I'm Back!

I’m back!  Okay, where have I been for months you ask?  Well, it’s been a trying several months what with major house repairs on the exterior of our 17 year old home, two deaths in the family, one Emergency Room visit for me, yes, I’m okay, several trips from the east coast to the west coast, husband diagnosed with a progressive brain disorder that will diminish his cognitive skills as time goes on, one ageing 15 year old dog that has to be taken outside every couple of hours or else – you know what the “else” is and who knows how many trips to the Vet!  Some days I’m not sure why I get out of bed!  I know, excuses, excuses but one gets tired and sometimes in our old age we would just rather sit in a chair, stare out the window, enjoy the silence and maybe do a little knitting.

The longer one stays away from blogging the harder it is to figure out what to say when the itch occurs to get up and going again.   I have run four blogs for several years along with many, many other activities.  Now with changes afoot in my life  I have more-or-less stopped painting (hope to get back to it eventually though) because of demands on my need to hang around closer to the daily goings on in the house.  I have at least managed to continue to cook interesting things, knit, read, surf the Net, follow politics (depressing), take photos and in general manage the ebb and flow of daily events around our corner of the world here in Maine. 

So, I guess to begin once again I will start by posting a recipe I had planned to post last December!  Better late than never as the saying goes.

Simple Cranberry Relish

 No cooking, simple, quick, except for cleaning those cranberries and is tasty!

All you need is oranges, cranberries and sugar.  Take two oranges, clean well the outsides with a soapy scrubby brush or sponge, rinse, dry and slice into quarters.  Place in food processor and whirl until nicely chopped.  Yes, you use the entire orange.

Add to food processor two packages of cranberries that have been cleaned and any nasty areas cut away.  No cooking required with this recipe.

Grind in processor until tiny bits are like a relish would look.

Add 1 cup of sugar and give a couple of pulses.

Taste and decide if it is sweet enough for you.  Add more sugar if needed.

 Ladle into clean jars and seal.  Stores in freezer until the following Christmas! That's provided you can keep from eating it all up in no time and then having to go on a hunt for more cranberries which we all know are not available until about Thanksgiving.  So taste, enjoy and make more if you like while cranberries are fresh and available.  

This is delicious on toast, as a side with turkey or chicken, slathered over many types of meats/fish and baked.  You decide and experiment with the recipe.  My whole family loves this relish better than the cooked varieties.  Enjoy!