Better Cranberry Sauce

Better Cranberry Sauce
Source: Crockpot365

12 oz. fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Rinse the cranberries; drain and put them in your crockpot (1.5 quart size). Add the sugar and water and gently mix. It's a lot of liquid, but it will cook down.

Cover and cook on high for approximately 3 hours. Stir every 45 minutes or so. When the cranberries start to get mushy, use your spoon to crush them (about 1-1/2 to 2 hours into cooking), by pushing on them.

Once they are all nice and smooshed, take the cover off of the crockpot and continue to cook on high for another 30 to 45 minutes. It will still be a bit liquidy (but shouldn't be really runny), but it will thicken a bit as it cools down slightly.

*****

Both my husband and I declared that this cranberry sauce was even better than the basic one.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

These are the absolute best mashed potatoes ever! Well, at least I think so. I honestly can't remember where I got the recipe from, but I've been making them for years now and I think they are wonderful.

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

5 lbs. of potatoes, peeled and diced
3 tbsp. butter
0.5 tsp. garlic powder
0.5 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 - 1 cup milk*
1 (8 oz) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
8 oz. sour cream

1. Boil potatoes until tender; drain.
2. Mash/mix potatoes adding in garlic salt, onion powder, salt, cream cheese, butter and sour cream. Add in milk* until the potatoes reach the right texture/consistency for your taste.
3. Divide among 8x8 pans; cover pans with a double layer of aluminum foil*. Label and freeze.

**These can be eaten as is, or heated in the oven (350*) for approximately 30 minutes before serving.

To serve from frozen: Thaw in the refrigerator overnight and bake at 350* for 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until heated through, keeping covered until the last 20 minutes of baking.