Posted on 11/02/2017 4:05:32 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
Thanksgiving is a time when people don’t seem to want ‘new’ - they want ‘traditional’, the food they’ve always associated with the holiday. But it’s also an opportunity to slip in at least one new and different dish, to perhaps broaden your guests’ gustatory horizons – and give the cook a little diversity in the annual labors ;-)
My first introduction to anything vaguely ‘Indian’ was this Hot Curried Fruit that my Aunt used to make for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It seems to be a somewhat traditional ‘thing’ in Virginia and parts South; and whenever I’ve made it for office parties, people have wanted the recipe for something easy to take to the extended-family Thanksgiving, or to a potluck. There are many variations on it – you can use different mixtures of canned fruit – but here is Taste of Home’s version, which is typical of those that I’ve seen:
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/hot-curried-fruit
Many decades ago, when I was responsible for cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner - and the first to entertain my brother’s new bride - I wanted to do something different with plain old green peas. Somewhere, I had found a “hot cheese sauce” for vegetables, and used it with frozen green peas and pearl onions. The recipe makes 1-1/2 cups, and of course you can multiply the ingredients to suit the amount of steamed peas and pearl onions - or other vegetables - that you will need for your guests.
Hot Cheese Sauce for Vegetables
Heat ½ C. milk and 1 8-oz. package of cream cheese over low heat, stirring until smooth.
Blend in ½ tsp. Onion salt and ¼ C. Parmesan Cheese.
-JT
If I’m doing really sloppy things, I’ll put them in a container in the deep freeze overnight, and then pop them out, put into the bag, and vacuum pack.
But we’ve never had a problem with fresh meats or fish. One of our first experiences was with a whole salmon we got a Costco; husband cut it into steaks, vacuumed a few to a bag, and they kept well in the freezer for many months.
My husband hated cranberry sauce-until he tried homemade.
Now he demands it with every turkey dinner.
:)
One of them says sealer and another one adds “vacuum” to the ad - confusing.
Don’t just look at the product website. Do a search on ‘Foodsaver reviews’.
I’ve often found that the reviewers you find give even better instructions/troubleshooting than the product website does.
I can attest, that curried fruit is wonderful. My sister added maraschino cherries.
Yes! I always put cherries in it.
I read where a couple of people were dissatisfied and Foodsaver’s response; I also went to Amazon to read the reviews. So far it looks okay, just that sealer and vacuum thing.
Every one that we’ve had does both sealing and vacuuming. You have to have the seal function to make the bags in the first place, if you buy them in a roll and cut them to fit.
Xylitol makes me fart like I’ve eaten beans for three days.
It’s the sugar alcohol.
You are right. I remember doing that with fresh sausage that did just not want to seal. Also found out the hard way that if you want to seal any kind of bread, bag it first before putting in a foodsaver bag. Otherwise your loaf will go FLAT.
Yes, that’s one of the issues. I discovered it when I was using a ‘sugar-free’ gum ;-)
Diana from Wisconsin told me awhile back about doing fresh whole fish. I love whole rainbow trout on the grill but Costco only has a 4 or 5 pack. I got one and foodsaver froze the individual fish. They come out of the bag looking just as fresh.
If I were going to do bread, I’d freeze it first before vacuuming.
That makes sense.
These are my 2 of my family’s Thanksgiving tradition since I was a kidlet.
Cranberry Pineapple Jello Mold
1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
2 pkg. (3 oz. each) Raspberry jello (Black raspbery if you can find it
1 can (16 oz.) jellied cranberry sauce
Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Add enough cold water to reserved pineapple juice to measure 3 cups; pour into saucepan. Bring to boil. Add to dry gelatin mixes in medium bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Stir in cranberry sauce.
Refrigerate 1-1/2 hours or until slightly thickened. Pour into a 6 cup mold. Refrigerate overnight. Serve with mayo (Dukes, of coarse!)
Wild Rice Casserole
2 pkg. of Uncle Ben’s Long Grain Wild Rice Original Recipe. Cook as directed. Saute 1 or 2 pts of mushroom in 1 stick of butter. Mix with rice. Add I TBL lemon juice, 1 1/2 TBL Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 pt. cream. Bake 350 for 20 min.
My Grandma was a great cook (homemade noodles and phyllo dough) but my Mom horrible and doesn’t care!! So maybe 10 years ago my brothers cornered me and asked me to bring the sides (Well they ordered me. They were desperate!)
So every year, I pack the car with 2 coolers of sides and deserts and drive 10 hours to the N.C. mountains. My mom would do the turkey.
About 5 years ago Mom called and said she didn’t want to cook the turkey. “Stop at KFC on your way down.” LOL! So now me and Colonel Sanders cook our Thanksgiving.
LOL! You’re a good sister and daughter!
(Your Grandma made PHYLLO DOUGH ???)
Ah, yes. Homemade. I will be feasting on homemade challah, skillet chicken with mushrooms, carrot casserole, and spinach/non-dairy “cheese” lasagne for the Sabbath, topped off with homemade cake. There is nothing like food you make yourself!
I found a copycat recipe for Starbucks cranberry bars - basically blondies with cranberries, candied sugar, and cream cheese frosting. They were tasty.
Then I got bored and swapped a few things around, and wound up with blondies with crushed pecans, butterscotch chips, and Jack Daniel’s instead of vanilla in the cream cheese frosting, and took ‘em down to my Emergency Backup Family’s Thanksgiving down in South Carolina. They’re a very devout crew, and I got several deep and sincere OMGs from them after trying those babies.
LOL! That sounds like a great recipe :-)
I am not a turkey person and find that ANY cranberry sauce helps immensely in choking it down.
That said, my uncle brines his and it is deeeeelicious.
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