Thursday Recipes

I hadn't realized how much we love salads and fresh fruits and vegetables until I started going through our salad traditions for the holidays. We always have had lots of fresh fruit and vegetables on the table from appetizers - where there were platters of fresh vegetables occasionally with some dips but always plenty of fresh vegetables to nibble on before the meal. The meal itself always had several salads with the sweet potatoes, white potatoes and at least 2 cooked vegetables. In other words if your couldn't find something you liked at a holiday meal - you had no imagination. Thanksgiving was always turkey and Christmas was often turkey and ham because Mom had so many people over. She would frequently have the ham dinner Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we would have a turkey dinner but it would quite often be a smoked turkey so we would make sandwiches and have a less formal day of it. My sister, Marianne now has a tradition of having a crock-pot of chili warming for Christmas Day. After a breakfast of Aebleskivers (our family tradition that needs a special pan with 7 pockets in it) she pretty much let the family graze for the rest of the day. Clyde and I have been on our own for the last 2 years. We were able to have Pam and Chris for one of them but Pam was so morning sick that to be honest we did very little because just the smell of food set her off. Today I am doing recipes of salads. The first one is one that we use pretty exclusively for holidays only, but the others are salads that we use all year long. We have been using Exotic Fruit Salad for holiday meals since I was a little girl. It was my Grandma - Sarah Tuttle's recipe.

Exotic Fruit Salad {From Sarah Tuttle's Recipe Files}
Serves 12
1 quart pears, drained and cut into small chunks
1 cup crushed pineapple, well drained
1/2 cup maraschino cherries, cut in half or quartered
1/2 pound miniature marshmallows (or you can use large marshmallows but they must be quartered.)
1 cup coconut shredded coconut
1/2 cup sour cream

Mix the pear chunks, cherries, marshmallows and pineapple with the coconut. Add the sour cream and mix well. Refrigerate for no less than 4 hours. (It is best when refrigerated overnight so the flavors blend).

Notes: Large Marshmallows that have been cut, taste better in this recipe than miniature marshmallows but miniature marshmallows save time. Refrigerate the marshmallows for easy cutting. My sister's family does not like coconut, so she eliminates it. I decorate the top of this salad by dipping the cut halves of marshmallows in colored sugar to make flowers. When you dip them in red and green sugar the marshmallows come out looking quite festive - like Poinsettias.
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Ambrosia Salad {From the Recipe Files of Sarah Tuttle}
1 can mandarin oranges, drained 1 medium apple, cut into chunks
2 medium bananas, sliced 1 cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons shredded coconut
Mix the fruit together and pour the juice over the fruit. Sprinkle with the coconut to garnish and serve. This does not keep well because of the bananas.
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Fresh Carrot and Raisin Salad
Serves 2
Mix together 1 cup grated carrots and 2 Tablespoons raisins and a dash of salt. Add just enough mayonnaise or Miracle Whip to moisten and mix well (a touch of sour cream is great in this). Refrigerate for an hour and serve. Refrigerate any leftovers but eat within 24 hours.
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My mother made a dressing that she put on fresh lettuce greens. I have never had a dressing like it. It is light and tastes so good on fresh lettuce from the garden. Apparently it is dressing that her grandmother made. It is our daughter's Heathers favorite.

Old Fashioned Dressing
3 Tablespoons heavy cream
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste.
Shake together in a bottle and serve over fresh lettuce. {I like it over Boston lettuce. It is wonderful.}
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Fruit Like Grandma Makes
{I am not sure why the girls gave this such a long title but they all call this 'salad' by this name. The funny thing is that they called it this even when their grandma was alive.}

Basically the ingredients are to gather bottled and or fresh fruit of any combination and mix it all together in a big bowl with a little fruit juice over and serve it.
Suggestions:
Pineapple chunks - with juice
mandarin oranges - drained
melon chunks
banana slices
orange juice
maraschino cherries

In the winter it might be almost all canned fruits - with pineapple, mandarin oranges, grapefruit slices, pears chunks, bananas and orange juice. Dad loves exotic fruit juices, so frequently they went in, instead of orange juice. It is just a mix and match according your taste and pantry staples.
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I am thankful for a warm, dry place to live, my husband has a job, the holidays are coming and I get to spend them with family this year.