Super Easy, Festive Cranberry Relish & Cookie Decorating at Nonny's

Yesterday afternoon we had a cookie decorating party with all the cousins at Nonny's house.  I wanted to bring a little appetizer for us to munch on.  Festive Cranberry Relish is super easy to make, no baking or cooking required, just a food processor, simple ingredients and some fridge time and you're done.  I originally got this recipe from someone at my Healthy Cooking Group and it's a hit at every party I bring it to.  Perfect for the holidays.

Here's what you need {recipe below}......

Chop the cranberries in a food processor...

Chop the cilantro, green onions and jalapeno, grate the ginger, squeeze the lemon

Mix all together with the sugar and refrigerate for at least four hours.

Spoon over cream cheese, I used a low fat version, and enjoy.

Meanwhile, at Nonny's, high anticipation amongst the cousins, to begin the cookie decorating......

Ready, set, decorate!....eating, sprinkling, frosting, decorating, eating some more, you get the idea.......

Until we had a platter of very colorful, decorated sugar cookies.

Festive Cranberry Relish


3 cups cranberries (1 12 oz. bag), rinsed and drained
¼ cup green onions (about 4), minced
2 small jalapeno peppers (2 Tbsp.), seeded and minced
¼ cup cilantro, minced
½ cup sugar
2 Tbsp. ginger, finely grated
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Serve with:

1 8 oz. package cream cheese
Plain crackers

Place cranberries in food processor and chop fine, but not mushy. Transfer to bowl and add remaining relish ingredients and stir. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours, overnight is best. Serve over cream cheese with crackers. Garnish with cilantro if desired. Makes enough for 2 packages of cream cheese. Pin It

Cooking with the Kids & Teaching Knife Safety

Yesterday was my bi-monthly visit to Bryce's school to teach the K-1 class cooking.  Bryce Loves fruit and would probably be entirely happy if I allowed him to live off of fruit, raw veggies and meat, so at his request, we prepared Fruit Skewers in cooking class.  I also thought this would be a perfect opportunity to teach the kids about knife safety in the kitchen.

I brought in pineapple, kiwi, bananas, oranges, strawberries, cantaloupe, and dried apricot and marshmallows just to mix it up a bit. 

Knife safety tips

#1  Always cut away from your body with the sharp edge facing away from you.

#2 When chopping or cutting food, go slowly and hold the food with your fingers curled under.

#3  Always use a cutting board so the knife does not cut the table or counter top, plus the slick surface of a table could cause the knife to slip.

#4  Keep the knife blade pointing away from other people.

#5  Always make sure to get an adults permission before using a knife to cut anything.

With all that said, the kids were chopping machines!  Very proficient.  They also felt very responsible - being allowed to use a knife.

After the chopping was complete, they began to skewer their fruit and marshmallows.

{the 2 year old in the photo who was visiting, was not allowed to use a knife, but she was allowed to skewer and eat}

We melted some chocolate in the microwave, poured it into individual cups and they began to dip away! 

Oh, and Bryce also would live off of chocolate if I allowed it also:)

Happy Saturday!

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