<p>slitheytrove: could you use a food mill to press the cranberries?</p>
<p>SDonCC, probably you could use a food mill. If you owned one. Which we do not. :)</p>
<p>If it was just a regular pumpkin pie that would be great! That and freshly whipped cream - what could be better?! Instead the pie we always have is an especially sweet version - there is another layer of something that is very rich - SUPER sweet as in I cannot finish a piece (and I do love pie!). </p>
<p>I’ll quit whining now. :)</p>
<p>abasket, I suspect the problem is that everyone at your table now thinks of the very rich version as “regular” pumpkin pie. :)</p>
<p>abasket:</p>
<p>When I make the roasted sweet potatoes, I use 4 ingredients. Sweet potatoes, white potatoes, beets and red onion. I mentioned it with just the potatoes a few posts ago to simplify it, but it tastes great with these 4 ingredients all roasted together. I usually par-boil the beets ahead of time and use a paper towel to rub the beets skin off, otherwise your hand will turn bright red. I season it well before and after roasting. The red onion carmelizes well with the other three ingredients.</p>
<p>Simple. No one in our family is big on the mashed, but love it this way. (whine away)!:)</p>
<p>I’m also adding some mango and mandarin oranges to my cranberry relish this year. Just sort of improvising.</p>
<p>I did not read through the entire thread; however, the absolute smartest move I have made in 28 years of marriage is buying my husband a nice grill with a rotisserie. If we have Thanksgiving at our house, he cooks the turkey on the grill and it is wonderful. The only down side is that there are no drippings for gravy.</p>
<p>I copied this from the Seattle Times’ 2009 Thanksgiving Guide:</p>
<p>
[quote]
ROASTED ROOTS WITH FENNEL AND APPLE</p>
<p>1 pound fingerling potatoes, washed and quartered lengthwise
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
3 sprigs rosemary
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Salt and pepper to taste
1 small head celeriac, peeled and cut, large dice
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into matchsticks (tough core removed)
1 bunch baby carrots, peeled and cut in half
1 onion, sliced
1 bulb fennel, halved and sliced
1 Cameo or Gala apple, cored and sliced
Kosher salt and pepper to taste</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Preheat oven to 400 degrees.</p></li>
<li><p>In a large bowl, toss fingerlings with garlic, rosemary and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Liberally season with salt and pepper.</p></li>
<li><p>Place potatoes in an ovenproof dish with enough room to spread potatoes on a single layer. Roast for 30-40 minutes until golden and fork-tender, and keep warm.</p></li>
<li><p>Toss celeriac, parsnips, baby carrots, onion, fennel and apple with 2 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper.</p></li>
<li><p>Spread vegetables in a separate large roasting pan and place in oven along with the pan of potatoes and cook vegetables, stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender and beginning to caramelize, about 30 to 40 minutes. Toss potatoes into vegetable mixture, adjust seasoning, and serve warm or at room temperature.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>*K</p>
<p>On the topic of Jello…I am from Iowa and we always had multiple Jello (we called them salads–lol) concoctions. I still do two and if you make the ten-layer one, you will be cussing me. I will be making it.</p>
<p>If you have diabetics, you can use sugar free. For a nice Jello, get raspberry Jello and a bag of frozen raspberries. Stir together an 8-ounce vanilla yogurt and a handful of small marshmellows (set aside). Prepare it using slightly less than what the box says and throw in the berries. When it is set, top it with the yogurt mix.</p>
<p>THE TEN-LAYER RAINBOW JELLO–This takes forever, but my 80-something father-in-law LOVED it as does my 18-year-old son. Make it in an 8 x 8 clear Pyrex. Buy five colors of Jello in the small boxes and vanilla yogurt. Fill your pan with water, measuring as you go (it should hold about 7 cups of water), and then dump it out. Divide the number by five (your five colors) and subtract a bit to allow for Jello mix. Boil water and mix each color with the water. Divide each color in half and add a tablespoon of yogurt to each color (one clear, one cloudy). Decide your color order (I do the rainbow). Pour in your firstcloudy color and let it set; then do your first clear layer. The pouring and setting is a bit tricky–if your Jello is too hot, it will melt the layer below. Repeat one layer at a time. This cuts into wonderful rainbow squares that everyone loves. It is the funniest thing ever that at this fabulous meal that has taken days to prepare, everyone marvels at the JELLO!</p>
<p>BB - I make a celeriac soup and last year I brought a batch in a crockpot to Tday at my brothers. Everyone liked it and when they asked what was in it, I was ready to show them a picture of the root that I used in the recipe. You should have seen their faces! That is one ugly looking vegetable!</p>
<p>My mom’s jello mold is one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes!! They’re not all bad…</p>
<p>bunsen – thanks for scanning and posting the roasted root veggies recipe. It really looks like a great counterpoint to the rest of the typical Thanksgiving menu. </p>
<p>Mathmom – I showed my DD the 10-layer jello “salad” and she wants to make it. Hey, there’s always room for jello . . .</p>
<p>MD Mom – my mother makes a similar dish for Christmas dinner (and has been for at least 50 yrs!). Only seven layers, tho and the cream layers are all made with unflavored gelatin so the dish is 4 colored jello layers and three white. It’s the only jello my kids will eat. I know that the temperature/timing issue is critical, as is having a level refrigerator shelf. Too much work for me, but I do love eating it!</p>
<p>chocchipcookie- the roasted vegetables sound good. I love beets.
My youngest would love the rainbow jello. I was born and raised in Ca and I have never been to any holiday meal that had a jello dish. Once in awhile I have gone to a potluck and someone usually from the south or midwest will bring a jello mold. I was raised that jello is for when you are in the hospital or had your tonsils out.</p>
<p>Our family (here in Ca) is a melange of midwest rural, east coast urban and west coast suburban. Throw in old, young,gay, straight, tragically hip, ultra nerdy and surf-ilicious. So it’s hard to throw a holiday meal without encountering some sort of culture war. By now I know that we need to include a jello dish, a vegetarian main, a low fat side, a few sides dripping with fat, 4-5 different desserts and all the other T-giving standards. I try to find out what each persons childhood favorite is. I don’t want any pouting at the table.</p>
<p>but I basically love Thanksgiving, — food and football!!!</p>
<p>what’s not to like?</p>
<p>Gotta love my local paper! Another great recipe that I’m itching to try to make after reading the jello discussion here.</p>
<p>[Cranberry</a> Relish Mold | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/foodwine/2016774843_web17cranberry.html]Cranberry”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/foodwine/2016774843_web17cranberry.html)</p>
<p>This is a terrific cranberry recipe and I’ve been using it for quite a few years. I’m not even a big cranberry fan 
I leave out the raisins.</p>
<p>[Cranberry</a> Fruit Conserve Recipe : Ina Garten : Food Network](<a href=“http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cranberry-fruit-conserve-recipe/index.html]Cranberry”>http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cranberry-fruit-conserve-recipe/index.html)</p>
<p>musica, will you adopt me, please?</p>
<p>We have rainbow jello every Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am not sure if it is a favorite or just a must have tradition. It is time consuming to make. </p>
<p>Musica, I love holidays when we get all sorts of people at the table. It is so lively.</p>
<p>My mother used to make a jello mold. She died without giving me the recipe. I remember cranberries, grated carrots, pineapple…I would LOVE to taste that again.</p>
<p>This Thanksgiving is one where I have to learn to let go. We have had the same menu (sans my mother’s jello mold since 1995) for 32 years. I have to let my son’s girlfriend do the vegetables…a new series of recipes. That was hard…But…her family is coming. And instead of being the non butinskies (I am kidding…on the square) and bringing wine they want to bring dessert. Not my dessert…THEIR bakery. My family will go up in arms. I will keep the peace…and send my husband out on Friday to buy “our” pies…Apple Pan…here we come.</p>
<p>^^^My mother in law used to make a similar jello salad. I think it also had celery and maybe walnuts???</p>