Fresh Cranberry Relish

Company's coming for the Holidays. What can you make ahead to prepare? This homemade cranberry relish is a perfect accompaniment for turkey, pork, ham or for a delightful side dish. Also try it over French vanilla ice cream.

Cranberries are so versatile. Try Cranberry Conserve, page 189, in Tastes & Treasures cookbook for another delicious version.

Fresh Cranberry Relish

Ingredients:

2 small to medium red-skinned apples

1 large or 2 small oranges

3 cups firm fresh cranberries

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons Triple Sec or Grand Marnier

Directions:

Wash fruit. Quarter apples and cut into chunks. Cut oranges, with rinds intact, into chunks. Remove seeds.

Insert Steel blade into food processor bowl and chop cranberries in two batches. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Process apples and oranges, a few at a time, until finely chopped but not pureed. Empty each batch into bowl with cranberries. Add sugar, salt and liqueur. Stir to blend.

Place in covered container and refrigerate. Keep relish pressed below juices. A lovely red color develops within a few days. Keeps up to one month refrigerated.

Moist and Delicious Bundt Cake

In addition to being a great fashion model when she wears her vintage clothing, League member Mariamne Moore is a wonderful cook. Her methods may be a little unorthodox but it is fun to try different things. Here is Mariamne's recipe for this yummy cake.
" I didn't exactly use a recipe. I was experimenting. I used a Betty Crocker "Super Moist" yellow cake mix, but I don't believe the super moist claim and I do like a moist cake so I made some additions. Actually, I think I overdid the additions. First I mixed in a 3.4 oz box of Jello french vanilla instant pudding. Then I added a container of cranberry relish from Bashas. It was about 1 1/4 cups. They sell it by the pound & it weighed .83 lbs. Since there was so much more of it, I baked it (in a bundt pan) for about 10 minutes longer than recommended on the box for a total of 55 minutes. If your pan is not dark like mine, you would probably add another 5 min. or so.

Now I think I probably should have stopped there, but I decided to top it with confectioner's sugar (about a cup) mixed with a 1/4 cup Orgeat almond syrup. I think that was too much syrup. It permiated the first inch or so of the cake top and the rest ran down to the plate. All in all, it wasn't so much a moist cake as it was a downright WET cake.

If you want to experiment with the syrup, you can find it at World Market in many different flavors. I used the almond in double strength with all the nasty old corn syrup, but you can get it in sugar free versions as well. I like to flavor my green tea with a little sugar free black cherry. As far as the cranberry relish, you will probably have to wait for the holiday season. Next time, I think I may try fresh cranberries w/o sugar for a more tart taste."

Or you could try Tastes & Treasures on page 182, a delicious cranberry relish.