This was my first year hosting Thanksgiving for my mom's entire family at my house. Grandma just turned 80 and it's time for the younger generation to start taking over and let her relax on the holidays. I was a little nervous because I wanted it to be perfect, but I was also so excited because there is nothing I love more than cooking and entertaining.
When I was planning the menu, I asked my friends and family what was the one dish you have to have at Thanksgiving dinner that just makes your dinner complete. Overwhelmingly, the answer was stuffing. Since I have to eat gluten free, this was obviously a challenge. But thanks to gluten free blogger Stephanie O'Dea and her obsession with her crockpot, I found the most amazing stuffing recipe ever that is not only delicious, but frees up tons of space in the oven.
Dave said that his favorite was cranberry sauce. I refuse to serve gunky gelatinous blobs of cranberry flavored HFCS in my home to my family. My friend Carol, over at Uncovering Food, has a super yummy recipe for Clementine Cuties Cranberry Sauce. I really love the juicy sweetness of the clementines with the contrast of the tart cranberries. I changed it up a bit to use ingredients I had on hand, make enough for an army, and to give it my own twist. If you like your cranberry sauce very sweet, I would increase the honey because this was extra tart
Orange Cranberry Sauce
3 lb fresh cranberries (reserve 1/2 cup for cranberry martinis)
Juice and zest of nine clementines
1 cup of local honey
1/4 cup Grand Marnier
Wash berries thoroughly, removing any stems or rotten berries. Combine cranberries with clementine juice and zest, honey, and Grand Marnier in a large pot or dutch oven. Turn stove to medium-high heat and bring contents to a boil, stirring often. After the cranberries begin to boil, reduce heat to medium-low and continue to stir occasionally for approximately twenty to thirty minutes or until berries have burst open.
Remove from heat and store in a covered glass bowl (plastic will stain and metal will give it a funky taste). Refrigerate for a couple days before serving to let the flavors fully develop.
Other recipes I made for Thanksgiving:
Pumpkin Mousse I added two layers of a gluten free pumpkin cake.
Pecan Pie I used a gf pie crust.
One of my new favorite mixing bowl sets! I picked it up on sale at Costco last month. I love the freezer, fride, oven, microwave, dishwasher versatility of the the bowls. Pyrex doesn't pay me to say this, I just adore their products (and broke lots of them in chemistry lab in college).
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