Judy’s Homemade Cranberry Sauce

I developed this cranberry sauce recipe by taking all of the elements from my mother’s cranberry jello mold recipe, but leaving out the jello.  Everyone in my family loves to eat this cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving, and throughout the year.  This recipe is enough for about 8 - 10 people, but I’ve started to double and triple it, because you can never have too much it.  It is that good!

• 1 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries, washed and picked over
• 1  cup granulated sugar
• 1 small can (8 ounces) of crushed pineapple in natural juice
• about 1/2 cup of  pure orange juice
• 1 cup walnuts

Roughly chop about 1 cup of walnuts and set aside.  Drain the pinapple and set aside.    Combine the drained pineapple juice and add enough orange juice to make 1 cup of liquid.  Pour juice into a 2 quart saucepan, add the washed cranberries, and the sugar.  Simmer over a low heat, uncovered, for about 15 minutes.  Your berries will have popped open, and they will  become saucy.   Take the pan off the stove and add the reserved crushed pinapple and the walnuts.  Refrigerate.

Note:  You can make this up to one or two days ahead.  Also, if you would like the sauce to be less tangy, eliminate the orange juice and add water to the reserved pineapple juice to make the one cup of liquid you need.