While my children are huge fans of that gelatinous mess that comes out of a can and looks nothing like cranberries – other than the color, of course, I prefer my cranberries fresh and cooked by me.  Because I am all about getting the cooking done as far in advance as I can of the holiday – I like to socialize with my guests and watch football and get in a good run, too – I did my cranberry sauce yesterday.

I promise it will go in a nice serving dish once the big day arrives.

Cranberry Sauce

1 bag (12 ounces) whole, fresh cranberries

2 teaspoons lemon zest

Juice of one lemon

1 cup water

1/3 cup sugar

1 packet Stevia

1 teaspoon ground ginger or freshly ground ginger root (half that if fresh)

Bring water and sugar and Stevia to a boil in a medium pot.  Add rinsed cranberries.  Allow to reach a boil again, then turn down to a simmer.  Do not cover.  Add lemon zest and juice.   Simmer for approximately 15 minutes.  Remove to a bowl and allow to cool completely before refrigerating.

As always, I attempted to make this recipe a bit more healthy as I made it.  The original recipe I found called for a cup of sugar.  I used 1/3 cup and Stevia.  I love orange instead of lemon with my cranberry also but I had lemon on hand so that is what I made this year.  To top it all off, I was drinking a Bigelow tea called Ginger Snappish which is ginger tea with lemon so I added a bit of that to the water once the sugar had dissolved.

Enjoy!!