Holiday Spread

Where has the year gone?

Seems like I blink sometime about mid-March, and then its summer.

I yawn on July 4th and then school is starting.

Now, in a few short weeks it will be Turkey Day!

So begins the holiday shopping for gifts and the various dinners and office parties.

This time of year can get expensive while shopping for groceries, especially when we restock the pantry, refrigerator and the two freezers.

Why restock the pantry? I do a lot of baking during the holidays and homemade breads, cookies, cakes and pies are best when you use the freshest ingredients.

Homemade condiments can also make a simple sandwich awesome.

Leftovers were always the best things about Turkey Day when I was a kid. I never tired of eating them, although I don't really remember eating them for too many days afterward. Which, I've learned since becoming a parent, doesn't happen that often in a house filled with a starving teenager, his friends, my husband and my father.

To get those sandwiches this year, I think I'm going to have to bake two turkeys.

Nothing is better to me than a turkey, Swiss cheese, red onion, lettuce and sliced tomato on fresh pumpernickel bread and a splatter of my mother's Spicy Cranberry Ketchup to add zip.

Her culinary skills were not always the best, but my mother could follow a simple recipe.

With 10 ingredients, this recipe is very simplistic but scrumptious.

Cranberry Ketchup

1 16-ounce can of jellied cranberry sauce

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup white vinegar

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/4-teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8-teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8-teaspoon white ground pepper

1/8-teaspoon allspice

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons hot water

In a large saucepan, combine the first eight ingredients over medium heat until it comes to a slow boil. In a small bowl, stir the flour and hot water together until it makes a paste and then add it to the cranberry mixture, stirring until it thickens.

Remove from the heat and put in an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight to allow flavors to blend.

This is good served with cream cheese and crackers.