Traditional With A Twist

When Hubby Tony and I married in 1980 our house became the gathering place for Thanksgiving dinners. A year or two later my mom brought a Pyrex cake pan with a filled with a recipe she got from a co-worker. The Cranberry Jello (a two-layer concoction of red: cranberry sauce, crushed pineapple, walnuts, and white: whipped topping, cream cheese, and miniatures marshmallows) was a hit. After she died I became the designated maker, and now that the family is scattered around the country the recipe has been equally dispersed.

This year I had to make two changes to the recipe. Because of some nut allergies, 'safe' macadamias took the place of problematic walnuts. Those round macadamias were challenging to work with, because they kept rolling around the cutting board, but eventually I managed to chop them into small pieces. Miniature marshmallows were impossible to find, so Tony and I tore conventional sized marshmallows into appropriate-sized pieces. The pieces were messy to work with; they stuck to our fingers and each other, but mixed well enough into the other white ingredients.

The final dish was deemed a success. We may have started a new tradition.

Five years ago today: Thanksgiving Groaners