Thursday, December 21, 2006

Hooray for Dennis!!!!




Well, we are so proud of Dennis and had a great weekend at his graduation! Heather's mom made it down for the ceremony as well. We spent a whirlwind of a time seeing some friends whom we hadn't seen in awhile, and hitting some of the local favorite eateries...but due to Leah catching a stomach bug, our visiting was cut short and we headed home. Now, as soon as those grades are transferred and a diploma comes in the mail, we will all breathe a sigh of relief!





We also can't believe that Christmas is just around the corner. We have all been enjoying getting ready-decorating our tree this week (although it is not huge, it is the biggest one we've ever gotten), decorating sugar cookies, lots of other baking and cranberry tea making (recipe to follow), gift wrapping, etc... Thankfully this year we have not felt the Christmas rush, and have really enjoyed the season of advent as a family each night at dinner time.







Cranberry Tea Recipe

1 package of cranberries, boiled in 6 quarts of water till popped and soft

1/2 gal. apple cider

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 1/2 to 2 cups sugar, depending on taste

2 T. mulling spices

2 sticks cinnamon

orange slices, optional

Strain the cranberries through a mesh strainer, saving the water. Mash the cranberries and push as much of the pulp throught the strainer as possible. Combine in a crockpot or on the stove in a large pot set to low: the cranberry juice, apple cider, orange juice, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon. Tie the mulling spices in a cheesecloth packet or something similar. Sometimes I add fresh orange slices to the pot for added flavor and it looks pretty if serving from the crock, but is not necessary. Brew for several hours (I usually let mine sit in the crock pot all day). Once it has cooked, serve directly, or to save, strain the juice into a container and refrigerate, pouring each serving into a microwavable mug and microwaving to re-heat.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Way to go Dennis! We are proud of you! We miss you, The old "Tarberia" gang