Pineapple casserole… the only time it’s acceptable to combine pineapple & cheese, other than pizza?! Cans of crushed pineapple combined with some flour and shredded cheddar topped with crushed Ritz crackers and drizzled with butter before getting baked until hot and bubbly!
Ooooh! Ooooh! (Channeling Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter!) I have not 1 but 2 family jello dishes that were served at Thanksgiving (and Christmas, but being Jewish that was just Thanksgiving Part 2). Thank you Great Grandma Rose! Strawberry Jello Mold which was strawberry jello, Cool Whip and frozen strawbs poured into a Tupperware mold (think Bundt cake like). And for some reason, black olives (pitted) in the center when out of the mold. Very important…you must put the olives on your finger tips to eat. The second jello dish is Carrot Jello. Which was orange and lemon jello, canned crushed pineapple and grated carrots. This jello did not have a mold to be poured into, was always in a glass 8x8 Pyrex dish. If you want the recipes lmk, I have them written out (by my momma) on index cards! XXX’s
Our Thanksgiving always had great food but the priority was the after dinner Pictionary game (shouts of “I wanna be on Michele’s team”) and drawing contest (little nephew was the judge…somehow his mother almost always won) & the prizes were things in my Dad’s basement that he didn’t want any more. And the day after was always Pierogi Day (HUNDREDS were made & frozen for Christmas).
Our family for years made an orange jello mold that was (for us kids) the star of the meal. I think it was because we got to have a slice of jello smacked down right next to our mashed potatoes. My mother passed when I was 17 and we have all been chasing this recipe for years. It was some sort of mix of orange jello, orange sherbert and mandarin oranges. It seems simple but nobody has been able to accurately recreate this dish. The sherbert did something that made the whole thing opaque rather than the translucent jello we are used to. And the mandarin slices were somehow distributed evenly throughout. They didn't just sink to the bottom of the mold to be suspended in a cluster along the top of dish. I am not sure at this point if it is truly unattainable or just that the memory of this, and my mother are beyond reach at this point. I am sure if she could tell us she would think it is ridiculous that we think about it that much still to this day. But it was something that was only made when family was coming over. Probably to satisfy me and my cousins. If anybody thinks they can unlock this riddle, let me know!
Wow, I love this memory, thank you for sharing. It's so fascinating what we latch onto in our little brains, isn't it? Have you looked for this on Reddit by chance? Sometimes you can get pretty lucky finding bygone or unusual recipes there. Good luck, and please keep us posted.
Love this run down of your Tday foods Stephanie! A tradition in my family (and Rob’s surprisingly!) is oyster dressing…which is pretty much just oysters + their liquor + crumbled saltines + butter and half n half all baked together a la casserole 👌🏻 it’s delicious. Happy eating my friend!
That sounds delicious, Molly! I love oysters on Thanksgiving. I don't know how they manage to seem both traditional and novel, but they do! Thanks for sharing!
Pineapple casserole… the only time it’s acceptable to combine pineapple & cheese, other than pizza?! Cans of crushed pineapple combined with some flour and shredded cheddar topped with crushed Ritz crackers and drizzled with butter before getting baked until hot and bubbly!
I love a weird casserole, and this sounds actually delicious. Free the pineapple!
Jason 😍loves😍 those lemon bars!!!
I need to know YOUR special request!
Ooooh! Ooooh! (Channeling Horshack from Welcome Back Kotter!) I have not 1 but 2 family jello dishes that were served at Thanksgiving (and Christmas, but being Jewish that was just Thanksgiving Part 2). Thank you Great Grandma Rose! Strawberry Jello Mold which was strawberry jello, Cool Whip and frozen strawbs poured into a Tupperware mold (think Bundt cake like). And for some reason, black olives (pitted) in the center when out of the mold. Very important…you must put the olives on your finger tips to eat. The second jello dish is Carrot Jello. Which was orange and lemon jello, canned crushed pineapple and grated carrots. This jello did not have a mold to be poured into, was always in a glass 8x8 Pyrex dish. If you want the recipes lmk, I have them written out (by my momma) on index cards! XXX’s
This is amazing. The olives! OMG, I can't even. Thanks for sharing Liz! xox
Our Thanksgiving always had great food but the priority was the after dinner Pictionary game (shouts of “I wanna be on Michele’s team”) and drawing contest (little nephew was the judge…somehow his mother almost always won) & the prizes were things in my Dad’s basement that he didn’t want any more. And the day after was always Pierogi Day (HUNDREDS were made & frozen for Christmas).
I love a game tradition! That's an excellent diversion for the day. We might have to add a game to our celebration this year too!
Our family for years made an orange jello mold that was (for us kids) the star of the meal. I think it was because we got to have a slice of jello smacked down right next to our mashed potatoes. My mother passed when I was 17 and we have all been chasing this recipe for years. It was some sort of mix of orange jello, orange sherbert and mandarin oranges. It seems simple but nobody has been able to accurately recreate this dish. The sherbert did something that made the whole thing opaque rather than the translucent jello we are used to. And the mandarin slices were somehow distributed evenly throughout. They didn't just sink to the bottom of the mold to be suspended in a cluster along the top of dish. I am not sure at this point if it is truly unattainable or just that the memory of this, and my mother are beyond reach at this point. I am sure if she could tell us she would think it is ridiculous that we think about it that much still to this day. But it was something that was only made when family was coming over. Probably to satisfy me and my cousins. If anybody thinks they can unlock this riddle, let me know!
Wow, I love this memory, thank you for sharing. It's so fascinating what we latch onto in our little brains, isn't it? Have you looked for this on Reddit by chance? Sometimes you can get pretty lucky finding bygone or unusual recipes there. Good luck, and please keep us posted.
Love this run down of your Tday foods Stephanie! A tradition in my family (and Rob’s surprisingly!) is oyster dressing…which is pretty much just oysters + their liquor + crumbled saltines + butter and half n half all baked together a la casserole 👌🏻 it’s delicious. Happy eating my friend!
That sounds delicious, Molly! I love oysters on Thanksgiving. I don't know how they manage to seem both traditional and novel, but they do! Thanks for sharing!