Fall Into Spring

I love spring. I love the warm weather, I love that I can run outside (9 miles today by the way, 7.3 mph!! - I actually have TAN LINES), I love that I can walk everywhere, I love the clothing, I love ice cream. In short, there really is very little that I DON'T love about this time of year. Except maybe for the fact that it becomes less acceptable for me to eat things like winter squash and sweet potatoes. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I realize how much I love winter foods...casseroles, chilis, stews, lasagna, etc. So does this mean I plan to stop eating them throughout the summer...of course not. I can't actually go a week without eating a sweet potato, that would be heresy. But I MAY allow some room in my diet for more summertime vegetables.

As a kind of last hurrah to the cold weather, I thought I would make something that screamed fall/winter. Cranberry sauce!! I have never ever liked canned cranberry sauce. Ever. And then, this Thanksgiving my aunt made some homemade cranberry sauce and I couldn't stop eating it. I wanted to put it on everything. And I did. But then I ate it all. Over Christmas break, I stocked up on some bags of cranberries and froze them. And promptly forgot about them. Last week, when I took the pork tenderloin out of the freezer, however, I rediscovered them and realized I had better use them before classes end and I have to go back to New York. Luckily, Tyler had just the recipe for me. I modified it slightly since I was feeling lazy and wanted to make it in the crockpot. It turned out delicious. I could eat this all year round, every day, and never get tired of it. In short, I need more cranberries. The thing I loved most about it was that it only called for 1/2 cup of sugar, which meant the tartness of the cranberries really shone through. Since brie was on sale this week, and we all know how much I have been obsessing over brie lately, I thought putting the two together would be the perfect combo for a sandwich. After throwing the sandwich on the George Foreman grill, I ended up with a baked brie-cranberry sandwich which was super good. I will be submitting this to Tyler Florence Fridays this week, so make sure to stop by and check out the round-up!

Cranberry-Orange Sauce
Makes about 2 cups, adapted from Tyler Florence

12 oz frozen cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 orange, zested and juiced
1/2 cup water

Place the cranberries, sugar, cinnamon, orange juice, and water in the crockpot. Cook on high for 2 1/2 hours. Stir in the zest and let cool to room temperature. Place in a jar in the fridge.