Cranberry-Orange Relish

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The picture above is my Thanksgiving dinner. Clockwise from top: roll, carrot & sweet potatoes, roasted asparagus, mashed potatoes & vegetarian gravy, Sweet Black Rice Salad, Tofurky, and cranberry-orange relish.

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I find I prefer to eat tofurky cold the next day. I don't like the stuffing they put in it. Too pasty. I suppose I could have made some stuffing/dressing, but I made the rice salad instead. I like the sweet baste recipe that comes with the tofurky. I put sweet potato instead of white potato in with the carrots and onions around the tofurky roast. The baste gives them a nice flavor. The orange-cranberry relish is a crockpot recipe that I found online years ago. A few years after, I found it again in a cookbook by Natalie Haughton called The Best Slow Cooker Cookbook Ever. This may be the original source, I don't know. I don't make the recipe exactly as written. The recipe calls for adding the raisins and apricots along with the nuts after the cranberries are cooked. I prefer to put the raisins and apricots in to cook with the cranberries. When that's done, I stir the walnuts in after it's cooled down. I've used dried peaches and nectarines in place of apricots several times. I always use regular raisins instead of golden raisins that the recipe calls for. This year I used orange-pineapple juice concentrate instead of plain orange juice concentrate. I think you could mix things up with different dried fruits. This relish is tangy-sweet and delicious. I make it every year.

Cranberry-Orange Relish -- adapted from recipe by NatalieHaughton

In a crockpot, mix together:

1 12-oz pkg fresh cranberries

1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate

1 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp cider vinegar

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots (or peaches, or nectarines, or other)

1/2 cup raisins

Cook on low heat 3 hours, or until cranberries pop. Turn off the heat. Let cool to warm and stir in 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Cool completely and transfer to covered container and refrigerate. Can be made a week ahead. Makes about 3 cups.