Thanksgiving Cranberries

I hope everyone out there in blogland had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I got to have two Thanksgiving celebrations this year. The first was with my fiance and his parents which was fun. We had the traditional Thanksgiving dinner and talked for most of the afternoon and evening. It was very enjoyable. The second Thanksgiving dinner was on Saturday with relatives. This was also fun as the meal was a little different - still traditional Thanksgiving foods but with a little twist.
However, this year I re-discovered that infamous fruit that appears on every Thanksgiving table in one way or another - the cranberry. Now, I am not a fan of cranberry sauce that comes slip sliding out of an Ocean Spray can. I'm sure it's great, but it just doesn't look appetizing.
No, my adventure with the cranberry came from some fresh cranberries given to me by a friend. I had no idea what to do with them - I'm not even a big fan of cranberry juice so what would I do with cranberries not even juiced yet.....I serached online and found a recipie for Cranberry Upside Down Coffee Cake. So I thought I'd try it and come Thanksgiving morning I was in the kitchen cooking. The cake came out wonderfully and tasted so good with cranberries and brown sugar/butter mix on top and warm cake underneath!! A sucessful cranberry adventure. But my adventure was just beginning......come Satruday Thanksgiving dinner we had cranberries galore. There was cranberry stuffing, cranberry relish (fresh), cranberry salad (also fresh), and even cranberry apple sparkling cider. Which if you haven't tried is quite good and fizzy! So I have developed a new love for the cranberry.
And I've read that is it also good for you - to prevent UTI's...........so read up on that because you certainly don't want that for next Thanksgiving....or anytime inbetween!