This Weeks Healthiest Food - CRANBERRIES

  • http://www.whfoods.com/index.html?PH...cf68e93580e481

    Cranberries are not one of my favorite berries. They're a bit too tart for my liking. The only way I ever really enjoyed them was in a big fat laden orange/cranberry muffin. So, yeah, they're basically not on my menu at all.

    But, I'm always open to trying new things.... Any one have any great recipes using the cranberry? We'd all love to hear about it.
  • I'm not a big fan of cranberries either. In fact I hate them, LOL.



    However, I do like a little bit of cranberry sauce with my turkey at Thanksgiving. But it has to be the jellied kind, I won't eat the whole.

  • I never cared for cranberry sauce but a couple years ago I did make fresh cranberry sauce and it was pretty decent.

    I like cranberries but really I like cranberries in other things like muffins...

    I would love to see some good recipes for cranberries that didn't involve cranberry sauce.
  • Love love love cranberries! I love to sprinkle a few dried (ie sweetened to death) cranberries in my spinach salad with grilled chicken breast, sesame seeds and balsalmic vinaigrette dressing. Not low cal at all, but okay if I measure them and count them.

    I also adore my mom's home made cranberry sauce (made with tons of sugar!), she basically just boils them on the stove until they burst and get thick and delicious. One of my absolute favorite things for holidays. Besides all the sugar, I bet it's pretty darned healthy
  • Quote: I never cared for cranberry sauce but a couple years ago I did make fresh cranberry sauce and it was pretty decent.
    Besides cranberry sauce, I also like seedless raspberry jam on my turkey.

    Weird, LOL
  • I never liked anything on my turkey. whenever I ate cranberry sauce, I ate it plain (not with anything).
  • Dried cranberries and walnuts are one of my favorite salad topper combos. Not too crazy about the sauce, fresh can be ok with the right meal but the jellied stuff from a can is just weird!
  • I don't know what to do with a cranberry. I've only had dried cranberries and (canned) cranberry sauce. I saw the bags at our grocery store yesterday and I would love to try it, if anyone has any suggestions for things without tons of sugar.
  • I dont think there is much you can do without a ton of sugar. You can use LESS sugar and make something for pork or chicken - not a jellied sauce, more a reduction, maybe if you mix it with cherries or other fruit. But cranberries are so tart they are bitter.
  • I'm thinking about trying this one, calorie count isn't too high, if I serve it with a big pile of steamed vegetable and skip my usual "carb" side dish (rice, couscous, etc):

    http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cranber...-I/Detail.aspx

    INGREDIENTS
    1/3 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
    2 tablespoons orange marmalade
    1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
    2 pork chops
    salt and pepper to taste
    2 tablespoons honey

    DIRECTIONS
    Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Generously grease a 9x9 inch glass baking dish.

    In a bowl, mix cranberries, marmalade, and cloves. Make a pocket in each pork chop by cutting into pork toward the bone; fill pockets with cranberry mixture.

    Place the pork chops in prepared baking pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon 1 tablespoon honey over each chop. Bake uncovered about 45 minutes or until pork is no longer pink in the center.
  • The Weight Watchers website just post an article about cranberries in their "shopping for seasonal fruits" series:
    http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/a...=11291&sc=3020

    It includes a health profile, how to select and store, ideas for using cranberries in cooking, and a few recipe links for Cranberry Muffins, Cranberry-Apricot sauce, and Sausage and Cranberry Stew (looks interesting - I don't know if I'd make it myself, but I'd definitely try it if someone made it for me!).
  • I found an interesting vegan recipe but I'd use some substitutions as it isn't too worried about calories

    Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins
    http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbreci...hp?RecipeID=97

    Ingredients
    2 1/2 cups unbleached all purp flour
    1 Tablespoon baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    2 teaspoons cinnamon
    1 teaspoons ginger
    1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
    1/3 cup soymilk
    1/3 cup canola oil
    1/2 cup pure maple syrup
    1/2 cup brown rice syrup
    2 teaspoons grated orange zest (zest from one orange)
    15 oz pureed pumpkin (fresh or from a can)
    2 teaspoons vanilla
    1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, lightly chopped

    Directions
    Preheat oven to 400 F.

    Spray muffins tins with non stick cooking sparay or lightly grease them with margarine or oil. I don't suggest using paper liners, they tend to stick to them.

    Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and spices.

    In a seperate bowl, wisk together pumpkin, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, oil, soymilk and vanilla, until well emulsified. Add orange zest to this mixture.

    Pour wet ingredients into dry and combine with a large wooden spoon or a stiff spatula. Fold in cranberries. The batter will seem too thick, but it's fine. Fill muffin tins (with an ice cream scooper, if you have one). You want to over fill them so they puff out all nice and big.

    Bake 20 - 24 minutes.