Monday, November 26, 2007

Day 26
Number of Recipes Collected: 7

I’ve just returned from Thanksgiving at my sister’s house. She made a disturbing observation as we gazed upon the array of dishes set on the table before us. “This may be the only Thanksgiving table in America whose food is primarily from the 1950’s.” I’ve taken some liberties with her exact words, but that was the general idea. And she was right. Our sides were from another generation.

● White Trash Potatoes (a.k.a. potato casserole or Me maw’s potatoes): This is basically hash browns with cream of something soup, cheese, and Corn Flakes on top. Sounds gross, I know. It took me a couple years to finally try it, but I finally gave in to peer pressure. To quote my dad’s favorite saying, “It’s not bad.” I do miss traditional mashed potatoes and gravy though. (And sweet potatoes.)

● Cranberry Crap: Marshmallows, Cool Whip, sugar, cranberries, pineapple. Freeze it in a Jell-O mold. What’s not to love? This is my all-time favorite holiday treat. The original name got lost somewhere along the way. My sister hates it with the white hot passion of 1,000 suns, so she renamed it Cranberry Crap. I am very pleased to announce that her daughter, Grace, who’s eighteen months, LOVES the stuff. In fact, it was really the only thing she wanted to eat on Thanksgiving at all.

● Green Jell-O Salad: Green Jell-O, pineapple, cottage cheese. Chill in Jell-O mold. I really don’t know what else is in this. I want nothing to do with it. I think it looks and tastes like nothing more than a molded gelatinous mass of lumpy vomit. I would be very happy never to see it on a Thanksgiving table ever again! My sister swears by it. Gag.

● Green Bean Casserole: You know this one…green beans, cream of mushroom soup, those onions that come in a can. Mmmm. I never had this as a child, but this is so good! Creamy, dreamy, gooey peppery beany goodness. I ate the last of it for dinner last night. Okay, I was the only one who ate any of it at all. But, that’s okay. I relished every bite.

We also had the usual turkey, stuffing (Not from a box, thank you very much. Homemade with turkey sausage, homemade turkey stock, herbs, and two kinds of bread.), rolls (store bought in perfect little square shapes – so much making my own bread and never buying it again. Although…technically, my sister bought it, so that doesn’t really count. Right?), and cranberry sauce (from Sam’s Club. I think my brother-in-law bought a pallet of the stuff). The cranberry sauce was from a can and it did look like the can, but that’s just the way we like it, okay.

In addition, I also made a favorite holiday dessert we like to call Pam’s Cookies, even though they’re not really cookies at all. In addition to the Green Jell-O Salad and Cranberry Crap this recipe also came from my mom. I think Pam is actually her friend from California, but I’m not positive. There are several recipes in her recipe box that are labeled “Pam’s Chicken”, “Pam’s Casserole”, “Pam’s fill-in-the-blank with your favorite food item”, so the origin of these recipes is someone fuzzy. The cookies…Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes, brown sugar, and Karo Syrup. Spread in a pan. Chill. Instant vanilla Jell-O pudding, milk, confectioner’s sugar. Spread on top of previous layer. Chill. Chocolate chips and butter. Melt. Spread on top. Chill. Very, very yummy. (Except for the slightly metallic Teflon taste that was a result of having to use my sister’s rusty old pan with the non-stick coating flaking off. Hmmm…perhaps she will be getting a new cake pan for Christmas.)