Make Your Own Organic Cranberry Sauce {Enough for both Canadian Thanksgiving and Christmas}

I had a lovely evening out last week with my friend Shana.  We went out on the town to a canning class put on by Bernardin in a local church kitchen. Although we're both becoming rather seasoned canners it's nice: 


1. To have a nice community event to go to.
2. We kind of like hanging out in church basements.
3. We need to start having real answers when we get asked questions about canning instead of having to admit to some of our bad practices and mishaps (see here, and here for details).



One of the recipes shared by Chef Emerie was for Spiced Cranberry Preserves.  The process is the same as this recipe for cranberry sauce off the rather useful home canning website.  The only difference is that this method uses 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon so no need for cheese cloth. I actually used a 1/4 teaspoon of each. There's also a good recipe for straight up cranberry sauce which is basically just a larger amount without the spices.  

This is so simple.  Thanksgiving and Christmas Cranberries are essentially just jam so you really can't go wrong. 


The high pectin content of cranberries really makes this simple though; 10 minutes and you're set.  Get it? Set?  That's a jam joke. Really though, I had completely finished this project in one toddler nap and even had time to call my dad and a clean kitchen when she woke up.

I made this recipe twice; once with the spices and one without.  I think they are equally delicious but we'll be putting them to a taste test on Sunday at Thanksgiving dinner.

So the recipe is: 

4 cups of fresh cranberries {but frozen would work fine too}
1 1/2 cups of water
2 cups of sugar

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon {optional}

1/4 teaspoon of cloves {optional}

makes 4x 250ml jars

Our version is entirely organic. The Big Carrot and Better Bulk {both on the Danforth in Toronto} have  awesome organic spice sections and it is getting easier and easier to find organic ingredients at the grocery store.


I wish I could have found Ontario Cranberries today as they certainly grow pretty close to home, but it seems there are only three commercial cranberry producers in Ontario. The store had frozen and organic from BC, Some from Maine, and then the fresh organic Quebec ones I ended up choosing. I'm going to keep my eye out at the farmer's market this weekend as I have a few more cranberry recipes I need to make and the foodies & farmers of twitter tell me there are smaller scale cranberry growers to look for.

Let's can some cranberries while there's still enough time to do this for Thanksgiving dinner this weekend:


Prepare your jars and lids by washing and bringing your jars to a boil and in a separate pot bringing your lids to a simmer.


In your best non-reactive pot, combine all your ingredients over medium heat.

Cook for 10 minutes or so.  You'll see / hear the cranberries burst / split / explode. Here's a photo of them splitting. They really pop.

I then squished a few up with the back of my spoon just to mix things up a little.


Quickly jar up the preserves with a 1/4inch head room, wipe the rims, put on your warm lids, screw finger tight and then heat process for 10 minutes.  That's it! You're done and the star of Thanksgiving dinner with some extra to bring again at Christmas; Ensuring that you remain your parent's favourite daughter.

All kidding aside, I'm really pleased with how these turned out and would recommend making some both to the seasoned canner and the tenderfoot who is looking for an easy to make preserve that will certainly be well received.


If you would like detailed step by step canning instructions just check out www.homecanning.com.  I really couldn't lay it out any better and there are even instructional videos.

A Mostly Organic all Handmade Birthday Party for Rebecca

Rebecca's 2nd birthday was a smashing success, with splashing, swimming, bubbles and some pretty good food if I do so say so myself.


This is just a quick post to share our simple menu and a few cute photos that I couldn't resist posting.  For our guests, I'll be sending you the photos of your families in the next few days since I can no longer keep track of who loves having their pictures here, who simply tolerates it and who's husbands can't stand it.

 An old bed sheet and some daylilies with mint from the garden in your mother's old vases can do wonders for your porch. Ryan and I made the bunting together last year for her first birthday, We sewed at night, out on the deck in the Toronto summer heat so we didn't wake her up. 


By using the chalk board as a menu/back drop/cover up for our unfinished reno we were able to accommodate a variety of food restrictions, allergies and vegans. Lots of vegans. 

When we were on a strict elimination diet I would have loved to have gone to a party or picnic where 1st of all Rebecca and could eat something. Its really truly dreadful to go somewhere and not have anything to eat and 2nd to have not had to spend the whole time trying to figure out what I could possible eat.  So we simply kept the menu vegetarian and labeled all the foods based on their vegan/gluten free/soy free/nut free status. I even got to draw cute pictures of carrots.

Salad #1 Our Yogurt Dill Curry Mustard Potato Salad. Not Vegan, but delicious. Also clearly labeled as such.

Salad #2 Peas + Zucchini + Dill + Olive Oil & Lemon Juice is pretty much the best thing in the world.  Add Feta if you'd like.  This one was gone in ten minutes.

Salad #3 Carrot Slaw! Delicious.  The recipe calls also for feta, but really its not hard to serve it separately and have all your guests be able to eat.

Salad #4 Quinoa & Chickpeas with beets, garlic and mint. Cook your Quinoa, then add chickpeas, then saute with garlic and mint.  Add cooked beets. Voila. Babies love Quinoa.

Last but not least, Salad #5.  Having a large number of nursing mothers in attendance I thought it was only fair to serve up the fennel salad from this post.  Keeping seasonal, we switched the fiddleheads for mushrooms.

 Then 6 toddlers and babies jumped in the pool in their best clothes and giant water-loged cloth diapers.  They all had their bathing suits with them but didn't give any warning what so ever.

 After an outfit change into her pinafore from the lovely bohdihandmade on etsy we had 100% organic Angel Food Cake from my grandmother's Joy of Cooking. Served with whipped cream, cottage-made jam and perfect Ontario Peaches. We also had some fruit salad and peaches for those who needed an alternative.

 Then there was some of this followed by another toddler wading pool party.

Then some of this. What good little monkeys.  A good time was had by all.

Things we love: Bare Organics & ClaireandJanae

Back in the fall we came across a booth at the Royal Winter Fair selling the softest organic cotton baby things and certified organic skin care products.  It was the booth of Bare Organics, a mom run company out of Thunder Bay in North Ontario-i-o.  Having no need for anything at that moment I took their card and moved on.

Currently many of my friends are starting to have babies so baby showers are a constant in my life.  Normally I would pick up a copy of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and call it a day, but the latest gift was for our friend the midwifery student whose head might explode if she reads another word about babies right now.

So I looked up the card and ordered the softest nursing pads I’ve ever seen.  Karen was kind enough to send along some of their super soft baby wipes and organic baby balm for us to try out.

We’re done with diapers around here, but we’ve been using it for everything else: chapped baby cheeks, little eczema patches, it’s a great cat scratch balm.  It’s really nice to have something that’s free of parabens without having a million ingredients and is unscented.

Our soon to be nursing friend is actually going to be having two babies, so I added a little more to her gift.  First, I made a few of the felt wool balls I’ve been perfecting. 

I promise there’s a tutorial coming up but here’s a teaser:

Then I went Etsy shopping.

ClaireandJanae is actually mostly Janae, whom I met over on twitter while talking about what else than nursing babies.  Her shop is adorable and when I saw that she had made some baby tie-dye I knew the babies needed them. 

Needless to say the whole gift was a hit and I can’t wait to see mama and babies in action. Oh and danger parent papa in action will be great too.