Chris Pedersen's Blog, page 11

Juice Pulp Veggie Burgers

Often the complaint about juicers is that the fiber from the veggies and fruit goes to waste. You can put it in your composter to create future soil for your garden, but a better more immediate repurposing would be to turn it into veggie burgers.

When making juice I use a minimal amount of fruit. Given all the goodness in the veggie pulp, I decided to come up with a way to make vegan burgers from it. The fact that it has a bit of fruit makes the finished burger that much more tasty.

Add organic corn and beans. I used garbanzo beans for the batch above—I usually use black beans.

Add quinoa flour to the veggie pulp mixture and combine. Then add hummus, BBQ sauce, tapenade or your choice to add flavor and moisture. Add sea salt, fresh ground pepper and a seasoning combo. I like to use Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute.

Press the mixture to a desired thickness (<1/2") on a flat surface or in a shallow flat bowl.

Use a cookie cutter or glass to cut out the burgers.

Brown the burgers in a small amount of olive oil. Cool, wrap in plastic and freeze. Of course you can bake a few burgers to eat immediately.

Juice Pulp Veggie Burgers
from Chris Pedersen yield Varies
category Main Coursecuisine Healthy, Vegan
ingredients- Juicer pulp- Quinoa flour- Organic corn (frozen or fresh cut off the cob)- Black beans (rinsed and drained), substitute another type of bean if desired- BBQ sauce, hummus or tapanade (for moisture and flavor)- Seasonings- Olive oil
directions1. Add pulp from juicer to large bowl with flat bottom. Mix enought quinoa flour through pulp to make the mixture start to stick together.2. Mix in corn and beans.3. Add your choice of flavor/moistening ingredient.4. Heat skillet on medium-low heat with small amount of coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil.5. Press pulp mixture into the bottom of the bowl and use cookie cutter or glass to cut out burgers.6. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan over medium heat to brown the burgers on both sides. Remove to cool.7. Wrap cooled burgers individually in plastic wrap. Place in sealed bag or container and freeze.8. To cook burgers, remove from freezer and heat in toaster oven at 350° for 15-20 minutes. Adjust time if necessary.9. Make the burgers up with your favorite condiments and enjoy.
What kind of juicer do I have? Glad you asked. I love my Hurom Slow Juicer. As the name implies, it's a masticating juicer, which does a great job of squeezing the juice out of the veggies, expelling very dry pulp.
For a breakdown of the different kinds of juicers and a recommended brand for each type, visit What is the Best Juicer to Buy?
What do you do with the pulp from your juicer?

Exercise—Why Do It?

Exercise is not just to look and feel good. And it's certainly not the widely accepted wrong reason to exercise—to eat more bad food.

The rationale for exercise might not be clear. Here are six straight-forward, simple reasons why you should exercise:

#1 Exercise to Feel Good
This is not just a suck-it-up and smile type of feel good. This is real. Natural. Body created. Hormone related. Truly feel good—like all day good. Exercise creates endorphins in the body that are like morphine and opiates. Obviously wildly better than those drugs. Endorphins create a euphoric feeling that is healthier than any drug fix. Yes—even better than caffeine.

#2 Exercise to Burn Cortisol
Cortisol is a stress-induced hormone produced by the body when situations provoke emotions like anger, anxiety and fear. This stress hormone contributes to weight gain by causing the body to hold on to fat and increase cravings for sweets. Not a good combination. Not only does your body not burn fat, but it urges you to eat more sugar, which turns to fat. Ugh! And as you might imagine, with all that going on, cortisol creates inflammation which damages your organs.

#3 Exercise to Burn Fat
Be a better butter burner. I love that phrase coined by exercise guru from the late 70's Covert Bailey. Regular exercise produces lean muscle mass, which burns fat by increasing your metabolism. You can lose fat while you're relaxing in an easy chair if you have lean muscle. What more could you ask for? That's a big payoff for the little time it takes to get regular exercise.

Just a side note: don't get on the scales to measure your results because you may actually gain weight as you develop lean muscle. Size for size muscle weighs much more than fat. Instead check how your clothes fit. That will tell you when you've lost fat.

#4 Exercise to Lower Insulin
Insulin increases the body's storage of fat while at the same time preventing fat cells from releasing fat for energy. A real show stopper. Exercise to the rescue! Exercise reduces the body's insulin resistance, which is the body failing to utilize insulin and subsequently making more insulin. Yikes! The result is more fat storage. It's the road to Type 2 Diabetes.

Of course insulin is increased when we take in sugar—only one of numerous reasons why sugar is deadly. Reduce or eliminate your sugar intake and you'll reduce your insulin levels. It's that simple and exercise can help.

#5 Exercise to Fight Cancer
...as well as diabetes, heart disease, etc. Exercise discourages the growth and spread of cancer and encourages cancer cell death called apoptosis—a programmed cell death wherein cells will "commit suicide" when they go awry. Cancer cells escape the normal apoptosis process and thus cancer grows.

A recent study showed that exercise also alters immune cells helping them fight cancer and disease. So if cancer cells won't die through apoptosis (don't you love that word?), the immune system will launch an attack. Exercise becomes your front-line army against the development, growth and spread of cancer.

#6 Exercise is Fun!
Even if you don't find it fun, you can make it fun. Some love to exercise. True confession: I don't love it, but I do want the benefits it provides. Plus, I exercise outside and I love that.

Many find the idea of community makes exercise fun. Join a club or meet-up for your activity of choice—bicycling (road and mountain), running, walking, tennis, etc—and enjoy the added community it brings.

With a list this rich, is there any reason why you shouldn't exercise? The benefits achieved toward optimum wellness are too good to miss.

What is (would be) your exercise activity of choice?

Wisdom Wednesday

Tip:

"Living the Veg Life" on Health Perch

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

I must have more recipes for butternut squash than any other food. I love it cooked in so many different ways. This recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash Soup came from a friend who tried it, loved it and passed it on. It's a great soup for a rainy day. But don't wait for a rainy day to try it—it's too good to wait. Besides we seem to be entering another dry spell here in California and you know we need the rain.

The Granny Smith apple provides a wonderful sweetness to this soup. While the fresh sage adds a touch of earthiness.
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

from Runcrissierun.com yield 4 - 6 servings
category Soupcuisine Vegan
ingredients1 butternut squash about 8″ long1 Tbsp melted coconut oil1/4 C cashews, soaked6 sage leaves3 - 4 vegetable stock1 Tbsp coconut oil1 shallot, diced1 Granny Smith apple, cored and cubed1 tsp sea saltPinch of pepper
directions1. Preheat oven to 325ºF.2. Slice squash in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds and discard. Brush open faces of squash with melted coconut oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Place squash face down in a baking dish and roast for 45 - 60 minutes or until soft.3. In a blender, blend cashews, sage and stock until smooth. Leave in the blender and set aside.4. Add coconut oil, shallot and apples to stockpot over medum heat. Saute for 5 - 7 minutes. Then add to blender mixture and process until smooth.5. Once squash is cooked, scoop out the flesh. Add to the blender and puree until smoth and creamy. You may need to process half the squash at a time for lack of room in the blender. Stir to combine.6. Pour blender contents into stockpot and heat—take care not to let it boil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.
What's your favorite recipe for butternut squash?

 

6 Tips to Lose Weight

If you're resolved to lose weight, get back energy and feel better, there are several things you should know to help you succeed.

#1 Don't Count Calories
Do yourself a favor and forget the stress of counting calories. It will only make you crazy. Besides not all calories are alike—50 calories of sugar is a whole lot different than 50 calories of veggies. It's not the calories that count—it's the content of the calories.

Instead, take a serious look at the food you want to eat and ask, "Is this something that will give my body good health?" You know you shouldn't be eating a candy bar when you're hungry. It's full of artificial and GMO ingredients and sugar (corn syrup most likely). You might be satisfied, but you won't feel good.

#2 Don't Skip Breakfast

Don't be one of those people who claim you can't stomach food in the morning. That's a very bad habit and damaging self-talk. That's one habit you need to lose. It may take some time to get your body to respond to eating breakfast, but you better get started.

Instead of grabbing a bagel, cook an organic egg in a bit of coconut oil and eat it with some Kimchi and half-a-piece of whole-grain bread. Or my favorite breakfast is eating steel cut oatmeal, quinoa, or millet with trail mix, almond milk and maple syrup. Whatever you choose for breakfast avoid sugar and a lot of bread (which converts quickly to sugar).

#3 Eat More Veggies
If you want to lose weight quickly and never go hungry, start eating lots of veggies. You can never eat too many. Eat them whole. Put them in a smoothie. Juice them to concentrate the nutrients. You cannot go wrong. You could lose 10 pounds the first week (not guaranteed, but you will feel better).

If you're going from eating junk to eating these health-inducing, earth-grown, power houses of nutrition, you might experience a day or so feeling lousy because your body will be detoxing—a good thing. It will dump all the toxins that have built up in your body from the horrible nonfood you've been eating.

Ahhhhhh! Prepare to feel great!

#4 Reduce Sugar and Bread
Sugar and bread are the primary culprits that make you fat—whether it's that belly you can't seem to shed or you're just fat or even obese. Ugh! That is not a condition you need to accept. There is a healthy, happy, terrific feeling individual under all that and you have the power to uncover him/her. Yay!

Check the ingredients list of everything before you buy. If it has sugar, don't buy it! If it's not in your house, you can't eat it. I would not buy cookies or my favorite candy (before I cut out all sugar) because I knew if I had it in the house, I'd eat it.

Once you get off the sugar and lose the cravings, you'll feel so much better.

#5 Don't Over Exercise
If you add exercise to lose weight, take it easy and build up gradually. Studies have shown that even small amounts of exercise contribute to better health, longer life and weight lose. Add that to diet changes and you'll really see results.

Besides doing some exercise that gets your heart going, don't forget to add a little weight training. Working with weights will add muscle. Why is that important? Because muscle burns fat even when you're sitting still. Famous fitness author, Covert Bailey, called it being a better butter burner.

If you over exercise you'll be too sore and become discouraged—it may cause you to quit. You don't want that! When I got back into running, I walked most of the time with a few minutes of running and gradually built up until I was running more than walking. After 11 years of running, I can run 2.5 to 3 miles without walking in the middle of my run even after I've taken a week off.

#6 Make a Lifestyle Change
Really the most important tip is to set your mind to change. Being healthy, feeling full of energy and being slim is a lifestyle choice you make about the things you eat, the exercise you accomplish, the sleep you get and the spin you put on life. Make it all count and you will change your lifestyle to one that is healthy.

It's not about will power—staying away from certain bad habits. It's about purpose—focusing on who you want to be. Purpose provides the motivating power to change your lifestyle. It's about permanent change not a temporary journey—not a detour in your path, but a whole new direction.

Go ahead. Change your world. You have the power.

Any questions or perhaps you have some tips of your own? Please share.

New Year's Resolutions

Broken Promises
It happens every year. Lengthy lists are made of promises to ourselves that we will lose weight, save money, join the gym, eat healthy, learn a new skill, and on and on. Gym managers love it! They get new members who sign up, pay up and show up for a time until things go back to normal with only the die-hard regulars coming in. Purveyors of the latest diet fade love it! They sell diet books, recipe books and special food until the next hot fade comes along. What's wrong with the last one? Didn't lose weight? Too hard?

I caught a glimpse of the Hollywood Cookie Diet! Are you serious? I don't even want to know how that's supposed to work. Folks, we make it too hard. We look for the quick fix when what we need is re-education. We have gotten so far off track from what our bodies need to be healthy. Health science continues to identify all these marvelous nutrients that do wonderful things in our body and then they try to bottle it. Where did the nutrient come from? The fruit of the land—fruits, vegetables and grains. Let's get back to basics.
Keep It Simple
I'm here to tell you the KISS principal is my approach. I have always tried to make eating healthy as easy as possible. I rarely use a recipe because I'm sure not to have all the ingredients (that's a show stopper for good intentions). Oh... and did I tell you I hate to shop? Wasn't born with the shopping gene—and glad about it.

As your optimum wellness coach, your all-around encourager, I am here to help you learn how to change your life by incorporating healthy habits. So let's start with breakfast.

Start the Day Right
Never, never, ever, ever skip breakfast! It sets you up for failure. Now that we got that out of the way, a bit of reality. A donut, a croissant, a sugary boxed cereal is not a good choice for breakfast. First of all, that's not enough food to keep you fueled for the morning.

Here is what I have for breakfast. When I get up I have two cups of green tea, half a banana and a fiber muffin (either blueberry or apple-cranberry from Trader Joe's). Then I go for a run (two and a half miles). After my run I make steel-cut oatmeal, 
Cooking whole grains doesn't take long. Start with boiling water (two parts water to one part grain) then stir in the grain. Turn the heat down to Lo, cover (when there is no danger of foam boil over) and let it cook. It's ready in 20 minutes.

Any leftovers I pack away in the refrigerator for breakfast another day—add a bit of water in a pan with the oatmeal, millet or quinoa. Mix the grain with the liquid, cover and heat on Lo for about 5 minutes, stirring to distribute heat. Add the goodies and you got your hearty breakfast 15 minutes sooner.

Some days I'll opt for a scrambled organic egg cooked up in a pan with a bit of coconut oil. For variety I might add a little grated goat cheese, onion and/or kale. Add a bit of Kimchi (a fermented food) on the side for some good bacteria.

Let's Hear From You
So there's a start. If you have trouble with making healthy changes, do only breakfast until you got that down. Keep coming to Healthy Journey Cafe for more.

What burning questions or sticky issues do you have about getting healthy?

New Year's Eve ~ More Medical Mishaps

A routine followup appointment to the ophthalmologist on New Year's Eve turned into a nightmare. Seems I have the knack for experiencing medical problems during the holidays. In 2012 it was the Christmas Crash when a urinary tract infection turned bad. This time it should have a been a simple look at my eye to verify all is well.

Floaters and Tears
It all started early in December when I awakened to a new set of floaters in my left eye. You know... those little blotches and hair-like ghosts that float around in your vision? Those are the result of the eye's vitreous fluid breaking up as we age and are said to be more prevalent in those of us with poor far vision (I'm raising my hand).

Floaters are annoying enough, but these were particularly dark and big. Added to the floaters I already had, made the situation that much more bothersome. Going about my day, I soon noticed something new in my left eye—flashes of light at the left edge. The light appeared as a perfectly rounded sliver like a new moon. Googling what I experienced turned up more frightening issues. The floaters and flashes could be the sign of a retinal tear or detachment—a situation that could lead to blindness if not looked after immediately. Yikes!
I called my optometrist who told me to go to an ophthalmologist right away. Okay... now I'm freaking out inside. So off I went to the Kaiser clinic.

During the exam, the doctor placed a microscope-like instrument on the surface of my eye to see more detail. Ugh! A very uncomfortable process, which left gel all over my eye making it very difficult to see. Plus my eyes were dilated. Good thing my husband drove me. I could not see to drive after that.

Good news. I had no retinal tear or detachment, but there were signs of minor hemorrhaging at two locations. Could be a result of tugging on the retina which happens when floaters break loose. Nothing serious, but the doctor wanted me to stay alert for symptoms of light flashes and any dark areas of my vision. If that happens again, promptly get to the doctor. If a tear or detachment is found, they would repair it without delay.

Ooops! Medical Mishap #1
New Year's Eve at the end of the day was my followup appointment with the eye doctor. It started off badly when the assistant who prepped me for the exam forgot I had contacts in and dropped yellow dye in my eyes then performed a pressure test.

"Was I supposed to have my contacts out for that test?" I asked.

His eyes got big. "Oh no! I forgot you had contacts on!" Great! Those lenses will be going in the trash.

When he went to add the drops to dilate my left eye (no need to look at the right eye), I held my finger up to my eye to emphasize Drop the chemical into this eye.

The doctor used that same uncomfortable microscope to look closely. It involved some stressful pushing. I put myself into a zen mode, focussing at a spot on the wall to keep composed.

What a relief when he was done. Everything looked good. Cleaned up my contacts as best I could and home I went. On the ride home I told my husband my eye hurt. Once home I removed my lenses and put on my rarely worn eye glasses. I felt stabbing pain in my eye with accompanying tears. Blinking brought me to more tears. Something was not right.

I thought there must be an abrasion on my cornea and I needed to power through—it would heal. The cornea heals very quickly—usually overnight.

We were going to friends for a New Year's Eve gathering and rather than stay home and be miserable, I would be better off with friends enjoying myself than staying home with the pain.

I managed to make it through the evening. Never imagined I'd win the most rounds of Crimes Against Humanity (the offensive and disgusting version of Apples to Apples). I don't care to play that game again. However, the game seemed strangely fitting as I endured horrible pain with drippy nose and eye while viewing the evening's events through the distortion of thick eye glasses. I don't drink alcohol, but it all seemed surreal.

Discovered Mishap #2
Waking on New Year's Day to a swollen shut eye and still much pain, we endured and pressed through the medical system gauntlet (you need to see a general practitioner first to get a referral to a specialist baloney) to eventually talk to the on-call ophthalmologist who agreed to see me. We set an appointment for the evening so my husband could watch the Rose Bowl with his dad.

Meanwhile piercing pain persisted. A close look at my pained eye revealed what I thought to be a blister. Almost. It turned out to be a scrapped cornea with a piece of cornea heaped up to one side (like a flap of skin on a cut). Eww! The on-call ophthalmologist determined the pile of corneal material caused the pain and hampered healing.

Relief!
After numbing the eye, the doctor used a q-tip to scour the material from the cornea. Eeeeyeow! More zen concentration required. Then she measured the exposed scrape at 1.6mm x 2.4mm. Sheesh! No wonder I was in pain. I felt like the lion when the mouse removed the thorn from his paw. Ahhhh! Relief at last.

Lessons Learned
So, my dear readers, what should you learn from this misfortunate mishap? Three things:
Doctors are not superhuman—they make mistakes so be prepared to question everything.Don't let the system push you around—you know you need a specialist. Make your case to get to one without seeing the GP first.Insist on that extra step—it may mean the difference between a nightmare problem and getting well. I would have avoided 26 hours of hellacious pain had I insisted the doctor take a look at my eye after his exam. The on-call doctor divulged that 1 out of 20 patients experience an abrasion on their eye from an exam. Really? Those are terrible odds. Shouldn't there be a policy to make sure all is well before you release the patient?Bottom Line
Do you even need to question the importance of taking responsibility for your health? Create optimum wellness to help you stay away from doctors as much as possible. Despite rarely seeing a doctor, I've had too many appointments turn bad. Question everything and learn about the test or procedure being done. It's your body and you will reap the results—good or bad.

I’m mending okay now, but still have some minor irritation, redness and swelling in my eye (not pretty). I should be 100% soon.

Do you have a story about a doctor causing harm by mistake or negligence? Tell us about it in the comments.

Wishes for a Merry Christmas and Bright New Year

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Bright New Year! As I reflect on 2014 and look ahead to next year, first let me say I appreciate each of you. If you learned something and perhaps incorporated a few new things into your lifestyle that made you healthier, I am thankful.

I will be signing off until next year, but it won't mean I'm not thinking about you. Work has begun to redesign and re-orgainze the website. Once completed, you should find it easier to access what you're looking for—whether it's older posts, recipes, a product I've talked about or you're new and want to achieve optimum wellness. You'll discover health tips, information and recipes for your healthy journey.

I'll also be telling you about my children's books and how they fit in to my message for a healthy lifestyle. What? You didn't know I'm an author of children's books? My bad... I've needed to bring together my two identities (health coach/blogger and children's writer) for some time. It will make my life simpler (and you know I like that).
As a parting message, I thought you'd like to see a list of the most popular posts for 2014:

The Road to Health Comes Down to Diet 
March Is Colon Cancer Awareness Month
Conquering Illness: A Personal Story
African Bean Soup

An Herbal Combination to Fight Cancer
Why Is Vitamin D So Important?
Which post did you find most helpful in 2014?

Blessings of Special Needs Kids

Give a warm welcome to special guest poster, my friend, Nancy Hill—a fellow traveler on the journey of eating clean, traditional foods. She has two of the sweetest boys, which she adopted as wee ones knowing they needed special care. Enjoy reading about her latest diet journey and a blessing. ~Chris

Well, lots of changes going on around here…dietarily speaking! After 6 years, we’re officially no longer vegetarian. We’re now eating Paleo-style (although I dislike the label “Paleo!"), Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) to be exact, recommended by our new functional-pediatrician doc to address Philip’s GI issues. It was not an easy decision, or transition, but based on weeks of research, we feel it’s the best move at this point to help heal Philip’s gut and resolve his dysbiosis/small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), as well as malabsorption and nutritional deficiencies.
Funny thing is, the more research I did, the more I came to realize that I needed this change as much as Philip. I’ve known for a long time that grains and legumes were not kind to my digestion (I’ve had IBS symptoms for years). Already I’m noticing a change for the better. My gut is responding well to grass-fed meat, bone broth, gelatin, and cooked veggies. NO MORE BLOAT after almost every meal, and Steve and I have both lost weight.

SCD is like a massive elimination diet…slowly adding foods back, starting with ones that are easier to digest. As it progresses, raw fruits and veggies are added back in while we assess tolerance of each food until we come up with a list of “safe” foods. Right now what I miss most are daily smoothies, raw salads, and sweet potatoes, but I just keep telling myself that it’s temporary until Philip and I are at a place where our guts are healed and can tolerate those foods better. However, probably will not go back to grains or potatoes anytime soon.

So... there you have it! It’s been a very weird experience going through this transition. When grocery shopping for meat the first few times, I found myself worried I’d run into a friend… I was embarrassed!!! Had to let that go, especially since this change is (so far) working very well.

I recently subscribed to a website that sends out inspirational articles geared towards parents of children with special needs. It is a wonderful reminder to express gratitude for the “little things.” I admit that too many days my eyes are focused more on the daily trials of life than they are on the daily blessings.

David (left) and Philip—brothers and best budsOne recent afternoon David announced that he was going “up on the hill” with Philip to “look for gold.” The spot where Philip likes to play in the dirt sits part way up a steep portion of our back hillside—it is not what you would consider disabled accessible. After helping David put on appropriate footwear and giving him his crutches, I sent them off and went back in the house expecting pleas for assistance a short time later. Those pleas never came. Instead, I heard whooping and hollering—the sound of boys playing together outdoors.

I snuck out back and saw David, for the first time ever, sitting up on that hillside with a Tonka tractor in his hands—Philip nearby digging “gold nuggets" out of the dirt. Philip had apparently guided his brother up the rocky dirt path and helped him into position.

I am thankful to God for the blessing of two boys whose unique needs bring much richness to my life, and for the eyes to see the extraordinary moments disguised in the ordinary. Even during the most frustrating of days, God’s many blessings are evident…if I will only yield to His leading to notice and appreciate them!

No matter what challenges you may be facing, may today and everyday be filled with appreciation for the blessings in your life—big and small—and for our gracious Creator who gives them all!

++++++++++++++Thank you, Nancy! I know my readers were blessed by your words.

What extraordinary moment have you seen in your life disguised as something ordinary?

Orange Zest Cranberry Sauce Recipe

I love whole cranberry sauce and found some ready-made I really like. Trader Joe's makes a whole cranberry sauce with orange zest, but it's a bit sweeter than I prefer for my no-sugar diet. This year I made my own cranberry sauce following a recipe from PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine).

PCRM promotes a personal responsibility approach to medicine starting with a plant-based diet. Although I don't agree with every detail of the PCRM recommended diet, I am behind their goal of dramatically changing the way doctors treat chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and cancer. PCRM puts prevention over pills and other medical interventions, encouraging doctors to empower their patients to take control of their own health.

With a few tweaks from the original PCRM recipe, I made this cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving and will likely repeat it for Christmas dinner. I squeezed juice from the orange I grated for the zest rather than use orange juice concentrate, which I find too processed. It turned out perfect.
A package of fresh cranberries measures about 4 cups—just right for the recipe.
The cranberry sauce cooked while I made the Blueberry Pie for Thanksgiving.

Orange Zest Cranberry Sauce
from Inspired by PCRMyield 10 - 12 servings
category Side Dishcuisine Vegan
ingredients4 C fresh or frozen cranberries1 C fresh squeezed orange juice1 ripe pear, finely chopped1 medium apple, finely chopped1/2 tsp cinnamon2 tsp grated orange peel1/4 - 1/2 raw sugar (evaporated cane juice or coconut sugar)
directions1. Combine cranberries, orange juice, pear, apple, cinnamon and orange zest in a sucepan over medium heat.2. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for about 20 minutes. The cranberries will begin to pop and the mixture will thicken.3. Add sugar to taste. Careful not to over sweeten. The sauce will get sweeter tasting as the flavors marry.
4. Serve hot or cold.
Do you enjoy cranberry sauce? If so... whole or jellied?