Shannon here: Jodie Bailey shares a yummy recipe for Cranberry-Orange Relish and memories of a romantic Thanksgiving getaway. Comment or answer the question in this post to enter the drawing for a copy of Jodie’s latest Romantic Suspense, Fatal Identity. Deadline: Dec 5th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Jodie:
My husband and I spent our tenth anniversary apart. I was temporarily living in North Carolina with our three-year-old daughter and my dad. He was constantly moving, place to place, all over Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I tease him all of the time; he’s sent me flowers twice in our sixteen-year marriage, and that tenth anniversary was one of those times.
He came back in August due to an injury, and it was like being newly married all over again. After surviving that absolutely insane year, it felt like we should do something to mark a new chapter.
We went to visit his parents in Michigan for Thanksgiving, and we knew we wanted to do something a little bit different. Since we’d missed our tenth anniversary, and our eleventh was the day after Thanksgiving, we settled on leaving the kiddo with his parents and doing something we’d always wanted to do: stay overnight at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth, Michigan. Yeah, it’s a touristy kind of thing to do, but we’ve always loved Frankenmuth, especially in winter. It’s just gorgeous.
That night, we treated ourselves to the full-on Bavarian Inn chicken dinner. Well, I did. He doesn’t eat chicken, so boy, did he miss out! One of the courses was this amazing cranberry relish with apples. Oh. My. Word. We’d have been totally happy to stuff our faces full of that for, oh, the rest of our lives.
We had an amazing weekend just being together and wandering around town. There was no agenda, no timetable, and there was no one but the two of us. We were anonymous together in a very crowded holiday town, and it was exactly what we needed to reset and take in all that had happened while we were apart.
And now, every Thanksgiving (thanks to Google)… there is Cranberry-Orange Relish on our table.
Orange-Cranberry Relish:
1 large RED apple (There’s a reason it’s not Granny Smith. Cranberries are tart enough!)
1 large navel orange
1 bag of cranberries, frozen
¼ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (we call that optional…)
½ cup sugar, to taste
Wash and scrub the apple and orange.
Rinse cranberries in a colander under cold water. Try not to let them thaw.
Core the apple and cut into quarters.
Zest the orange, seed it, and toss the orange and its zest into a food processor. Chop until it’s pretty much pulpy juice.
Toss in the cranberries and process just enough to chop them a little bit.
Toss in the apples and process until the relish is the consistency you want. We like it chunky, so we pulse a few times just to bring it all together.
Sprinkle with sugar, stir, and let sit for an hour or so. Taste and add more sugar if you wish. Allow it to sit for a few hours or overnight.
About Jodie: Jodie Bailey is the CBA Best-selling author of novels about freedom and the heroes who fight for it. Her second novel, Crossfire, was a RT Reviewers’ Choice
Award winner and her contemporary romance Quilted by Christmas received the Selah Award and spent two months on the CBA Bestseller List. Jodie is also a public speaker and teacher who packs her novels with the knowledge she’s gained as an Army wife.
Jodie Bailey grew up in Eastern North Carolina, where she developed a love for golden sand and the Atlantic Ocean. She started writing stories as soon as she learned how to put sentences together, and spent her childhood and teen years making her best friends’ dreams come true on paper.
In college, she met the love of her life–a soldier who rides a Harley and jumps out of airplanes for fun. This prompted a whole lot of moving from place to place, and she had no idea how much those moves would work their way into her stories. For ten years, she pursued her second love, teaching. Now a full-time writer, she still teaches part-time because the kids keep her young and, every once in awhile, she needs some time away from the imaginary characters.
Jodie currently lives in North Carolina with her husband, her daughter, and two dogs who think they rule the world. Learn more & connect:
Jodie’s Website Jodie’s Facebook Jodie’s Twitter Jodie’s Instagram
About the book – Fatal Identity:
Secrets from her family’s past thrust her into the crosshairs
At her partner’s Christmas wedding in the mountains, deputy US marshal Dana Santiago’s almost abducted—and only the quick actions of Alex “Rich” Richardson save her. Now Dana and Rich must work together to figure out why the kidnappers seem willing to go to any lengths to capture her. But to find the truth they must first dig up her family’s long-buried past…
Can’t wait for the drawing or want some of Jodie’s other titles? Get your copies now!
Question for Readers: What is your favorite Thanksgiving memory?
Come back Nov 27th for Angela Breidenbach!
Hey, Jodie! I love cranberries and oranges together, so I may have to try this recipe. My favorite Thanksgiving may be from 2016. My four children started coming home from college on the Monday before, and I started cooking. I felt like I was always pulling another dish out of the oven for my family, for high school buddies who dropped by, and the British friend who’d never experienced a Thanksgiving. Even in my exhaustion from stirring and baking and mixing and kneading, I kept repeating, “Thank You, God! Thank You, God!” I loved it. Happy Thanksgiving!
This sounds like such a wonderful Thanksgiving! Maybe I’ll have to make some relish next year. 😉
my favorite memory is when the all the family would gather at my grandma’s house to eat and then all the cousins would go outside to chase each other around the yard so the adults could relax after the meal.
My Thanksgivings were so much like that. My cousins were like siblings. We’d all pile into my grandmother’s 1300 sf house and pack in to eat wherever we could. I miss those days.
The book sounds really good.
Thank you, Patricia!
Sounds delicious! Memory – just family gatherings! They are special enough with 9 siblings and their families 🙂
I love it! I miss the big family gatherings of my childhood. We do things differently now, but the memories are still awesome.
My sister has made Ocean Spray’s Cranberry Orange Relush from the back of the bag for years. I love the idea of adding the apple! We love Frankenmuth!!!! Now that part of us live in Texas and Maryland, we try to schedule a Frankenmuth trip when we go home! !!Your book sounds so exciting!!! Thanx for the giveaway!
I have never tried that recipe and will have to check it out. I really miss Frankenmuth. It was my favorite place to visit when we lived in MI.
Ohhhhh, I’m so looking forward to reading this! Thank you for the chance to win a copy.
wfnren at aol dot com
Thank you, Wendy!
My favorite memory is Christmas stockings.
My dad still makes me a Christmas stocking, even though I’m all grown up now. There is always a giant candy cane and a Life Savers Storybook. When I was living in Michigan 20 years ago, I got a package the week before Christmas with a giant candy cane and a storybook. And yep, I cried.
My favorite Thanksgiving memory is a funny one. We moved to Texas for my husband’s job. We invited two couples over. I cooked my first turkey. We explained the history of Thanksgiving to the international couple. The other older couple missed their family too. The wife was crying. When my husband cut the turkey the giblet package came out. The international coupe was puzzled and the crying lady started laughing. Truly unforgettable
OOPS! That’s such a great story! I have never cooked a whole turkey, just a turkey breast. Whole birds scare me. LOL
I have a winner! Karen Hadley won the drawing. I appreciate Jodie for being my guest and everyone else for stopping by.