I don’t think I will ever get enough cranberries! I love them so much. It’s too bad that I can only find them around the holidays. I do try to buy as many as I can and keep them in the freezer. But while they are available, I try to use them in as many dishes as possible including this Cranberry Orange Slaw.

Cranberry Orange Slaw is a wonderful side dish for ham, roast chicken, or grilled salmon. It is also a terrific accompaniment on fish tacos or a chicken salad sandwich. And I can totally see using this dish as a topper for a BBQ chicken or pulled port sandwich. There are so many ways to use this versatile side dish since it is so full of flavor.

It’s also super simple to make, which is a plus during the holidays, right? All you need is…

1 12oz bag of fresh cranberries

One orange, seeds removed

1/2 cup white sugar (Substitute 1/2 cup xylitol or erythritol if desired.)

1 bag slaw mix (I use the kind with red cabbage, white cabbage, and carrots.)

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

Wash the cranberries well and remove any stems.  Cut orange into quarters. Squeeze juice of orange into a mixing bowl. Chop cranberries and orange in food processor. I keep it at a rough chop instead of letting it get too emulsified. Pour into bowl with orange juice. Use a cutting board to give a rough chop to the slaw mix. Add slaw mix, sugar, and mayo to other ingredients. Mix well. Refrigerate for about an hour before using.

We hope you love Cranberry Orange Slaw as much as our family does. Let me know in the comments how you plan to eat it. If this recipe looks interesting to you, please check out our other recipes in our Recipe Index.

My southern is showing a little with the publication of this recipe. But I can’t help it. I have only recently acquired a taste for greens, so I’m learning to make them. If you haven’t ever tried your hand at cooking greens, let me introduce you to my recipe for collard greens.

Collard greens aren’t hard to make, but they take a long time. But since they are incredibly healthy and we all need more green in our diet, they are worth the effort. 

There are as many ways to make collard greens as there are southern cooks, so feel free to tweak this recipe to fit your tastebuds. You can buy collard greens fresh in a bunch, but then you’ll have to de-stem the leaves and wash them really well. I prefer to buy mine shredded.

And can you imagine washing all of those collard greens after they have been shredded? So this is what I’m looking for…

So much easier! In order to make a big pot of collard greens, here’s what you’ll need…

2lb bag of shredded and pre-washed collard greens

2 quarts of chicken stock

2 small white onions, diced

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound of bacon, cooked and diced, with grease reserved

1/3 cup vinegar

1/3 cup maple syrup or molasses

In a large dutch oven or stock pot, heat 2 tablespoons of reserved bacon grease over medium heat. Saute onions and garlic in bacon grease until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in cooked bacon, red pepper flakes, and salt. Pour in one quart of chicken stock and heat until simmering. Let simmer for about 30 minutes to allow bacon to flavor the stock. Add part of the greens to fill the pot, as they won’t all fit until some have cooked down. Place lid on pot, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer to let green wilt. When able, add more greens, stir, and allow to wilt. Continue until all greens are added to the pot. Add the second quart of chicken stock.

Once all greens are cooking, add vinegar and syrup. If you follow me on Instagram, you might remember my favorite vinegar from Trader Joe’s, which is what I use in this recipe.

Allow to simmer covered for about an hour. Collard greens are a tough green, and you want to cook them low and slow to make them tender. Serve with pepper sauce if you like them a little spicy.

Collard greens are a wonderful complement to most any meat-and-veggie type meal. We like them with roasted pork and cheese grits, and they are also wonderful with a rotisserie chicken and sweet potatoes. 

Cranberry Orange Relish is a new-to-us recipe on our holiday table this year. While I’ve long been a fan of cranberry sauce – yes, I like the canned stuff! – I wanted something a little more special this year. Festive, maybe. This simple recipe is just the ticket. It takes about five minutes to make, and it is absolutely delicious! 

Cranberry Orange Relish is full of bold flavor, so it is definitely best as a relish instead of a full-size side dish or salad. A little goes a long way. 

You can go with a nutty option or a non-nutty option. I like both. You’ll need a 12 oz bag of fresh cranberries, one orange, a half cup of sugar, and an optional half cup of chopped pecans or walnuts.

Wash the cranberries well. Quarter the orange with the peel on. Take seeds out if there are any. Squeeze orange juice in a mixing bowl. Place cranberries and squeezed orange in food processor and chop for a few seconds. Be sure to get all big chunks of orange peel chopped or they will be bitter. Put chopped fruit mixture in bowl with orange juice. Add sugar and mix well. Store in fridge for at least an hour. Stir again and add nuts just before serving.

We hope you enjoy Cranberry Orange Relish as much as we do!

A few months back, I got together with some of my favorite food blogging friends. We ate and cooked and ate some more. I tell ya, it never gets old sharing your work with people who get it. And these people get it. 

While we were together we made several recipes that we could all share with our readers, and this cookie dough dip was one of the favorites of the weekend. I made it for my family, and they whole-heartedly agree. It’s a keeper, and it’s a great recipe to take to parties, showers, or to tailgate. Here’s what you’ll need…

6 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
1 block cream cheese (8 oz), softened to room temperature
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup mini chocolate chips
graham crackers, chocolate graham crackers, animal crackers or vanilla wafers, for serving

Directions:

• Using a stand mixer, or an electric hand mixer, combine softened butter and cream cheese in a medium-sized bowl until mixed well.
• Turn mixer to low speed and mix in brown sugar, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. Mix until thoroughly combined.
• Stir in mini chocolate chips.
• Serve with chocolate graham crackers, vanilla wafers, or animal crackers for dipping!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of MetLife Foundation. All opinions are 100% mine.

Want a way to honor Mom on social media and support other women at the same time? MetLife is conducting their #Moem campaign, which supports Dress for Success. A #Moem is simply a tribute poem of 135 characters or less, posted on social media channels. Here's the one I did on Twitter.

You can create your own, or if you're a little rhyming-challenged you can use the Moem Maker at MoemMaker.com to get you started. Post it on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and be sure to use the hashtag #Moem. MetLife will tally the number of #Moems and donate $10 for each one to Dress for Success, an organization that helps low-income women achieve economic independence for themselves and their families through supporting their search for professional employment. 

Please make as many #Moems as you'd like and encourage your friends to do the same, as each one means $10 more for Dress for Success. And while this is a sponsored post, I truly do believe in Dress for Success and the work they do for low-income women who are trying their best to get a job to support their families. I believe in these women, I believe in the work that Dress for Success does, and I believe that the support of organizations like the  MetLife Foundation will truly make a difference for families in America.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

In this week of gratitude, I can’t tell you how grateful I am that Christ has raised me from death into life. The fact that he has taken away my sin and nailed it to the cross is something I will celebrate all of my days. And all of us need to be reminded that He has disarmed the powers and authorities that stand against us through the power of the cross. Hallelujah!

Did you know that you can subscribe to The Hill Hangout by email. That means that instead of coming to my blog everyday, while I’m happy to have you, you can have all new posts delivered directly to your inbox. As long as I’m not getting caught in your spam folder, you’ll get every post right away. If you’d like to subscribe by email, simply add your email address in that little widget on the right-hand sidebar that says “The Hangout by Email.” That’s it. So simple. Thanks for subscribing!

Y’all know I love me some Pinterest. It’s such a great way to find new ideas for recipes, decorating, fashion, art projects, educational ideas, and so much more. Ii seems like every time we change seasons, Pinterest is my go-to site for ideas and I spend tons of time pinning. I have been a pinning fool lately. Wanna see?

1. Strawberry and Cream Muffins (My girls would love these for breakfast!)

2.Roasted Corn with Queso, Cilantro, and Chile (Oh my!! I’m definitely trying this!!)

3. Cleaning fruit and veggies with vinegar (I was so glad to find this trick. I know washing with water wasn’t getting our fruits clean enough and leaving waxy residue. I will do it this way from now on.)

4. I’d love to try to paint my basement stairs using this striped painting pattern

5. And this saying? Yeah, that. I could stand to take that to heart.

6. This make-upknock-off list is pure genius! You enter the brand and color of designer make-up and it tells you the drugstore brand that is similar.

7. This print-making project is perfect for Vacation Bible School. Next week I’ll be leading about 200 kids using this technique and our verse, 1 Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for other believers in speech, in life in love, in faith, and in purity.”

I’m always looking for new people to follow on Pinterest, and if you are like me and LOVE to Pinterest-stalk people whose items you like, you have come to the right spot! I’m joining up with Aimee at ByAimee and three other ladies to bring you a Pinterest link-up party called…

It’s like a free invitation to stalk! Join us by linking up your Pinterest page so that people will follow you and you can follow them as well. Here’s what you do:

how to
connect:

1: Follow me on Pinterest & the other four featured ladies linked down below as {hosts}

2: Link up your PINTEREST URL

3: Please follow at least 5 other Pinners!

4. IF you want to share our little get together, please tweet:

“love Pinterest? follow along with @byAimeeSki today
at http://wp.me/p1yWH4-fv & link up.”

or you can always tell your peeps on Facebook too!

5. come back & share your favorite boards, pins & pinners… we will be featuring some favorites next Wednesday!

Thanks for stopping by today. We’re glad you did!!

Please note: By linking up, your email will be added to our Link Party MailChimp subscription list and you will be notified of upcoming Link Party events.