Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin is one of those books that I wish I had known about sooner. When I first discovered this gem a few years ago, I instantly fell in love with the warm, cozy illustrations, the quirky characters, and the engaging plot. First published in 1971, this book has only recently returned to print along with the rest of the Cranberryport series and they are all worth checking out. In Cranberry Thanksgiving, Maggie lives with her Grandmother in New England at the edge of a cranberry bog and Grandmother makes the best cranberry bread anyone’s ever tasted. They have invited two guests to join them for Thanksgiving this year, the elegant Mr. Horace who is visiting from the city, and the appropriately named Mr. Whiskers, a local fishermen with an impossibly full beard. Maggie and Grandmother soon begin to suspect that one of their guests is out to steal Grandmother’s recipe for cranberry bread. Is the thief the gruff Mr. Whiskers or the visitor from afar? I loved that the plot of this book kept both of my kids guessing the first time we read it. They have enjoyed subsequent readings just as much, probably because they feel like they are “in the know”.
Discussion Questions for Cranberry Thanksgiving:
- Who did you think was trying to steal Grandmother’s recipe for cranberry bread? Were you surprised to find out who the real culprit was?
- Were there any clues to who was trying to steal the recipe in the earlier parts of the book?
- Why did Grandmother not want to invite Mr. Whiskers to Thanksgiving Dinner? Do you think that is a good reason?
- Is there anyone we know who might be alone this Thanksgiving, like Mr. Whiskers? Could we invite them to join our family this year?
- Do you think cranberry bread sounds good? (If the answer is yes, then I highly recommend trying out the recipe in the back of the book!)
Buy the book:
It would make sense to include a recipe for cranberry bread here, since that is Grandmother’s specialty, but the book already has a delicious cranberry bread recipe which I knew I couldn’t top. Instead, I’ve decided to share my own tried-and-true, top-secret recipe for Orange Spice Cranberry Sauce! I used to view cranberry sauce as one of those dishes that you were obliged to put on the Thanksgiving table out of tradition but were sort of an afterthought. However, after deciding to make homemade cranberry sauce one year, it is now one of our family’s favorite parts of the holiday meal. I started out making a very basic, simple recipe from the Cooking Light Holiday Cookbook years ago. That first recipe was basically just cranberries, sugar, and water, but I’ve adjusted and added to the recipe over the years until I now have my definitive, best-cranberry-sauce-ever recipe which I am sharing below. Cranberry sauce is one dish that seems much harder to make from scratch than it is. You basically throw all the ingredients in a pan, simmer for about 10 minutes, and you’re done! I promise this will be 100 times better than any canned cranberry sauce you’ve ever tasted and may just become a favorite at your Thanksgiving table, too!
Orange Spice Cranberry Sauce
Rinse the cranberries throughly in a colander and pick through them carefully, discarding any that are soft or bruised. Pour the cranberries into a medium sized saucepan and add the rest of the ingredients. Stir all the ingredients together until well-mixed then bring to a simmer over medium heat.
Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan, and simmer until most of the cranberries have popped, but some still remain whole, about 10-15 minutes. Remove sauce from the heat and cool to room temp.
Remove the whole spices and strips of orange peel then refrigerate the sauce until ready to serve. It will thicken considerably as it cools. This will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week and only get more flavorful as it sits, so it's a great side to make several days ahead of time!
Ingredients
Directions
Rinse the cranberries throughly in a colander and pick through them carefully, discarding any that are soft or bruised. Pour the cranberries into a medium sized saucepan and add the rest of the ingredients. Stir all the ingredients together until well-mixed then bring to a simmer over medium heat.
Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan, and simmer until most of the cranberries have popped, but some still remain whole, about 10-15 minutes. Remove sauce from the heat and cool to room temp.
Remove the whole spices and strips of orange peel then refrigerate the sauce until ready to serve. It will thicken considerably as it cools. This will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week and only get more flavorful as it sits, so it's a great side to make several days ahead of time!
