Cranberry Relish

This is a recipe that was passed down to me by my husband's grandfather.  My husband had mentioned to me when we first got married how much he loved a certain cranberry relish his grandmother made every year at Thanksgiving when he was a child.  So, when his grandfather moved to Alaska, I asked him to share the recipe.

And it is so good I've made I've made it every year since then on Thanksgiving and sometimes Christmas.  It's that good.

And the best part?  It's super simple to make.  I call that a win-win!

 Cranberry Relish

Ingredients:

• 1 Bag fresh cranberries (you can use frozen if that's all you have.  Don't defrost them first, just use frozen ones).
• 2 Seedless navel oranges 
• 1 1/2 to 3 cups sugar (depending on sweetness level preferred.  We go for 1 1/2 cups)

Procedure:

1.  Cut one navel orange, peel and all, into quarters and put into food processor.   Now you can do this with the second one as well, but the relish will be pretty tart if you do it that way.  I tend to, now, remove the zest from the second orange by thinly slicing the peel and then removing the pith underneath.  I find that by not using the pith on the second orange that I'm able to cut the sugar amount by 1/2, which I think is not a bad thing :).

2.  Place the zest and orange pieces from the second orange (or the entire thing cut into quarters) into the food processor as well.  Process the oranges for a few moments to chop up the peel and things into more manageable pieces.

3.  Add whole bag of cranberries.  Pulse food processor a few times to lower the level in the food processor and then add 1 cup sugar.  Process until mixture resembles relish (it doesn't take too long).  Add additional 1/2 cup sugar and pulse to combine.  Taste and then adjust sugar level to where you want it (warning though, this stuff gets sweeter the longer it has to set up in the fridge because the sugar dissolves, so go for a BIT tarter than you'd like it at the table).

This stuff freezes well, so you can make a vat of it (and trust me, it makes a lot) and freeze it in smaller serving containers for six months to a year.