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With Thanksgiving looming on the culinary horizon, thoughts often turn to cranberries and the colorful addition they make to the holiday meal. There's no need to wait until the end of November to enjoy cranberries, however, since this tasty berry can make a healthful contribution to your meals throughout the year.

Cousins of the blueberry, cranberries are a super source of vitamin C and fiber. Eating them is also a great way to stock up on flavonoids, phytochemicals that act as an antioxidant and may offer protection against certain cancers.

November is peak cranberry season, so look for firm, plump, bright-colored berries. The skin should be a smooth, glossy red to deep red. Pass up those that are soft, crushed or shriveled. Unwashed berries keep for up to four weeks in the refrigerator.

The tart flavor of fresh cranberries inspires experimentation beyond the simple Thanksgiving sauce to a wide variety of other delicious uses. Cranberry muffins, made with your favorite lowfat muffin recipe, or cranberry whole-wheat Irish soda bread are great ways to start the day.

Dried cranberries also make seasonal dishes more flavorful and festive. For a tempting dish, combine dried cranberries, grated orange zest, thin-sliced caramelized onion and brown sugar with a mixture of brown and wild rice cooked in vegetable broth. Or, use dried cranberries, along with chopped scallions, cubed apple, chopped walnuts, maple syrup and cinnamon, to stuff acorn squash before baking. When you roast vegetables such as carrots, turnips and pearl onions, toss in a handful of dried cranberries, currants and toasted pine nuts, and cook with a little brown sugar, balsamic vinegar and fresh basil -- simple and sensational!

Dried cranberries can also add a new flavor to snack mixes. Mix them with toasted sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried banana chips, dried apricot bits, oat-, wheat- or rice-squares, broken pretzel sticks and chopped nuts.

For dessert, add cranberries to oatmeal cookies, or pair them with apples in a lowfat cobbler dish or with pears in a crisp.

Whether you serve it hot or cold, the complex sweet-tart-spicy flavor of this cranberry soup will begin any meal on a good note. Despite its rich taste, the use of evaporated skim milk keep fat content to a minimum:

Cranberry Soup

  • 1 pound fresh cranberries (4 cups)
  • 1 large cinnamon stick
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (depending on tartness of cranberries)
  • 2 cups evaporated skim milk
  • 1/4 cup plain lowfat yogurt
  • nutmeg

  1. Place cranberries and cinnamon stick in large saucepan. Add water to level about ½ inch above the berries. Heat to a boil at medium heat; reduce heat and simmer until cranberries are very tender and begin to fall apart. Remove cinnamon stick.

  2. Pour cranberry mixture into blender. Puree, slowly adding sugar to taste. Strain. Place cranberry mixture and evaporated milk in saucepan; reheat to just under a boil.

  3. Serve hot or cold. To serve, top with a tablespoon of yogurt and a dash of nutmeg.

  4. Each of the four servings contains 280 calories and 1 gram of fat.

Cranberry Maple Muffins

    TOPPING:

    • 1/4 cup flour
    • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
    • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
    • 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
    • 1/4 cup quick or old-fashioned oats

    BATTER:

    • 1 1/2 cups flour
    • 1/4 cup sugar
    • 1/4 cup brown sugar
    • 2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • 1/2 cup milk
    • 1/2 cup oil
    • 1 egg
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons maple extract
    • 1 1/4 cups Ocean Spray® Fresh or Frozen Cranberries, coarsely chopped
    • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

    1. Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

    2. Combine flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Work butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or fork until butter is the size of small peas. Stir in oats. Set aside.

    3. Combine dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Combine milk, oil, egg and maple extract in a separate bowl. Add liquid ingredients to dry, mixing just until dry ingredients are moist. Stir in cranberries and walnuts.

    4. Fill each muffin cup 2/3 of the way full with batter. Sprinkle topping evenly over each muffin. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes in pan; remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

      Makes 12 muffins

Source: AICR


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