your comment MUST link to your particular blog or web site (and therefore to your contact information) or include your e-mail address. Otherwise, I won't be able to get in touch with you if you win! Any entries that do not include some way of getting in touch will be disqualified.
Deadline: Comments must be received by midnight EST November 16th, 2009. Odds of winning will depend on the number of eligible entries received.
Other rules:
1. You must have a mailing address in the United States of America (sorry international folks!).
2. Only one entry comment per person.
How it works: Each comment will be assigned a sequential number. The winning number will be selected from a random number generator, so there'll be no favorites, simply a game of chance.
Keep coming back each month to see what new tasty item is up for grabs!
My family loves cranberry sauce. I love it mixed with a little mayo on a turkey sandwich. We also like cranberry orange bread. Living in southern Massachusetts, we have a lot of cranberry bogs around us. It is so beautiful to see them flood and harvest the bogs on a clear fall day. Just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteCranberries are amazing when juiced along with a sweeter fruit--apple-cranberry, pear-cranberry, etc. The fresh juice is a completely different flavor than commercial cranberry juice. It adds a nice tart sparkle to other juices. That's probably my favorite way to have them, but cranberry muffins are delicious, too!
ReplyDeleteHomemade cranberry bread, not that boxed stuff that most people make. warm, fresh cranberry bread with sweet butter on it. That's my favorite way to serve cranberries!
ReplyDeleteMy mom has a recipe that's a family favorite: It's a mixture of whole cranberries and apple chunks, baked with sugar and an oat and nut topping. A lot like an apple crisp, but with a whole lot of cranberry goodness. It's the best!
ReplyDeleteDried cranberries with homemade yogurt and granola!
ReplyDeleteThis looks even better than the can-ridged jelly that my little brother still adores. Last year, I discovered a cranberry and millet bake with squash and pepitas that's quite tasty and uber-autumnal.
ReplyDeleteCranberry butter....mmmm. Just mix some smooshed cranberries into softened butter and then refrigerate again to harden. Tastes amazing on pumpkin bread. Also like to put some cranberries in stuffing. It's a nice contrast to the gravy flavor.
ReplyDeleteI love dried cranberries--in everything and perfect as a snack. I always bring them with me everywhere I go. But there is also nothing quite like a cranberry chutney at thanksgiving..yum!
ReplyDeleteI use cranberry sauce and dried cranberries as a topping for chicken. Basically, I saute chicken breasts (cut in strips) in a large frying pan. when they are just about done, add cranberry sauce, a bit of orange juice, and dried cranberries to the pan. Let everything heat through. It's delicious!
ReplyDelete--BarbS
(bhshoham [at] yahoo [dot] com)
My favorite way to eat cranberries is a fresh made cranberry pineapple sauce...I discovered it years ago and its so delicious! The pineapple's sweetness and the cranberry's tartness is a perfect blend!
ReplyDeleteI find whole cranberries to be a bit overwhelming, so I chop them up and mix them into scone batter. Awesome with some butter and a cup of tea!
ReplyDeleteThis sauce sounds so delish, I love juniper berries and mixed with cranberries and rosemary sounds divine.
ReplyDeleteI didn't like cranberry sauce at all until I started making my own. I love to simmer them down with red wine, orange zest, and cinnamon sticks. Just the smell alone makes me melt!
ReplyDeleteWow- that sounds amazing!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up, I hated cranberry sauce...my family either served the kind from a can (read: still in can shape on the platter!), or my grandma's recipe which was extremely thick and full of other fruit and nuts...more like a salad really. A few years ago my boyfriend's mom made her recipe and I have been converted ever since...it is on the juicy side and has fresh ginger and citrus, but is mostly cranberries. She uses organic, dry harvested berries, and that probably contributes to the deliciousness, because dry harvested berries are more uniformly ripe.
Like many folks, my family loves a good turkey sandwhich after the holidays, with some cranberry sauce piled on. Being a vegetarian, I leave the turkey off and am very, very satisfied eating a mayonaise and cranberry sauce sandwich. I am craving one now, actually! I'd like to try this with homeade mayo sometime.
yay for cranberries! I am having a holiday party this year and plan to serve a variety of cranberry dishes...so festive! My mom makes sugared cranberries that are a huge hit.
Mmmmm! Cranberries blended with oranges and walnuts with a hint of sugar and orange juice. Let it sit over night, and enjoy!! Yum!!!
ReplyDeletei like cranberries either dried + covered in dark chocolate or in a cranberry sauce that also contains a port or merlot and some orange juice, although last time i made this, i didn't have orange juice and used grapefruit and it still turned out fine!
ReplyDeletei love to add cranberries, fresh or frozen to cobblers... they add the perfect punch to peaches, blackberries, blueberries... really any fruit you can think of! they are even great in smoothies! ckseller@live.com
ReplyDeleteI would love to win a jar of the cranberry! One nice thing I do have your book on order!
ReplyDeletecranberries are one of my all time favorites, it's really the secret to thanksgiving in my humble opinion. I also love them baked in quick breads and muffins, and soaked in apple cider vinegar and then tossed with sauteed kale.
ReplyDeleteA staple at our family Thanksgiving is homemade Cranberry-Orange sauce. I love it cold the next day on a turkey sandwich!
ReplyDeleteI love cranberries cooked with orange peel and pecans. YUM! I'm not a big fan of that stuff that comes out shaped like the can, so I would love to introduce my in-laws to some yummy canned cranberries . . .
ReplyDeletecingle23@gmail.com
www.skittermagoo.com/blog
Last Christmas I bottled cranberry liqueur to give as gifts to family and friends. The recipe was easy but messy (vodka and cranberry pulp, anyone?), and the results were unanimously approved. The color of the infused vodka after three weeks was a rich, vibrant deep pink, which looked very festive for the season.
ReplyDeleteHere's the link http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=554718
Last Christmas I bottled cranberry liqueur to give as gifts to family and friends. The recipe was easy but messy (vodka and cranberry pulp, anyone?), and the results were unanimously approved. The color of the infused vodka after three weeks was a rich, vibrant deep pink, which looked very festive for the season.
ReplyDeleteHere's the link http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=554718
It used to be my grandma's cranberry sauce, but unfortunately the recipe died with her years ago. So now, I have a recipe (I forget where it came from) for cranberry mini-cupcakes that I make each year.
ReplyDeleteKristina
kmfukuda13@att.net
I love me some cranberry bread!
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to making some cranberry chutney or sauce and I've already been enjoying cranberry salsa. Then there are baked good with cranberries... How to choose my favorite?
ReplyDeleteOcean Spray cranberry jelly straight from the can with the lines on it! I would love to try your sauce. I would like to try Keri's cranberry millet recipe.
ReplyDeleteCranberry-pear pie...the best thing I ever made with cranberries. Unfortunately, I lost the recipe awhile back, and have yet to find it again!
ReplyDeleteWe like our cranberry sauce fresh. In a food processor grind a bag of fresh berries with 1 seeded and cubed orange, peel and all with a little sugar to taste. Let sit until sugar is desolved.
ReplyDeleteThey are also great in a spinach salad with almonds.
Also, cranberries a hard to find after the holidays. Buy extra bags and freeze them on a pan and then pour into ziplock bags to use all year.
I love dried cranberries in cookies or in oatmeal, and every year I make a lovely cranberry sauce with oranges for Thanksgiving and Christmas!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite food with cranberries is a cranberry-orange-walnut bread from When Pigs Fly bakery in Maine. The incide is all walnutty and cranberry-ish, the outside has orange peel and sugar that gives it this rich crust. The slices are delicious with some butter or cream cheese, for breakfast.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I have no idea how to make that- so my favorite dish with cranberries at home is steel cut oats with soymilk, cranberries, flaxsed, sunflower seeds and a little honey.
Jessica
jess.luna@gmail.com
Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteHome made cranberry nut bread is one of our favorite cranberry recipes....with butter or cream cheese. Dried cranberries in my salad is our second favorite!
My favorite is the simplest...homemade cranberry sauce. I love, love, love the stuff!
ReplyDeleteI make a cranberry-port conserve that's perfect poured over a wedge of brie and served with cranberry walnut bread. I could live on the stuff.
ReplyDeleteQuionoa with dried cranberries, toasted pecans and an orange dressing.
ReplyDeleteKristinLmarsh@gmail.com
That sounds so yummy! I honestly cannot think of any recipes I use cranberries with - that's so sad. Probably because I live on the west coast and they cost a fortune out here unless your'e lucky to get a bag on sale during the holidays. I can say I would LOVE to make my own cranberry juice instead of having to buy juice with corn syrup - yuck! I could buy the 10 dollar 6oz bottle of pure juice - yikes! I'd go broke trying to maintain a UTI! (TMI?)
ReplyDeleteDoh! I forgot to leave my email:
ReplyDeleteaedesigns03@hotmail.com
(FunnyErnie)
I love smothering mashed potatoes with fresh cranberry sauce- I could eat it every day for the rest of my days. yuuuuum
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is cranberry bread, made with orange juice, hand ground walnuts and spelt flour.
ReplyDeleteswampmagnolia1@gmail.com
For me it's cranberry stuffing, preferrably in cornish hens and nice and moist. I can be reached at penuchi@gmail.com if I've won an impending new favorite :)
ReplyDeleteCranberries, in the form of Craisins, are a lovely "surprise" taste in mixed green salads (try spinach, feta, walnuts, and craisins) and also in chicken salad. I also love baking a pork tenderloin with cranberry-apple chutney - yum!
ReplyDeletei love cranberries and cranberry sauce. i do NOT like the tin can variety however. when i was little, i thought that was all there was. so glad i know better now! ;)
ReplyDeleteCan't beat cranberry bread!
ReplyDelete-Ellen
etrets@gmail.com
i like cranberries in lots of ways. (and, i'm lucky enough to live where they grow in the wild!) my mother in law makes excellent cranberry-apple-walnut chutney. and my mom makes delicious cranberry-orange sauce. yum. but, i also really like them in backed goods. i can't decide! i hope i win!
ReplyDeleteI adore cranberries almost any way. Every year I buy a huge bag or organic berries from Cranberry Hill and make tons of cranberry stuff, canned, dried & frozen. My favorite cranberry trick is to make cranberry butter and use that as the butter for the pastry in my cranberry-apple pie. It's always a winner!
ReplyDeletei love cranberries. especially in homemade granola. this makes me so excited for the holidays.
ReplyDeleteI have a recipe for dried cranberry, white chocolate chip and oat cookies that are my favorite potluck dish. Everyone seems to just love them.
ReplyDeletekim
mtns2sea73@hotmail.com
When I lived in Alaska we had two types of cranberries--high bush and low bush--both of which grew wild. You could always tell when the high bush cranberries were ripe because they give off a really bad odor like an outhouse. We made a sauce for meat--moose or caribou if you were lucky. It was best to process the berries on a nice day since the odor intensified. You definitely want to have doors and windows open! But the tangy/tart flavor was wonderful. Well worth all the nose holding.
ReplyDeleteLow bush cranberries are very small. Needless to say it takes a lot of picking to get enough to use. Low bush berries can be used in all the same ways as their domestic cousin. However, my favorite way to use them was to make cranberry liqueur. A few sips after a special meal is divine. I've been gone from Alaska for a few years but I have fond memories of life in the frozen north.
I just discovered a very tasty sweet potato and cranberry bread but my reigning favorite is an apple and cranberry crisp with oats in the topping. I love that it's tart and sweet.
ReplyDeleteI am an admirer of your approach to life, keeping it homemade and simple. It would be an honor to have something you made at our Thanksgiving feast. I make homemade cranberry bread and am going to experiment with pumpkin cookies and dried cranberries this week.
ReplyDeleteI love cranberries throughout the year. They are a health food and add zest to any meal. I particularly enjoy cranberries for the holidays. I typically prepare a sauce with fresh, organic berries. The preparation is easy and is fun to share with children. My grandson told me yesterday that he is having only turkey and cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. In the mid 80's, I use to go to a small take-out in California that only offered turkey dishes. I loved their turkey sundae with layers of turkey, potatoes, dressing and gravy, topped with fresh cranberry sauce. To this day I can say it was my all-time favorite!
ReplyDeleteI put dried cranberries on the salad I eat for lunch every day. Add some olives to balance the sweetness with some saltiness. Mmmmm. Joel.Sivertsen@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteHmm . . . the only time I do cranberries is t Thanksgiving when I make a very simple cranberry sauce from the recipe on the bag. (Although I do add orange zest.)
ReplyDeleteI love it though, so maybe I should expand my repertoire.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
my family loves cranberries in spice cake or muffins! we also love them with greek yogurt and oranges.
ReplyDelete