The cranberry. Great for your bladder and kidneys, high in vitamin c and helps with digestion and prevention of ulcers. Also a delicious tart festive treat!

Cranberry sauce

1 cup raw cranberries

3/4 cup apple juice or water

3 tbsp rice syrup

zest of 2 lg organic oranges

1/4 cup of raisins (optional)

pinch of sea salt

1 tbsp kudzu

Bring juice cranberries, zest ,syrup, sea salt and raisins to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Dilute kudzu in a little water and add to the pot, stir until sauce is thickened. Pour into a bowl or mold  and allow to sit for at least an hour . Serve.

Here is a great recipe from Meredith McCarty, I made this pie for thanksgiving to everyone’s delight.

Cranberry-currant Tart

1 single crust pie shell

1/2 cup currants

11/2 cups apple juice

3 tbsp agar flakes

1/4 tsp sea salt

2 cups fresh cranberries

1 tbsp arrowroot powder

water

In a large pot, bring currants, juice,agar and salt to a boil. Simmer until agar is completely dissolved, 3-5 min.

Sort through cranberries to discard soft ones along with any stems. Rinse,drain and add cranberries to pot. Cook until tender but not mushy, 2-5 minutes more. Stir arrowroot in a little water to completely dissolve and add to the pot. Stir gently until mixture thickens slightly. Transfer filling to pie crust. Allow filling to gel before serving.

Hello, I’m Sarah Forrester Wendt, this is my first blog entry! I thought I would start of with some yummy macrobiotic/whole foods recipes for the holidays

It’s Holiday time…My favorite part as always is the food!! It’s the time of year where all those decadent things are a must! Pate’s and pastes, pickles and preserves, sweet things and  baked anything! MMM.

Trying to keep it all in the whole foods compartment can be a little challenging. But more and more vegetarian and vegan ingredients are easier to find. I have a husband(a graduate student) and 3 hungry kids, and we are on a tight budget, so what do we do around the holidays. Well we pick our food carefully, splurge on a few unnecessary items and top it all off with a good bottle of wine.

Here are some family favorites to get you started and to keep those belly’s nice and warm

Merry Christmas and a blessed and bountiful New Year!

Nothing like going sledding and coming home to a nice hot cup of cider..mmm!I like plain old apple cider with some added spring water heated up, but over the holidays it can be fun to add a little spice to it!

Spiced Hot apple cider

Ingredients

1/2 gallon apple juice or apple cider

1 cinnamon sticks

2 whole cloves

1 whole nutmeg

1/2 orange peel, cut into strips

1/2 lemon peel, cut into strips

(make sure your peel is organic)

Directions

Pour apple juice/cider into a large stainless steel pot

Place spices and peels into a cheese cloth. Drop cheesecloth into apple juice/cider. If you don’t have cheese cloth, just throw it all in loose and pick it out later or let the spices sink to the bottom.

heat to just short of a boil. Then remove the cheese cloth and serve!

How about some winter soup to warm our bellies.

Roasted Squash Soup