Does your family have a traditional "family recipe" you make every Thanksgiving?

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Something that is made every year on Thanksgiving, but is not a "normal" Thanksgiving dish that everyone makes? If so, please post the recipe. There are two in my family, although I have never made either so I will have to get the recipes and post them here later.

My niece always makes celery sticks stuffed with a cheese mixture, which I believe is basically shredded cheddar cheese, garlic or garlic salt, and a little mayonnaise to make it hold together. This is then spread into celery stalks.

My sister makes a cranberry jello salad, which uses plain gelatin, cranberry juice, whole cranberries, finely chopped celery, some kind of nuts, and I can't remember what else. It's only slightly sweet.

What is your "family recipe" that someone always makes?

[Redstone]

1. Ham Salad sandwiches for leftovers. Served on leftover dinner rolls.

Redstone

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10. You have ham for Thanksgiving?

[Redstone]

15. Well, yeah, along with the turkey. Who doesn't?

Redstone

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20. we only have turkey

and usually ham for Christmas dinner - I guess we're pretty traditional that way

[Redstone]

24. No ham at Thanksgiving? Why do you hate America?

You MUST have BOTH! And since this is DU, it's OK, possibly REQUIRED for me to TELL you that you MUST have BOTH, or your Progressive Credentials will be subject to intense (and public) scrutiny and commentary!

OK, rant off. I know there are families who do the Thanksgiving Turkey / Christmas Ham tradition; ours has always featured both for both holidays. Whichever way your family goes on this issue, the important thing is that you HAVE your family together, and that they enjoy being together.

And I sincerely hope that's how you'll spend your holidays.

Redstone

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26. We're all split up this year, but it doesn't bother me.

I'll still get to be with all the kids and the dogs, and that's who I want to be with. The adults can go sit on a skunk for all I care.

[Redstone]

You got the kids and the dogs, you're golden. Them there are all you need.

Redstone

[Beausoir]

31. Dood! With the ham at Thanks? You are just plain unmerican.

The ONLY pork allowed is Jimmy Dean Sausage in the 16 oz roll.

Get with the program.

[SeattleGirl]

2. Jello salad: Lemon jello, with pineapple bits and shredded carrots.

It would be a sin of omission not to have it at Thanksgiving, regardless of where I am.

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8. I bet it's good

sometimes we have a "tomato aspic" which consists only of raspberry gelatin, a little water, stewed tomatoes and a few drops of tabasco sauce. It is really tasty and I usually make it.

[MissMillie]

37. ours is made w/ raspberry jello

cranberries, pineapple, apple and nuts

[SeattleGirl]

58. I've had that kind of jello salad before.

It's very good too. :hi:

[yellowdogintexas]

62. ours is the lime/lemon jello with cream cheese, crushed pineapple and pecans

and some cool whip. Wonderful stuff. I usually use 1 lime and 1 lemon (small box) jello, 8 oz cream cheese, 1 cup LESS water than normal, 1 small can drained crushed pineapple, about 2/3 cup chopped pecans and a small cool whip thawed.

Make the Jello and let sit for a while in the refrigerator until partially set, soften the cream cheese while jello is setting up. Then beat the cream cheese and jello together using electric mixer, stir in the pineapple (drained) and nuts, then fold in the cool whip.

Pour into container and chill. It makes a large 2 quart casserole dish full, and makes a really pretty jello mold. My cousins used to fight over this one.

[NightWatcher]

3. how bout Lasagna with Italian sausage?

sorry, no recipe

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11. For Thanksgiving?

[yellowdogintexas]

60. ifyou are Italian, yes. My sister's Italian in-laws have lasagne for Easter, Thanksgiving and

Christmas, along with the normal traditional foods

[yellowdogintexas]

4. Squash casserole, asparagus, chocolate pound cake

I don't think any of these are "traditional"Thanksgiving foods. But they are traditional in this family.

that and my hot rolls, but those ARE traditional

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14. They all sound good

[Sugar Smack]

30. Can you at some point post your squash casserole recipe?

My dad makes it, and it involves about 3 sticks of butter. It's one of the best things I've ever had!

[yellowdogintexas]

43. Squash Casserole Recipe inside

3 pounds yellow squash, zucchini or combination
1/2 stick butter
1 small grated onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup cracker crumbs
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 3 quart casserole

slice the squash (I use my food processor) and bring to boil in salted water for 10 minutes.
Drain
Mash and mix with other ingredients

Bake about 30 minutes. It puffs up very nicely in a deep casserole; I have never made it in a flat dish.

[DarkTirade]

5. We don't have one for thanksgiving

but we've started one for christmas. It involves a leg of lamb, a knife, and lots of garlic cloves. And goddamn it's tasty. I don't know what the glaze is, but the basic premise involves cutting lots of little slits and stuffing a clove of garlic in each slit.

[liberaltrucker]

6. Dunk the turkey in reisling in the fridge for 2 days

Then cook normally.

Yum!

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16. gives it a nice flavor I bet

[JohnnyLib2]

7. Clam dip.

Thanksgiving and New Years.

[supernova]

9. That's different

:9

But I guess it fits in with the oyster dressing some folks make. Also :9

What's in your clam dip?

[LibertyLover]

12. Carrots and onions in cream

My mom made this for Thanksgiving, Christmas and my birthday, if we were home. It's easy to make but a bear to get ready. All you do is juliane peeled carrots into pieces roughly 3 inches long by 3/8th square. Then you slice onions in half so that the pieces are roughly the same length. It's basically equal amounts of carrots and onions - you want lots, you peel and cut lots. Next in a large skillet melt about 4 tablespoons butter and add the carrots and onions. Over a low-medium heat, melt the carrots and onions (basically until the onions are translucent) adding salt and pepper to taste. When the carrots and onions have melted add heavy cream. The amount is proportional to the amount of carrots and onions cooked. You don't want to overdo the cream - basically enough to coat the carrots and onions, but not drown them. Taste to see if the salt and pepper is enough and adjust as necessary. Reheat the carrots and onions and cream, but don't boil. I always thought they tasted better the second day personally and now when I make them, I try to make them a day ahead so that the flavors mingle. YMMV of course.

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17. That sounds great - thanks

I love cooked carrots.

[greatauntoftriplets]

13. We've never done green bean casserole....

but instead have green beans with slivered almonds browned in butter.

Very yummy.

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18. Sounds good too.

I have done the green bean casserole, using fresh green beans (steamed for about 30 minutes before putting into the recipe) and it made a big difference - the texture was so much better. They gobbled up the entire casserole - there was literally nothing left.

[greatauntoftriplets]

19. We always use fresh....

My sister is cooking this year.

:)

[Redstone]

28. I saw a show about non-canned green bean casserole on the food Network

a few nights ago, and DAMN, did it look good. With even homemade onion rings instead of canned. We're going to make it this year.

Redstone

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33. For some reason, the fresh green beans make a huge difference in texture

You don't want to cook them completely before putting them in the casserole, just partially. Like steamed for 30 minutes or boiled for 20 minutes.

[badgerpup]

67. Frozen green beans work well too...

...if you can't get fresh and don't really like canned veggies...
Nice bright color, better flavor...just let them thaw out naturally and dry a bit before using so your casserole won't be too watery.

[Dukkha]

21. a recipe of low key hostility flavored with bitter resentment

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23. The Dysfunctional Family Christmas

was a sketch on SNL once. I can't find it but it was an advertisement for a music album with songs like "Can't You Just Drop It? It's Christmas."

[Dukkha]

27. ah yes, a classic

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/90/90idysfunctional.phtml

[Phillycat]

39. Are we related?

:rofl:

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. Ye old stuffing with fresh cranberries, onions, and chunks of granny smith apples

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!! :P

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25. sounds tasty

[GreenPartyVoter]

35. It is excellent. Also very good with sausage and walnuts added to the mix

[EFerrari]

29. My family likes the quick bread I make which is usually

orange cranberryish. Lately I've been making a chipotle relish for them to play with, too. It's fun cooking for the family. They've lied to me for years that none of them can cook but me and it works out pretty well because I have fun doing it.

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32. I love orange-cranberry muffins so I bet your bread is delicious.

[Midlodemocrat]

34. My mom's broccoli casserole. Wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it.

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46. Recipe please

[Heidi]

36. My Granny's chicken and cornbread dressing recipe.

We never make dressing/stuffing in the bird. It's a side dish baked in an 11 x 13 x 2 glass pan. This is _delicious_.

Granny's chicken and cornbread dressing
1 chicken cooked and deboned (save broth)
1 recipe of cornbread cooked (13 x 9 pan size recipe , or use a 13 oz. size package of mix.)
6 small biscuits cooked
1 1/2 Cup chopped onion
1/2 Cup chopped celery
1 Tablespoon ground sage
1 tsp. salt
2 chopped boiled eggs
2 Quarts chicken broth

Cook breads and cool. Crumble into a very large pan or bowl, add all other ingredients and mix. Layer chicken meat in bottom of a greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Spoon dressing on top of chicken. Cook 45 to 60 minutes at 350 degrees. When the top and sides begin to brown it is done.

[Roon]

38. FROG EYE SALAD

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1943,149177-255198,00.html

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40. I do something similar

with celery sticks, but infinitely easier: regular cream cheese (I prefer the tub kind--spreads easier) and paprika on top. My mouth drools when I think about that.

No real recipe, though we've always made a point of using Bell's Seasoning in the stuffing, along with an egg and hot water. If it gets gooey, add more bread crumbs until it's slightly dry--once it's in the turkey, it's going to get moist again anyhow.

Brown sugar in the butternut squash, cloves and pineapple slices on the top of a canned ham.

That's about it, I think.

[grasswire]

56. I found some Bell's seasoning!

My Connecticut grandmother always used it, but it can be hard to find out West. I bought two boxes the other day. It triggered a very sentimental reaction.

[K Gardner]

41. Broccoli casserole, it's to die for. We pass over the turkey for this. n/t

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47. Recipe please

[K Gardner]

50. You think *I* cook? LOL.. Will get the recipe from family and send it to you, tho ! n/t

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51. Thanks

[davsand]

42. Oyster dressing

You either love it or you refuse to eat it. It is pretty much a standard bread dressing made with diced onion and celery, eggs and broth with oysters stirred in. Flavor it with a bunch of sage. You bake it (However, I refuse to bake it in the bird because I just don't trust the temperature to get high enough to kill the bacteria.) It should be moist, but not runny. Hubby hates it because his family loves dry dressing, I love it because it was what I grew up with. I dunno why, but it is a tradition in my family.


I used to live with a man who had a family tradition of scalloped oysters at Thanksgiving. I actually had to call his sister for the recipe because it was nothing my family ever ate. Oysters in a pie plate with crushed Ritz crackers, butter and cream to cover it. Bake it until the oysters get rubbery. (That last bit is my editorial comment, actually. I want to say it was 350 for 30 minutes, but I don't remember exactly what it was.) I married someone else, so it is nothing I fix now...


Chocolate is another biggie in my family. It isn't a holiday without chocolate. It was a cognitive dissonance (almost a travesty) for me to go to my inlays for a holiday and NOT find any chocolate in the house. They are all into fruit pies, and that just leaves me cold. We have finally reached a compromise with cheesecake or a pumpkin praline pie.



Laura

[yellowdogintexas]

44. we always had scalloped oysters when I was growing up and my mom always made them

No matter who hosted the dinner, she made the oysters. It also has Worcestershire sauce and a dash of cayenne in it. I took it to a pot luck Thanksgiving dinner back when I lived in Massachusetts, and one of the guests was just jubilant because he always had that at his Thanksgiving dinners growing up in South Carolina and was really missing it.

I like the crackers and breading but not the texture of the oysters. I used to give them to my sister.

[davsand]

55. I thought I was the only one that disliked a chewy oyster!

I love raw oysters, and I love them in gumbos and stews. I will even hog down my fair share of fried oysters ("Erster Po-Boys" are Da Bomb!) I just can't abide by a chewy oyster, however! To me it is like chewing on a big fish flavored rubber band.

I dunno where his family had originated--maybe they had some sort of connection to a place where fresh oysters were no trouble to get. I did come to realize over the years that Scalloped Oysters really DO depend a lot on good quality fresh oysters both for texture and flavor.

We always had Oyster Stew on Christmas Eve too. I have NO idea how that got started either...

:shrug:

It is all in what you grew up with, I guess.


Laura

[yellowdogintexas]

57. I don't like the texture of them at all. I have never attempted to eat

fresh fried oysters, they were always canned or frozen. I love the soup base for oyster stew but again, my sister took my oysters

We had Oyster Stew on Sunday nights a lot. No particular traditional foods on Christmas Eve unless we were having family dinner with a set of grandparents. We often had roast pork loin on Christmas Day if we were eating at home, just our family, but if we were at the grandparents' it was pot luck so it was back to the things we always bring.

[mulsh]

45. two ounces Bourbon, club soda to top of glass pour over ice cubes

repeat as long as family members are shaking their tumblers.for years we'd have cranberry sauce in our heirloom tin can shaped mold...
To be truthful the only living members of my family are my twin brother and me, our dad died earlier this year.We don't get together on the holidays,nearly every other day but we take a break every now and then. Now in my wife's family, her mother makes something called Pannade which is an onion,cheese and bread casserole. Raisin pie is always popular but no one wants to make it anymore, too much work. One of these years I'll introduce them all to double Bourbon and sodas.

[trof]

49. "heirloom tin can shaped mold" My son-in-law MUST have this.

I grew up with it, but we eventually moved on to compote-like sauces with real whole/crushed cranberries and other goodies like HORSERADISH! Yum.

But my son-in-law, a guy I really like, says it just ain't Thanksgiving/Christmas without that dark red 'Jello' cylinder, straight out of the can, slipping and sliding all over the dish.
If that's all it takes?
We can do it.
;-)

[YellowRubberDuckie]

48. My grandmother's cornbread dressing and my aunt's cherry Fluff...

We make this for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Oh, it's so freaking wonderful. I am getting hungry now just thinking about it.
Duckie

[cordelia]

52. My grandmother started this,

and my Mom continues.

Take a chunk of lime sherbet, and chuck it into a punch bowl.

Pour ginger ale all over it until you have a big glob of sherbet floating in a sea of ginger ale; eyeball it - you'll know when it's right. And, you can always adjust as needed.

Scoop sherbet and ginger ale into cups and serve.

[hippywife]

53. My dad's family is Italian

so we always had spaghetti and meatballs/Italian sausage and Italian Wedding Soup on every holiday along with the traditional stuff. I'm guessing it's because there are only a few of us who learned to make these homemade so everyone else only gets them during the holidays.

[yellowdogintexas]

61. was the Italian Wedding Soup the one with the meatballs, or was it a cream soup?

I have eaten a soup called Italian Wedding Soup which was cream based, chicken stock, orzo, onions, garlic...really nice soup. All the recipes I have ever seen for this soup were a meatball version.

[hippywife]

63. I've never had a cream based version.

This is the one I've made and eaten all my life:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=6523759&mesg_id=6523940

That was posted for someone who had already made their chicken stock.

G'night! :hi:

[yellowdogintexas]

66. thanks! The cream one was served at a little cafe in an office building

where I once worked. It was terribly rich and wonderful on a cold day!

[trof]

54. The Great Stuffed Celery Stick Caper.

Miz t. makes something similar.
I think it's kinda pimento cheese in celery sticks.

Anyway...
We were living in N.H.
Buncha folks coming for Thanksgiving dinner.
We had a screened porch off of the dining area that also served as the 'walk-in cooler' in fall and winter.
Miz t. put the stuffed celery sticks out there.

Guests began to arrive.
Our German Shepherd liked to greet them too, VERY enthusiastically, and sorta got in the way.
So we put him out on the porch until everyone had arrived.

I tended bar and when everyone hand their had filled, Miz t. went out for the hors d'oeuvres.
I heard laughter.
She brought the celery sticks in and the were ALL as clean as a whistle.
Max had licked every bit of the filling out of about 2 dozen sticks.
Not a nick on the celery itself.
They weren't even disturbed on the plate.

What a dog.
;-)

[some guy]

69. ROFL

:rofl:

that's hilarious.

[LiberalEsto]

59. Mashed potatos, carrots & turnips

It's really colorful and everyone loves it.

[Deja Q]

64. I ran out of family to put into recipes 2 years ago

:hide:

[samplegirl]

65. Waldorf fruit salad.

[Kutjara]

68. Swanson TV dinner. Turkey, of course.

Some traditions are sacred.