I love the holidays!  The food, the weather, decorating, and the time spent with my family in the kitchen.  With Thanksgiving  coming up in exactly a week it is only right that I post a recipe to help those of you who are struggling on what take to your family gathering.  Perhaps you want something simple but classic.  Well I got just that for you.  I like to keep things healthy but tasty so that not only will my little family enjoy it, but also the rest of my extended family.  This recipe is one that I have been making for several years.  In my family cranberry sauce is not a very well liked side dish.  To my knowledge myself and my dearest grandmother were the only ones who enjoyed this classic side.  When I became a health nut I was determined that I would never eat cranberries out of a can ever again.  I wanted to use the freshest cranberries I could find and make everything from scratch.  I searched for a recipe and of course had to add my twist to it, but found that Damn Delicious had the recipe I was searching for.  

The recipe below has been adapted from Damndelicious.com

Cranberry Orange Sauce
Makes 3 cups

Ingredients

• ¼ cup freshly squeezed organic orange juice
• Zest of ½ an orange (optional)
• ½ cup coconut sugar or coconut nectar
• 12 ounces of fresh organic cranberries

Instructions

1.  In a medium saucepan, combine orange juice, orange zest (if using), sugar and ¾ cup water over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Stir in cranberries and bring to a boil; reduce heat and let the sauce simmer until it has thickened, about 15 minutes.  WARNING do wear an apron and not your thanksgiving outfit when preparing.  These little cranberries pop as they heat up and could potentially splatter on you.  It happened to me!
3. Let cool completely before serving.  

Serve on top of Coconut Bliss ice cream with a side of pie or on the side of your Thanksgiving feast!

See a pic of my sushi at http://instagram.com/digyourdiet 
Makes 4 rolls. 
Equipment 
Bamboo sushi rolling mat 
Really sharp serrated knife 
Rice cooker or pot for rice 
Large preferabely glass bowl to cool rice down in 
Small saute pan 
Ingredients 
1 cup rice (1/2 brown rice and ½ basmati) 
For the filling 
1/2 avocado, peeled, seeded, sliced into long pieces 
1/2 cucumber, peeled & sliced into long thin strips 
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds 
4 sheets nori* 
Directions 
For the rice 
Prepare rice accordingly. It should be something like 1 1/4 cup water to 1 cup rice. Cook till rice is tender but firm, even a little dry.
Empty hot rice into a large glass bowl. When rice is slightly warmer than room temperature it’s ready to work with. 
Take one Nori sheet and place on bamboo sushi mat. Put about ½ cup of rice on to the nori sheet padding it down covering the nori sheet leaving a 2” edge furthest away uncovered. 
For the filling 
Layer avocado slices and cucumber on edge closest to you. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and Roll! Slice into edible sizes and enjoy with Liquid Aminos (healthy soy sauce), and ginger. 
Additional filling ingredients: sprouts, carrots, asparagus, green onion, and any other ingredient you can imagine! 
This was an adapted recipe from Post Punk Kitchen (Goin’ back to Cali roll by IsaChandra)