Christmas Crafts, Treat Your Feathered Friends

One of many easy Christmas crafts that can involve your entire family is making a treat for your feathered friends!

Make cranberry garlands. Choose what other foods you want to include in addition to the cranberries.  Peanuts in the shell are good.  Other excellent choices are grapes, raisins, popcorn, or orange slices. (photo by Holly Kuchera, Dreamstime.com)

You will need a needle and fishing line.  If you don't have fishing line on hand, you can also use heavy thread.

Tie a knot at the end of the thread to keep any food from falling off.  Decide on a pattern.  Maybe you want eight cranberries, four peanuts, then a foot of popcorn.  Or any other pattern.

Carefully string cranberries and other chosen foods, repeating the pattern until you have pieces that are 3 or 4 feet in length.  Tie another knot at the end.

Drape on outside trees or shrubs.

Hint:  Stale popcorn strings better than fresh! So pop the corn a few days in advance of the garland-making day.  You may  need to hide it so nobody eats it before the birds!

Delicious Any Time of the Year

It doesn't have to be a holiday to enjoy Cranberry Orange Bread. This recipe also makes perfect muffins.

(photo by Andrea Skjold, Dreamstime.com)

Ingredients for Cranberry Orange Bread or Muffins:

2 cups flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup cranberries
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar

In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Fold in cranberries.
Add vinegar to milk; then combine with yogurt. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
If making bread, pour into greased bread pan.
If making muffins, fill greased muffin cups or paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 cups full. (makes one dozen)
Bake at 400 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack.

This Time of Year

This time of year is perfect for Cranberry Bars.  Just look at the "holiday" ingredients.  People will ask you for the recipe, guaranteed!  (photo by Tracy Hebden, Deamstime.com)

Cranberry Bars
 Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts

Crust:
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups cold butter
1 cup sugar
3 cups quick-cooking oats

Directions:
In a saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil.  Add cranberries and cook until they pop.  Add orange juice, peel, butter, cinnamon, and salt.  Cook 5 minutes more or until mixture thickens.  Remove from heat and stir in walnuts.  Set aside.

In a bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in butter until crumbly.  Add sugar and oats; mix well.

Spoon half into an ungreased 13 x 9 inch baking pan.  Pat firmly into pan.

Spread filling over crust.  Top with remaining crumbs; pat lightly.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  Cool.

Bouncing Berry Alerts!

Bouncing Berry Alerts, that is, information and fun facts about cranberries.

Did you know that cranberries have small pockets of air inside that cause them to bounce?  Drop one on your kitchen floor and watch your cat pounce to play with it!  These pockets of air are also why cranberries float on water.

Cranberries were first called bearberries because bears like to eat them.  Later they were called crane berries because when the vine flowers blossom, they look like the head and beak of a crane.  After awhile, the name was shortened to cranberries.  And, of course, they are also called the bouncing berries or bitter berries.

Cranberries have lots of fiber, vitamin C, and other substances that make them a healthy food.  They are thought to help protect us from urinary tract infections, as well as cancer and heart disease.

Cranberry juice contains a chemical that blocks pathogens that cause tooth decay.

White cranberry juice is made from regular cranberries that are harvested before they turn red.

Honeybees are sometimes used to pollinate cranberry crops.

One 12-oz bag of cranberries has three cups of whole berries in it.

Cranberries can be kept in the refrigerator for one month, and in the freezer for nine months.

Cranberries are native to North Aerica.  Other native fruits are concord grapes and blueberries.

Native Americans pounded cranberries into a paste and mixed it with venison.  This was called pemmican.  They used cranberries as dye for blankets and also for medical treatment of arrow wounds.

Frozen cranberries can be used in recipes without thawing.

It is easier to chop or grind cranberries while they are still frozen.

There are about 200 cranberries in every can of sauce.

There are about 440 cranberries in one pound, and about 4,400 in a gallon of juice.