After many years of eating canned cranberry sauce, I vowed last year never to do it again.

Last year, we hosted our first Thanksgiving as a couple, at our apartment. Turkey and all for 15 people, including E’s mom. People felt so at home and relaxed at our place some people took not one, but two naps after dinner. Booze—in huge part thanks to my friend Aaron who raided all of Napa Valley to provide wine for dinner—was flowing like Kanye West’s self-referential lyrics. And the food? With E’s mom’s guidance to make sure we had everything cooking smoothly, our turkey was moist, our stuffing was scrumptious and the desserts were delish. And everyone asked for us to host again this year.

So, we’re doing it again, with no parental supervision.

The easiest part of the entire Thanksgiving feast is the cranberry sauce. Why anyone still eats the jelly stuff out of a can is beyond me. Fresh is the best. And easiest! You can use as few as three ingredients to make the sauce, which means if you’re having a pot luck style Thanksgiving, you can give your most unreliable, culinarily inept friend the job to prep this sauce and they’ll likely get it right.

The basic process: throw a bag of fresh cranberries, some orange juice and sugar in a saucepan and boil until the berries pop. For mine, I added a bit of ginger and cut back on the sugar for a more tart taste. I’m planning on making an extra jar or two to use for sandwiches before and after the big feast.

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