Okay so I love making sweet potatoes (I know not the same as yams!) with marshmallows on top. They are the epitome of declasse for many people, but I don’t care. I make them for Thanksgiving and as it turns out it’s usually one of the first dishes to get eaten up.
My friend confided last night that she feels the same way about the classic green bean casserole with the onions on top. Her husband may be a professional chef, capable of producing any meal, but she makes the green beans any way.
They remind her of home. And tradition.
Are there any other dishes that you make defiantly?
It’s very good, but we went back to the old recipe after a few years because it’s the one thing D2 requests. I usually try to make a new recipe for about half the dishes, but some of the newer versions have become the regulars now. The jalapeños in the cranberries will be back. The jalapeños in the apple pie won’t. (No, I didn’t try both the same year!)
I make a jello mold (jello, milnot, cream cheese, crushed pineapple) out of my H’s family’s church cookbook from the 70s. Whenever I try to discontinue the tradition, the kids protest. One Thanksgiving we had a British family over. They certainly didn’t know what to make of it.
I stand behind the corn casserole discussed last year. Recently, people at the pot luck I brought it to last year raved again and asked me to bring it this year.
My mom makes a stuffing (or dressing - depending what you call it) that is filled with dried white bread and lots of ground beef among the usual chopped onion/celery, seasonings etc. I don’t think ground beef is typical (?) but it was one of the first dishes she learned to make from my Polish aunt when my Mom (Moroccan) arrived in the US with my American dad.
It is not gourmet in ingredients but it’s a “must” on the menu. H can eat it in buckets. (ugh)
This is a dish that I’ve stopped making but my siblings still make: cranberries formed into a jello base and molded. When it’s unmolded it’s really attractive and if you’re careful you can create a large one and then a small one and stack them. It looks all rather Downton Abbey-like to have this fragile molded creation on the table. We used to serve it on a pedestal stand – like a cake stand – it was really old fashioned and pretty.
I stopped making it because I don’t care for cranberries . . . . and all that work. But objectively it was a great dish.
The trick if you try this at home, is to make sure that you are using jello that’s super strong. Like add knox to the regular jello or use less liquid. Also you cook the fresh cranberries until they just pop. Don’t over cook them. If you stack the jellos, then you want to make the lower one a ring form. Put a teacup in the center of the ring to support the smaller jello on top. then decorate with sliced oranges and greenery – like parsley.
I hated most vegetables when I was a child. Now that I’m a mature adult and like most vegetables, I wish all the veggies didn’t appear in sauces at the holidays. The green bean casserole is the only thing my older brother knows how to cook (apparently), and my mom’s specialty is broccoli in a Velveeta-based sauce. However, I’m not one to talk, given that I sometimes contribute make-ahead mashed potatoes that contain butter, milk, sour cream, and cream cheese. Oh, and also Cheddar, sometimes.
Yes to the green bean casserole! I remember my mother making it when I was a kid, and she would eat the fried onions out of the container (and still does!).
Somebody on another thread mentioned a recipe for mashed potatoes that was popular on CC. Do any senior members know what the recipe was? I tried searching but couldn’t find it. The holidays are the only time I make them, and last year they were so-so.
I remember, in college, the guy (not a bf) who first made GB casserole for me. Best: how he recollected his mom making it for their family. So sweeeet.
My mother, aunts and grandmother always made the most delicious cornbread dressing. I think all of the daughters and nieces (and some of the boys) still make this dressing for Thanksgiving and sometimes Christmas. The secret is using some stale biscuits in with the cornbread and using turkey stock to moisten it all. Yum!
