I love surprises. I like facts that you wouldn’t expect and recipes that are so easy it’s amazing. So it was no surprise that when I discovered I could make cranberry juice, I was thrilled. I have been making my own tart and lime spiced cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving for years, but it never occurred to me that I could in fact make my own jewel toned tart juice. I adapted this recipe from here (http://www.mytartelette.com/2006/11/mighty-cranberry.html). Instead of sugar, I use clover honey and instead of discarding the cranberries after extracting the ruby juice, I whizz them in a blender with ice cubes and blueberries.

Cranberries, juiced and smoothied

• 3 to 4 cups of cranberries, picked through (discard any mushy berries and pick out stems)
• 1 to 2 quarts of water (I used my biggest pot and filled it with cold, filtered water)
• 1/4 cup of your favorite honey (if you prefer sweeter juices, you dial this up to 1/2 a cup)
• Handful of blueberries (or any other fruit. Peaches, oranges, banana, apples, are all good options)

1. Add water to pot and bring to a rolling boil
2. Add the cranberries and continue to boil until all of the berries have burst and the water has turned a beautiful red.
3. Remove from heat
4. Strain the juice and berries through a fine mesh sieve or cheese cloth, do not press on the berries
5. Stir in honey until dissolved
6. Allow juice to cool.
7. JUICE: Put 1/2 cup of leftover berries* and a handful of blueberries and whizz in a blender with a few cubes of ice. Drink!

* You can feel free to discard these if you want, but as a poor as a church mouse law student, I try to maximize the yield for all of my purchases. (You know… so I have some money left over for pretty things). You will have about 2-3 cups of berries (they will be a little mushed) leftover. You can freeze these in 1/2 cup increments to add to any of your smoothies.