Fight Cancer with Cranberries!

Fresh cranberries are at their peak right now, which makes the bright red berries the perfect choice to adorn your holiday table. And they’re not just beautiful and delicious: Cranberries contain ellagic acid, which is a potent antioxidant that’s being explored as a colon cancer fighter. Use cranberries in these tasty ways:

Cranberry sauce. Dress up turkey and pork chops with a smear of sauce. Either open up a can or make your own.

Go wild. Cook up a batch of wild rice, and toss in some chopped celery, chopped dried apricots, and fresh or frozen cranberries.

Fresh-baked muffins. These muffins are my favorite and at only 220 calories per serving, they’re the perfect choice for Christmas morning (so you can feel better about eating a little extra at dinnertime).

2 cups of whole-wheat flour
¾ cup of sugar
1½ tsp. of baking powder
½ tsp. of salt
½ tsp. of baking soda
¼ cup of canola oil
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. of grated orange peel
¾ cup of orange juice
3 cups of fresh cranberries,chopped
½ cup of pecans, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a large muffin pan with cupcake papers. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine the oil, egg, orange peel, and orange juice. Quickly stir into the flour mixture, just until the mixture is evenly moist. Fold in the cranberries and pecans. Fill the muffin cups two-thirds full with the batter. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool on a wire rack. (Yield: 12 muffins.)

Merry Christmas!