As you are well aware, Thanksgiving is right on our heels and I couldn’t be happier. This holiday is my absolute favorite. There’s a ton of food, visits with family and no pressure for gift giving. Except for my presence at the table, which really, isn’t this greatest gift of all?

It’s tough for me to wait all year for the food blessings of Thanksgiving. In last week’s blog, I mentioned my delight for the super convenient pre-marinated turkey breast. This holiday favorite kept me motivated for more delicious pilgrim fare.

The challenge was on, so I thought to myself, what other treat speaks Thanksgiving to me besides turkey? The message was clear — cranberries. Other than a lovely splash of color and tartness added to my vodka soda, I really don’t consider cranberries ever. I mean really. I don’t even know where the damn things come from other than the two dudes standing in a big shallow lake on the Ocean Spray commercials.

In my tedious research of the berry, I discovered that contrary to popular belief, cranberries do not grow in water. Instead, they grow on vines in impermeable beds layered with sand, peat, gravel and clay. These beds, commonly known as "bogs," were originally made by glacial deposits.

Another fun fact is that the cranberry is one of only three North American commercial grown native fruits along with concord grapes and blueberries. Not to mention, American whalers and mariners carried cranberries on their voyages to prevent the nasty scurvy. This is quite that fascinating little berry. Mesmerizes your guests at dinner with these tantalizing tidbits of trivia (again with alliteration)!

As I stood staring at the cans of cranberry sauce in the grocery store, pondering my options, the light in my head went on — slow cooked pork tenderloin. I love my slow cooker and I love pork tenderloin. I am such a meat hypocrite. Another story for another day...

So here is my recipe for Slow Cooked Cranberry Pork: take one large pork tenderloin (1½ to 2 pounds) cut into two inch cubes, one chopped sweet medium onion, four cloves of chopped garlic, one chopped apple, one large sprig of fresh rosemary, two sprigs of fresh thyme, a tablespoon of chopped sage, two cans of whole berry cranberry sauce, three-quarters cup of GOOD balsamic vinegar and salt/pepper to taste. Add half a cup of brown sugar if you can’t use GOOD balsamic. Slow cook for six to eight hours and serve with roasted red potatoes.

There you have it. Something to use cranberries for and you don’t have to wait until Thanksgiving. Now if I could only think of something good to make with Brussel sprouts…