Cranberry Sauce is My Favorite Thanksgiving Dish

I don't know about you, but if there are no cranberries on the Thanksgiving table, it's not a good Thanksgiving dinner.  You could make the best mashed potatoes, or the best, most fattening gravy, I wouldn't feel complete. The juiciest bird with the best dressing still wouldn't do it for me.  If there's no cranberry sauce, my dinner plate and Thanksgiving are not complete.

.

Most of us probably have a different part about Thanksgiving we like most.  I love the holiday in general because there's no gift giving, necessarily.  If you show up where ever you're heading to this Thanksgiving and bring something edible, everyone is happy.  There's no stress about what to buy this person or that person.  You bring a pie or a bottle of wine -- maybe a few cans of cranberries and you're good to go!  The only stress is finding a pair of pants to wear that will either give a lot to your bloated belly or are a little bit big at the start of the day.

.

There is definitely something absolutely fantastic about cranberry sauce, though.  Maybe it's the fact that it cleanses your palate so you can feel rejuvenated in between helpings one and two (and three).  It could be that a slice of cranberry sauce gives you something to play with so your stomach has time to rest up for helping number two.  You know, the kind of cranberry sauce that you cut down the ring indentations from the aluminum can and serve as is.  I take it one step further and slice my helping of cranberry sauce like a pizza.  This way I have a little triangular section to go with each bite of turkey.

.

.

I remember one year, we went to our good family friends' home and they had made homemade, whole cranberry sauce.  Have you tried this type of cranberries?  Whole means the entire berry is smashed into the sauce and when I say the entire berry that also includes the cranberry stem.  It's terrible if you've never tried it.  Who wants crunchy cranberry sauce?  I want something that helps the rest of the food slide further into my stomach.  I don't want to get full off my cranberry sauce.  Gross.  Please, please, please.  If you try to serve whole cranberry sauce this year, please at least buy the jellied kind as well.  Otherwise you're going to have a lot of unhappy cranberry lovers.

What's your favorite dish on Thanksgiving?  Are you like me and look forward to cranberry sauce?  Is it the green bean casserole you love?  How about the sweet potatoes?  Maybe you're just a dessert lover and look forward to tasting a little bit of each pie.