I hope everyone in the states had a lovely Thanksgiving! Are you still in a food coma? Or are you fighting fellow shoppers over Black Friday deals? Did you have leftover pie for breakfast?

Good spread! Our dinner was full of color, and it was as tasty as it was bright! Our family is small, so it was just my mom, dad, and I (and Missy – who enjoyed a “Frosty Paws” doggie ice cream!) for our Thanksgiving meal. We had the traditional turkey, which my dad cooked to perfection, along with all NEW sides that we made for the first time this year.

Including…my Cranberry Sauce! I found a recipe for a homemade cranberry sauce that did not include “sugar” on it’s ingredients list.

I’m sorry if you are a fan of Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce, but that dense goo in a can is hardly the sort of condiment I want to put on my beautifully cooked turkey meat. To me, it is a strange texture with loads of refined sugars and a barely palatable after-taste.

My mom has always had an aversion to cranberry sauce, but she had only been exposed to the aforementioned canned variety and was pleasantly surprised by the fresh, homemade batch I made bright and early yesterday morning.

Low-Sugar Cranberry Sauce:

• 1 (12 oz) package of whole cranberries
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup crushed pineapple + 1/4 cup pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 3 Tbs Honey or Agave Necter

1.) Wash and rinse cranberries; combine cranberries, applesauce, pineapple and pineapple juice, and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil.

2.) Allow cranberry mixture to simmer, stirring constantly, for 10-15 minutes while the cranberries explode (Yes, EXPLODE. You will hear them pop and sizzle while they burst open and thicken up. Fun!)

3.) Add in ginger and honey; allow to simmer over medium heat for another 10-15 minutes until it thickens into a crimson sauce.

4.) Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

Another motivating factor to make your own cranberry sauce: it contains nearly 1/2 of the calories and sugar of the canned jellied kind. One quarter cup of this homemade sauce is 65 calories, 10 grams of sugar, and 1.5 grams of fiber.

*Canned jellied sauces are 110 calories per 1/4 cup with 21 grams of sugar (most of which come from refined cane sugar) and only .5 grams of fiber. Little adjustments really count!

Later I will have to share our stuffing recipe. (There’s bacon…)

In a few minutes, I will be heading out for a loooong hike with my family. We’ll be making some turkey-cranberry sandwiches for dinner when we get back! (And we can’t let that pumpkin pie go to waste ;) ) What do you do with your leftovers?