Classic Cranberry Sauce Recipe

We got so many requests for a cranberry sauce recipe last year that I finally wrote mine down and photographed it! It is simple and completely homemade.

Growing up was all about avoiding the cranberry sauce around the holidays. My mom wasn’t a huge fan and my dad liked it straight up from a can, so she opened one up every year to please him but none of us partook of that congealed mass of canned fruit. In other words, I never even considered that cranberry sauce could be delicious until a random sandwich shop in town served up a leftover Thanksgiving sandwich that sent me on the most wonderful journey ever. I’ve been sold ever since.

It doesn’t matter if you’re going with a smoked turkey or a roasted turkey, cranberry sauce goes with all of them and it’s a Thanksgiving must-have for our family! Forget the canned stuff and make it from scratch! We use fresh whole cranberries, orange juice and a little sugar to make the most delicious homemade cranberry sauce.

It can be made weeks ahead of time so that it’s ready for the big day.

Ingredients for Homemade Cranberry Sauce

You only need 6 ingredients for this homemade cranberry sauce and I’ll bet you have 4 of them already in the house…maybe 5! Here is what you will need:

• Cranberries – fresh is best, but you can use frozen
• White Sugar – adds sweetness and cuts the tartness of the cranberries
• Brown Sugar – I love the richness of flavor a little brown sugar adds
• Fresh Orange Juice – this is the key to the whole recipe imho, it wakes the whole dish up!
• Cinnamon – adds warmth and flavor
• Cloves – just a hint of cloves adds so much flavor

The measurements for each are listed in the recipe card at the end of this post.

How to Make a Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Recipes just don’t get easier than this! Combine all the ingredien

Toasted pearl couscous with pistachios and pine nuts, chewy raisins, a hint of cinnamon, and a squeeze of lemon combine in this incredibly flavorful Israeli Couscous dish.

Perfect as a side dish or an easy lunch all on its own, this is one couscous recipe you need to try straight away.

Israeli Couscous

Over a year ago, my sister, Jenny, told me that she had a dish she wanted to make for me and described this Israeli Couscous. I’ve looked forward to trying it ever since the first time she mentioned it.

This past month, we finally had the chance to make this recipe together. Served with Pan Fried Chicken Thighs, this is a meal that is as perfect as it can possibly be.

Savory pine nuts and pistachios coupled with sweet raisins and flavorful mediterranean herbs and spices make Israeli Couscous recipe stand out. It’s so much better than just about any other couscous recipe I’ve tried.

I loved this couscous so much, I hid the leftovers in the back of the fridge and helped myself to them frequently over the next couple days.

This is a wonderfully easy side dish that is substantial enough to stand alone for a meal. Israeli Couscous keeps fabulously in the refrigerator and I can see myself making future batches to eat for my lunches all week long.

What is Couscous?

Couscous looks and cooks very similar to grains like rice and barley but it’s actually pasta! If you’ve only ever had traditional couscous, the itty bitty pieces that have a powdery texture, you might be surprised by Pearl Couscous.

This type of couscous (also called Israeli Couscous) is little round balls of pasta. Pearl Couscous are slightly chewy, a little bit nutty, have a satisfying bite, and taste absolutely nothing like traditional couscous.

Couscous is popular in mediterranean cooking but it’s also a way to shake things up if you’re tired of the usual rice and pasta side dishes. It goes so well in salads and stir-fries and is super easy to cook.

I am head over heels in love with this dish and I can’t encourage you enough to try it for yourself.

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Mouth-Watering Crispy Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Roasted sweet potatoes that are crispy and seasoned to perfection make the best side dish for any meal! We are sharing all the tips for making them the best.

Years ago I started to piece together different recipes for the most incredible roasted potatoes ever until I had what I thought was the best recipe ever. And then I saw a post all about adding baking soda to the water that you boil the potatoes in followed by a toss in an empty pan to make the edges all shaggy thus creating a crust on the potatoes and I’ve been sold ever since. Obviously I had no choice but to try the method on sweet potatoes (yams are fine) and my goodness, BEST DECISION EVER!!!

They are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, and I literally cannot stop putting them into my mouth.

Ingredients for Roasted Sweet Potatoes

You only need a few ingredients to make these crispy sweet potatoes and you’ll feel like you’re eating at a fine dining restaurant. Good grief, I’m totally craving them now! Here is what you will need:

• Kosher Salt – seasons the water for boiling which will add flavor to the sweet potatoes
• Baking Soda – boiling the potatoes in baking soda draws out the starch and allows the outside to get brown and crispy
• Sweet Potatoes – yams work fine too
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil – gets infused with rosemary and garlic and is the key to getting that crispy exterior
• Rosemary (fresh) – you want fresh for sure to get the max flavor, can you fresh thyme instead if desired
• Garlic – infuses the oil with tons of flavor
• Black Pepper – fresh cracker preferred
• Parsley (fresh) – used for a topping after roasting, add a fresh pop

Sweet and tangy glaze takes this slow cooker pork roast from just another crockpot meal to a tasty and fantastic meal.

Pork Roast with Glaze

This slow-cooked pork roast is both company worthy and also perfect for a lazy weeknight dinner. I’ve served this pork with smashed potatoes, over rice, (it’s really great with this mushrooms pepper rice pilaf) and stuffed into soft rolls.

This roast was a delicious surprise the first time I made it. I’d originally planned to oven-roast the pork in a more traditional style. However, in the interest of not spending my weekend evening working in the kitchen, I decided to put it in the crockpot that morning instead.

I found the original recipe on allrecipes.com and tweaked it a good bit to meet our needs. (Truth be told, it doesn’t have much in common with the original, but credit where it’s due, right?)

I did not expect the meat to cook so quickly and be falling apart at dinnertime, but it was absolutely perfect and I wouldn’t change a thing.

The sweet, tangy glaze takes just a few minutes to simmer and whisk together and the resulting meal is well worth the extra moment to make it special!

Pork Roast Recipes Slow Cooker

Slow cookers or crockpots are an appliance of which I have more than one. If you are an avid slow cooker user like I am, you might understand the need for more than one. So, let’s talk about my favorites:

First up is this Read more

Insanely Delicious Pumpkin Lava Cake

The recipe that has been hurting my brain for 4 years is finally here. Our insanely delicious pumpkin lava cake is going to blow up Christmas desserts for the rest of eternity. 

Aren’t you a little like me? You get to that big Christmas meal and go back and forth on which dessert you want to bring to the table, something chocolate, a little pie – oh but you ate pie for a week after Thanksgiving, so maybe not…

Pumpkin lava cake to the rescue!

I saw all of those chocolate lava cakes for years but never fully enjoyed one, so I decided that we need a pumpkin version. All the spice of a molasses or gingerbread feel but 100% pumpkin. I wanted to feel the Christmas spirit and for me that means smelling it and tasting it. You know I’m right, you walk into a place that smells of Christmas and you’re instantly all tingly like you are a little kid again. Chocolate is awesome, but Christmas needs spice!

Ingredients for