My Thanksgiving menu changes a little from time to time, (I'm trying a new sweet potato recipe this year) but the one absolute constant is the cranberry salad. I know Jello salads are passe and I'm not really fond of most of them anyway, but in this recipe the Jello is just there to hold the fruit together. My mother always made this and I really love both the tart-sweet tang and the fact that it is so beautiful--it looks like sparkling jewels. It is so refreshing with all the heavy Thanksgiving dishes and is the perfect accompaniment to a turkey sandwich on the day after Thanksgiving. I always make it the day before Thanksgiving.
Mom used to grind up the fruit and nuts in a food grinder. I use the Cuisinart. Here's the recipe:
Cranberry Jello Salad
Dissolve 1 6-oz package of cranberry Jello in 2 Cups of boiling water.
Coarsely chop and add to the Jello:
-1 package, washed, fresh cranberries
-1 red delicious apple
-1 seedless orange, including the peel (honest--don't peel it!)
-1/2 Cup walnuts
Stir in 3/4 Cup sugar and chill overnight
I have made it with raspberry Jello when I couldn't find cranberry. It tastes the same. I have also made it with sugar free Jello and substituted Splenda for the sugar. I could not tell the difference.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It is so much about family. It is the one day that I know my daughter really misses being at home. She lives in Ecuador and has not been home for Thanksgiving for many years. We miss her dearly on Thanksgiving. If all goes according to plan, she and her husband will be here for Thanksgiving next year. He is Ecuadorean and we will show him what an American Thanksgiving is all about.
We will have friends tomorrow and my son and any of his friends who have no place to go for dinner. We will take turns listing things that we are thankful for and we will remember other Thanksgivings and we will call family to wish them a wonderful day and we will eat too much, of course. I hope you all have a perfect day.
Oh, yummy! It is beautiful, as usual. (Although I miss the traditional cranberry salad bowl--blackened silver rim and all!) We aren't having the famous cranberry salad this year so decided that it had to be Ginger's cranberry pie. The house is smelling quite wonderful just from that, at the moment. Have a happy Thanksgiving--we miss you today.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving! I love looking at all these photos - yum, yum, and no cooking to do!!
ReplyDeleteI remember that salad. My mom used to make it. I just do the plain sauce recipe.
ReplyDeleteMy kids are here from Portland. It will be our last T-day in balmy California!