You guys! It’s a Sunday, I’m drinking coffee and binge watching Criminal Minds on Netflix. Which can only mean one thing — I’ve finally hit off season! YAY!!! Which means I get to be more of a full time blogger and that means you guys get a TON of yummy food headed your way. And let’s not forget there’s a book launch coming our way too! {December 9, 2014 cannot come soon enough!}
Speaking of book launch — if you guys have pre-ordered my book, Paleo Meal Planning on a Budget, make sure you email me {liz@paleoonabudget.com} so I can email you a little thank you gift! PLUS there’s a bonus thank you gift that you get on launch day! And make sure you sign up for my newsletter — I’ll give you the 411 on all of that plus some other exciting news on Tuesday when I send it out!!
Let’s talk about Cranberry Sauce for a minute. If you were here right now you’d totally notice that my nose is all scrunched and I’ve got a weird frown/grimmace rocking my face as I try to find a way to express to you guys my dislike of canned cranberry sauce. And sadly if you’re anything like me that was probably the main way you saw it growing up. Heck I don’t think I actually knew that you could make it homemade until I saw it on the food network in my late teens. But by then I had already decided it was gross {cranberry sauce in general that is} and I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot poll.
Then this year most of our vendor meals at weddings included some kind of cranberry sauce or something similar. I kind of took it as a sign that it was about time I tried my hand at it! And boy let me tell you — my first batch was pretty horrible. So horrible that there was no hope for redemption and that thing just went straight into the trash. Then the second batch was really good and the most recent batches have been a-mazing.
The best part? You can make this ahead of time and store it in the fridge. I’ve had some in the fridge for almost a week. I’ve been using it on top of my eggs, as an added something to my stir fries, with salads. Pretty much if it can have some sort of rock-awesome topping, this cranberry apple sauce needs to be on it!
And to be honest I have no idea if this tastes like a “traditional” cranberry sauce — this is tangy, with a hint of sweetness and almost has the texture of a chunky jelly – which I really, really like! It makes it perfect to spread over things {like you know, my Paleo Drop Biscuits} or just to have a long side with dinner! Make sure you make extra because seriously this lasts and you won’t be able to get enough {even my Dad liked this! Talk about an epic win for team Liz!}!
And I highly, highly suggest if you want to make this for Thanksgiving to do a quick run through of it now {even if you only do a half batch} just to make sure you don’t need to do any tweaks to it before serving on the big day!
And before you go…. if you like Ocean Spray fresh cranberries, right now there’s a $1/1 coupon on their website! You can get it here!
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Cranberry Apple Sauce
Prep Time: 5 mins- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins
Yield: a lot!
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 large apple, skin still on, diced
- 1.25 cups of water
- 12 oz fresh cranberries
- Juice of half a lemon
- pinch of salt
- 3 Tablespoons Maple Syrup {make sure it’s the good stuff!}
Instructions
- Wash, chop and add your apple to a large sauce pan. Then add in your water, and start heating it over medium heat on your stove.
- Wash your cranberries and then add them in, give it a good stir and let it start to bubble.
- Add in your lemon juice, salt and maple syrup and start to stir it as it cooks.
- I personally keep a really close eye on mine {as it can burn easily}, so I pretty much constantly stir it {I’ll walk away only briefly to either gather ingredients for something else, or chop an easy vegetable, and then come back right away}.
- When your apples are pretty soft {almost looking like apple sauce} and most of your cranberries have burst your sauce is pretty much done! I like to mash any cranberries that haven’t burst with a fork – but I don’t make it smooth, I like the chunky texture!
- Transfer to a bowl and let it cool before storing it in the fridge!
- Use whenever you’re ready, serve and enjoy!
Happy Sunday!!!!!
Love this recipe!
I’m definitely going to be making this over the Christmas season! Looks delicious!