Youth News: Ready-To-Go Sauce Helps The Chef

MARY BETH GIZINSKI, GB Youth Board

Published: November 18, 2004

Imagine you have just woken up on the wonderful American holiday, Thanksgiving. You go into the family room to find the Macy’s parade live from New York on the television. You walk into the kitchen to see your mother, aunts and grandmother already preparing the meal for today. You know they will be slaving all day in order to make it perfect. A Thanksgiving meal must have all the right elements.

Cranberry sauce is a necessity at any Thanksgiving meal, along with turkey and all the other fixings of course. One of the things you look forward to on Thanksgiving is a warm, home-cooked meal. However, it takes a long time to fix all that food. Why not make it easier for at least one dish?

Cranberry sauce from a can is a perfect way to make the holiday a little less stressful. All you do is take it out and put it on a platter with a serving utensil. Why spend at least 15 minutes making a dish when you could put it on the table in less than five? That’s 10 minutes quicker you get to eat and puts less stress on mom.

Another big deal is having equal portions. Little cousins fight about who got more food than another all the time. Save yourself from all this hassle for one part of the meal. When you have canned cranberry sauce it comes with ridges, which are like a guide to show you where to cut. If you use this guide then there should be no problem having equal pieces for all. The ends are a little bigger than the middle slices, but those can go to the hosts. You may buy as many cans as you need to and easily prepare another one because it’s so simple and everyone will want more. It also easier to clean up than homemade cranberry sauce, which can get messy.

The taste is definitely a major factor. Homemade cranberry sauce may be grand, but it can have a rough texture to it sometimes. You just want a simple, smooth dish to wash everything else down. Canned cranberry sauce is the better solution in this case. It is not as sour as real cranberry sauce. This allows you to eat as much as you want and not have to worry about your throat.

Thanksgiving dinner can become costly. Canned cranberry sauce is less than a dollar per can. This is a dish you can afford to keep on the table. It is much less expensive than homemade cranberry sauce.

Thanksgiving is a time to spend with family and friends. It is a day to celebrate the time you have been given together. Don’t cut into this time by spending more time in the kitchen than is needed.

Mary Beth Gizinski is a sophomore at Blessed Trinity High School in Roswell and a parishioner at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Kennesaw.