THANKSGIVING - Incredible Cranberry Pie

With the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend being just days away I find myself day dreaming about turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. Hmmm, everybody loves pie. So what if we were to take cranberries (superfood) and ... make a pie? Cranberry Pie.

Thanksgiving is a good time to take a pause and reflect on all that we have to be thankful for.

Sadly, with the global financial crisis lingering on and many of us wondering when, or if, this financial anxiety will ever end, it might be tough for many of us to bring ourselves to be thankful for anything.

During my lifetime (and I am not that old!) I recall the economic chaos and the crippling energy crisis of the seventies. Double digit inflation, crashing home values, bankruptcies and record unemployment in the early eighties, followed by the stock market crash on Monday October 19, 1987 and the beginning of yet another recession in October 1989. The economic turmoil of the early '90s was a prelude to yet another meltdown in real estate, soaring bankruptcies and financial pain that took us almost three years to recover from. The foreign debt crisis of 1996 , the 0.63 'Canadian Peso', the Bre-X scandal, the 'Asian Contagian' of 1998, the ' Millenium Bug', the 'Tech Bubble' burst of 2000, Worldcom, Enron, September 11 ... and so on, and so on, and so on ... wow! In fact, looking back at these times of uncertainty I recall asking myself the same question over and over again; "Is this time different?" The answer to this question was, and still is, "no".

By the way, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 1198 in January 1985 and closed just shy of 9600 points today (Oct 5, 2009) for a net point gain - with all of this bad news over the last 25 years - of pretty close to 700%. Not bad, eh?

So for those of you out there that are experiencing difficult times right now just remember that this time will pass. It always does. In the meantime, invest time with your family and friends and make the most of it. Get back to basics with your investments. Learn to be frugal. Appreciate what you have. Look for opportunites, because they are out there.

It may be timely to recall the words of encouragement from Dr. Robert Schueller,

"Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People ... Do".

Putting this quick history lesson aside it is fair to note that today the UN's annual Human Development Index ranked Canada's quality of life as the fourth best (country) in the world. Now there is sure something to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

Now here might be that helpful hint you were looking for this weekend.

A 14-18 lb frozen turkey takes 6-7 hours to thaw in cold water (change water frequently) and 2-3 days to thaw in your fridge.

A 14-18 lb turkey will take about 5 hrs to cook at 325 degrees if stuffed and tented with foil.

Skill Testing Question:

What does Turkey, Broccoli, Cranberries, Tomatoes and Pumpkin have in common?

Answer: These are ALL Superfoods. (check out 'Meagan's Great! Baked Tomates' recipe from a few posts ago. These stuffed tomatoes are really, really good. 'Rocky's Broccoli' is worth checking out too)

So here is that Incredible Cranberry Pie recipe

Here is what you'll need;

2 cups of fresh/frozen cranberries

1 cup of blueberries (optional, but a nice touch)

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup of milk

1/4 cup of melted butter

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Grease a 10" pie plate (use a 10" spring form pan if you have it) and spread the cranberries (and blueberries if you're adding them)over the bottom of the plate. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of sugar (reserve 1 cup) and chopped walnuts over cranberries. Beat the eggs and blend in remaining sugar, continue to beat until smooth. Add milk, flour and melted butter. Beat well. Pour the batter over the cranberries, bake at 325 degrees for 55-60 minutes, until golden on top. Let stand. Serve with whipped cream/ice cream.

But wait ... there's more!!!

Ever made your own homemade Cranberry - Orange Relish?

I found this recipe on the Ocean Spray bag.

12 ounce bag of Ocean Spray (fresh or frozen) cranberries.

Half of an unpeeled orange cut into six wedges.

3/4 cup of sugar

Toss half of the cranberries and half of the orange wedges into your food processor and process until mixture is evenly chopped. Place mixture in a bowl and repeat this process with the second half of cranberries and oranges. When processing is complete, fold in sugar and mix well. Place bowl in your fridge for 1-2 hours.

Now this sounds so much better then opening a can of cranberry jelly.

Thanks again for stopping by.

DIG IN!

Jeff