Orange Cranberry Bliss Bars

Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins with Streusel Topping

Grab that leftover cranberry sauce and make these sweet and tart cranberry sauce muffins. They make a great breakfast or brunch!

Last year I got fed up with all the leftover cranberry sauce so for months after, I tried sticking it in and on everything trying to find the best ways to use it. You can only eat leftover Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches for so many days before you’re totally burned out. In fact, our leftover Thanksgiving turkey sliders is a fabulous way to use leftover cranberry sauce, but I still wanted to find something different. These heavenly cranberry sauce muffins with streusel crumb topping were born.

Recommended Equipment

• Muffin Tin
• Stand Mixer

Before You Begin…

Make sure you have your cranberry sauce ready to go. Hopefully you have leftovers from Thanksgiving so this step is already done. You can make it homemade or use store bought cranberry sauce. I’ve linked to our homemade cranberry sauce recipe in the recipe card.

What Do I Need to Make Cranberry Sauce Muffins?

I’m going to divide the list of ingredients up between the streusel topping and the muffin batter. Jump on the streusel topping first…

For the Streusel

• All-Purpose Flour: gives the streusel topping structure
• Light Brown Sugar: adds sweetness and rich flavor
• Kosher Salt: enhances all the flavors
• Cinnamon: adds warmth and that classic fall flavor
• Ground Cardamom: I love the flavor of a little cardamom with cranberry sauce!
• Butter: binds the streusel together, the key to a good streusel

For the Batter

• Sugar: adds sweetness and balances out the tart cranberry sauce
• Vegetable Oil: adds needed fat and moisture to the muffins
• Eggs: give the muffins structure and rise
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Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey and Stuffing Acorn Squash

Everyone needs more acorn squash recipes, especially when they are stuffed with leftover Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing! Repurpose all those leftovers in big way!

Last year I was fussing to my Mom on the phone about how much turkey I needed to use up after the holidays and she mentioned that she’d made the yummiest little concoction to use up the last of their turkey leftovers the night before. Quickly she typed up a text to me and I put it to the test within 24 hours. Turkey stuffed acorn squash uses everything you have lying around and my goodness, it’s almost like the perfect sandwich with all of those layers of flavor!

Ingredients for Leftover Turkey Stuffed Acorn Squash

The best thing about this recipe is that it’s so easy and almost all the ingredients are leftovers, so they are already set to throw in. Here is what you will need:

• Acorn Squashes – you want two squashes, cut in half and scooped clean
• Onion – yellow onion, diced small
• Turkey (cooked and chopped) – you can use white meat or dark or a mix of both
• Stuffing – any type of stuffing works great, we love to use our no fuss make ahead stuffing
• Cranberry Sauce – adds the perfect sweetness and tanginess
• Chicken Broth – since you are baking cooked food again, you want to add a little moisture so it doesn’t dry out
• Salt – flavor, you can add as much or as little as you want

The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.

How to Make Stuffed Acorn Squash

It’s as easy as cleaning out a couple of acorn squashes and stuffing it with a bunch of Thanksgiving leftovers. So simple! Here are the basic steps:

1. Preheat the oven.
2. Cut the squashes in half and clean them out. Slice a thin piece off the bottom of each so they sit flat.
3. Roast the squashes.
4. Saute the onion in a skillet over medium heat. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir together.
5. Spoon the mixture into the roasted squash and bake.
6. Serve with more cranberry sauce or gravy.

All of these instructions in full detail can be found in the recipe card below.

Sweet Potato Rounds with Cranberry, Feta and Hazelnuts

Sweet potato rounds are like crostinis that you load up with goodness, but it’s all on top of roasted sweet potatoes making them a totally delicious and healthy side dish.

Years ago I started making little sweet potato rounds for our Christmas dinner. We did the gruyere sweet potato stacks the most but then with leftover cranberry sauce I started to experiment and eventually that led me to an adapted version of sweet potato rounds by Tidy Mom. I absolutely love making these and they are surprisingly very easy.

I love that I can use leftover cranberry sauce or fig spread. The cheese is also easy to swap and mix up. But most of all, I love that they taste absolutely scrumptious while looking stunning. Sometimes the best food is the ugliest, but that is not the case here!!

What Do I Need to Make Sweet Potato Rounds?

Just wait until you read all the delicious ingredients that go into this recipe! So much flavor in every bite…this is what you will need:

• Sweet Potatoes – you can peel the sweet potatoes if you want but I like to leave the skins on
• Olive Oil – used to roast the sweet potato rounds
• Fresh Orange Zest – you can’t beat the flavor of fresh citrus and it plays so well with the flavor of the toppings
• Kosher Salt – adds so much flavor
• Black Pepper – adds flavor and a teeny tiny kick
• Cranberry Sauce – you can use our recipe or make your own, but definitely make it from scratch
• Crumbled Feta – buy the brick of feta and crumble it yourself

For the Nuts

• Hazelnuts – easily swapped out for other nuts if you want, but roasted hazelnuts are so perfect for the holidays!
• Butter – helps roast the nuts and adds richness and flavor
• Cinnamon – adds flavor and warmth

For the Drizzle

• Honey – acts as the base for the drizzle and adds natural sweetness
• Balsamic Vinegar – adds a sweet tangy punch to the drizzle
• Fresh Thyme – adds a bright pop of flavor and freshness

Cheese Substitutes

If you aren’t a feta fan or want to change things up a little, then these are my suggestions for some possible cheese substitutes:

• Gorgonzola
• Bleu Cheese
• Gruyere
• Goats Cheese
• Parmesan Aged White Cheddar
• Manchego

Nut Substitutes

Hazelnuts can be a little harder to find than other nuts so if you have a hard time finding them or aren’t a fan, then try swapping them with any of these:

• Hazelnuts
• Pecans
• Walnuts
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Kara’s Christmas Cranberry Jell-o

Simple cherry jell-o full of fresh cranberries, apples and bananas makes for the best Christmas side dish on the dinner table!

Two years ago we had our cute friends over and Kara brought jell-o. Whhhhaaaaaa? When is the last time that someone brought jell-o to dinner? I was OBSESSED with it growing up, like it was one of my favorite things, but now I’m so old and it’s so sugary so I kinda ditched it, but I AM BACK!!! 

I’m so in!!

Kara’s Christmas Jell-o is one of those unexpected surprises. It’s so flavorful, the color is so bright and cheery and my goodness, it hits every good thing about life. I cannot get enough of it and I wouldn’t even share it except based on the love you all have for our raspberry pretzel jello, lemon pudding orange jello and our lemon jello cake, I’m gonna guess you all are fans of those killer jello recipes too. 

Kara is the friend that always remembers me. I don’t know how else to say it, she just is. She’s the one that pops by when I’m totally not expecting it. She’s the one that invites us over, asks about our kids and just loves us. 

And we love her, and her jell-o. Pretty sure you’re going to love it too.

Ingredients for Christmas Jell-o

You only need 5 ingredients to make this bright and festive Christmas side dish! Here is your shopping list:

• Cherry Jello
• Sugar
• Cranberries
• Apple
• Banana

The measurements for each can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.