.

Simple, with healthy ingredients, here’s an easy to make relish using fresh cranberries.

FRESH CRANBERRY RELISH RECIPE

4 cups fresh cranberries
2 medium-sized apples, cored but not peeled
2 medium-sized oranges, pitted
2/3 cups honey

1. Clean the cranberries and remove any dried or discolored ones.  Make sure there are no stems left on any of the berries.
2. Use a food processor to chop the fresh cranberries, apples, and oranges.
3. Combine with the honey, making sure to blend everything thoroughly.
4. Refrigerator for several hours or overnight before serving.  Makes about 1 quart of relish.

That’s all there is to it!

Post from: Health Food Made Easy

Fresh Cranberry Relish Recipe

EASY BANANA SALAD

3 bananas, well ripened
1/4 cup orange juice
Chopped peanuts (or nuts of your choice)
Lettuce
Cranberry Mayonnaise (recipe follows)

1. Peel the bananas, then cut then in half cross-wise. Make another cut length-wise, ending up with a banana cut in four pieces.
2.  To prevent them from discoloring, it’s best to fix the salads right before you plan to eat them.
3. Dip the banana in orange juice (this also helps prevent discoloration).
4. Roll the banana piece in the chopped nuts, pressing slightinly to partiallly embed the nuts into the banana.
5. Arrange bananas on bed of lettuce.
6. Serve with Cranberry Mayonnaise.

CRANBERRY MAYONNAISE RECIPE

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup cranberry jelly (store bought or make you own)
1/4 cup whipped cream

1. Blend mayonaiise and cranberry jelly until well mixed together.
2. Gently fold in whipped cream.
3. Makes about 1 1/2 cups dressing.

If you like bananas and you like cranberries, this might be just the recipes for you.

Post from: Health Food Made Easy

Easy Banana Salad With Cranberry Mayonnaise

.
I’ve mentioned some of the health benefits of cranberries, and that they are an excellent food to add to your diet.  Cranberries are the ultimate tart berry, being extremely high in citric acid (vitamin C).  Because they are so tart, fresh cranberries really aren’t good eaten out of hand, unless of course, you’re trying to work up some major pucker power!

Buying And Storing Fresh Cranberries

Cranberries are in plentiful supply at the grocery stores in November and into December.  Cranberry and Thanksgiving just go together! 

Fresh cranberries are generally sold in plastic bags.  They can be stored in the refrigerator for weeks, or put them in the freezer where they pretty much keep indefinitely.

Before using the fresh cranberries, throw out any that are off-color, or any that have dried out and shriveled up.  Rinse the cranberries to make sure they are clean, and they’re ready to use.

Using Fresh Cranberries

The simplest way to use fresh cranberries is to cook them up into a sauce.  Unfortunately, because they are so tart, it takes a lot of sweetener and that kind of cuts back on the health benefits from the cranberries.  A couple of really simple recipes are:

CRANBERRY SAUCE OR JELLY RECIPE

1 lb. cranberries (about 1 quart)
1 cup water
1 1/2 cup honey for sauce (or 2 cups sugar for sauce or jelly)
Pinch of salt

Pick over the berries, wash and drain.  Place in saucepan with water, cover and boil briskly for about ten minutes.  If a smooth jelly is desired, put the berries in a food processor or blender and puree.  If whole berries are preferred, omit this step.  Add the honey or sugar and salt to the puree or whole cranberries, and continue cooking until eh sugar is completely dissolved.  This should only take 4 or 5 minutes.  The sauce can be served hot or cold.  The pureed cranberry sauce can be poured into a 4-cup mold and will jell on cooling.  This recipe makes approximately 3 ¾ cup of sauce or 3 cups of jelly.

OLD-FASHIONED CRANBERRY SAUCE

1 1/2 cups honey (or 2 cups sugar)
2 cups water
1 quart of fresh cranberries
Pinch of salt

Boil honey or sugar and water gently (barely boiling) for about 5 minutes.  Add the fresh cranberries, cover and simmer for another 5 minutes without stirring.  Allow to cool without removing lid.  Makes about 1 quart of sauce.

Also, most bags of cranberries have recipes for sauce right on them, using the amount found in one bag as the correct portion.

Other Ways To Eat Cranberries Fresh

Fortunately, there are lots of other ways to eat cranberries besides in a sugary sauce.  They can be cooked with apples, mixed with oatmeal, made into a relish, used in desserts of all kinds, even ice cream!  So stay tuned for more ideas on how to eat fresh cranberries and for more fresh cranberry recipes.

Post from: Health Food Made Easy

How To Eat Fresh Cranberries