Our bellies are all full and we’ve had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends.
Every year, Remarkably Domestic Mom makes an epic Thanksgiving dinner. It always includes traditional fare from years and years of Thanksgivings, likely started with my Grandmother. She makes everything from scratch, starting several days before the event. My aunt and uncle and my two cousins come in from back East, and it’s the only time we see them all year, so it’s a big party.
the meal is about to begin...
One of the dishes that she makes every year that I’ve never seen anywhere else is cranberry jello. In fact, once I brought it to a potluck Thanksgiving where I was looked at sideways for the wackniess of my contribution. But for my family, Thanksgiving just isn’t Thanksgiving without this jello. Most of us eat it with the meal; a few of us eat it as a kind of palate cleanser at the end of the meal before pie. It’s fantastically light and sweet and lovely. You could have it as a light fruity dessert if it’s too much to have it with dinner. Try it out sometime!
the jello in the foreground, yams with marshmellows in the back
This dish is best made a day ahead so it can chill thoroughly.
Cranberry Jello
- 8 ounce can crushed pineapple
- 1 package cherry jello
- 1 can (14 oz.) whole cranberry sauce
- 1 tsp orange rind
- 1 can mandarin oranges, drained
- 1 cup heavy cream
Drain the crushed pineapple, setting aside the juice and the pineapple. Add boiling water to the juice to make 1 1/4 cups. Dissolve the cherry jello in the juice mixture; chill until the jello is set and not runny, but still soft and malleable (sort of custard consistency). Fold in the whole cranberry sauce, orange rind, mandarin oranges and pineapple. Whip the heavy cream and fold it into the jello mixture. Pour into a mold and chill, preferably overnight.
After dinner we dig into the pies. Mom always makes at least four: custard, Dutch apple, pecan and, of course, pumpkin.
deeeeeeelish!
I’m hosting Thanksgiving for some of the husband’s family on Saturday– it’ll be a vegetarian meal– so I’ll post how that went Saturday night.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
That is a piepalooza! I’ll have some of the custard and pecan, please. I think I gain weight just by reading your blog. The pictures are delicious.
Side note: is that Foxen wine in the background? Our neighbors just recommended the syrah. We haven’t had it yet because I dropped the first bottle and it broke. Luckily, the wine shop replaced it because the handle of their bag broke, which caused the calamity.
Can’t wait to hear about the veggie dinner. I’m curious to know if it involvees Tofurky or just some really wonderful veg dishes.
Happy Thanksgiving.