These easy cranberry corn muffins are made with whole cranberries and corn kernels. They’re the perfect addition to your holiday meals!
For some reason I’ve only ever hosted the “difficult” holidays.
I think hosting Thanksgiving must be like childbirth, the only reason you’d ever offer to host that holiday multiple times is because you’ve forgotten how bad it really was the first time around.
Things I’ve learned from 3 Thanksgivings:
1. Resist the urge to use your china. Yeah, it’s pretty. Yeah, what’s the point of having it if you’re not going to break it out for a holiday meal. But seriously, just remember how many dishes come along with Thanksgiving dinner and then remember that China doesn’t go in the dishwasher. Turkey tastes just as good on a paper plate.
2. When people say “what can I bring?” don’t be so stupid to say “oh, just a bottle of wine will do, I’ve got the rest!” There’s just no excuse for that kind of lapse of judgment.
3. Do not attempt making “new” recipes that day. Specifically, popovers.

Yes, I was that person.
I thought Thanksgiving day with 10 or so people at my house would be the perfect time to try my hand at pumpkin popovers for the first time.
Ever made a popover?
They’re finicky little suckers and without a real popover pan I was pretty much doomed from the start.
That Thanksgiving is a complete blur to me.
All I remember is jumping up and down from the chair in the dining room to the kitchen to check on those stupid popovers that just wouldn’t “pop” about 10 times throughout the meal.

Between that, the dishes and catering to Ulysses who herniated a disc in his neck that morning and was screaming in pain on the bed upstairs unable to join us for any of the meal (we ended the day in the ER, that was fun!) the aforementioned 3 rules of hosting Thanksgiving were born.

This year, we’ll be homeless for Thanksgiving and temporarily living with my parents so I won’t be hosting per se, but I’m pretty sure my mom won’t be letting me sit on the couch all day while she cooks everything by herself.
So this year, we’re doing muffins not popovers.
These are easy cornbread muffins stuffed with whole fresh cranberries and canned corn kernels.
Cornbread is a staple on any Thanksgiving table, we’re just jazzing things up this time around.
My classic cornbread recipe is actually a gluten-free and vegan cornbread. It’s moist and tender, just a tad sweet with the perfect textured cornbread bite! Great for any occasion even Thanksgiving if you prefer a more traditional approach.
During the winter months, I always (well, except this year considering I’m homeless) keep the pantry stocked with canned vegetables and fruit to be able to easily add to baked goods or meals without having to worry about some foreign produce that was picked well ahead of its time ripening on my counter top.
The canned corn in these cranberry corn muffins makes it an easy muffin to throw together and definitely something WAY more approachable than popovers for a holiday meal.
Love cornbread? Try one of these recipes too:
Vanilla Pumpkin Skillet Cornbread
Bacon Jalapeno Herb Cornbread
Gluten-Free Cherry Corn Muffins
Strawberry Corn Muffins
Pumpkin Corn Muffins with honey sage butter
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.















Bananas are my fruit staple. Veggie, my staple is romaine lettuce. I almost always have both of those on hand.
i am typically not a cranberry fan, but these muffins look AMAZING.
i think the fruit I always have in my kitchen are banana’s. I just love them.
The veggie that I always have is probably broccoli. It’s a simple one that I can roast, steam, saute and it goes with almost any dish. I do try to have a variety of vegetables though and love trying new ones!.
Here’s my tweet!
https://twitter.com/GatsandHats/status/402486308490059776
Pumpkin, you can put it in savory and sweet dishes!
My favorite…Kale!
Pumpkin for sure!!!
Tomatoes….I always need to have tomatoes handy!
Corn
I can hardly go for more than a few days without beets! I ate three last night :)
My favorite is butternut squash!