Include gelatin salads in your Thanksgiving Day feast.
Aunt Mabel always brings her congealed salad of shredded cabbage, pineapple and mystery ingredients to the potluck Thanksgiving dinner. This year assign her the sweet potato casserole and try some different Jell-O salads whether sweet, savory or a sauce. Add in some Jell-O jigglers in Autumn shapes for the kids.
Sweet
Jell-O is sweet, so why not take advantage of that in a salad that plays up the sweetness. Ambrosia is a classic at Thanksgiving dinner. The coconut, sour cream, mandarin oranges and canned pineapple blend with miniature marshmallows to create a sumptuous taste and texture. Substitute 1/2 cup of sour cream for 1/2 cup of the cold water in the Jell-O recipe. Dissolve the Jell-O in 1 cup of hot water. Add 1/2 cup of cold water. Place in the refrigerator to cool. Don't add the sour cream while the Jell-O is hot. Mix the sour cream into the cool Jell-O with an immersion blender. Let the Jell-O set up before adding the other ingredients. Convert Waldorf salad, another traditional Thanksgiving dish, to a Jell-O salad in a similar fashion. Add the mayonnaise to the cooled Jell-O. When the mixture starts to jell, add the apples, raisins, celery and walnuts.
Savory
Jell-O is a challenge to serve as a savory salad because it is so sweet. The tried-and-true method of cutting through the sweetness is to use apple cider vinegar in place of the cold water. That works -- sort of. Another method is to use the vinegar and to increase the spiciness of the salad with red pepper flakes, hot sauce or chopped fresh jalapenos. If you have pickled jalapenos on hand or pickled carrots with jalapenos -- found in Mexican markets -- use the juice from the pickles as part of the vinegar. Another alternative is to use salsa and fresh lime juice. Serve as a condiment with the roasted turkey.
Sauces
Cranberry sauce is a staple at Thanksgiving. The sweetness of the Jell-O is needed to cut through the tartness of the cranberries. Use the cranberries fresh by putting in a blender or heat them until the skins burst and then cool to room temperature. As the Jell-O sets, break it apart with a fork to resemble cranberry jelly. Oranges go well with turkey just like they do with duck. Substitute 3/4 cup of orange juice and 1/4 cup of lemon juice for the cup of . Add orange sections and as the Jell-O sets break it apart with a fork. Serve in hollowed-out orange shells.
Warning
If you're serving a savory Jell-O salad or the sauce, let guests and family know, especially children. You don't want the bite of a jalapeno biting back. Fresh pineapple will keep the Jell-O from setting up, use canned pineapple. When trying an unusual combination of ingredients for the first time, do a test run. That will also help you determine if you have the right ratio of ingredients.
Tags: cold water, sour cream, apart with, , , break
