The family Thanksgiving dinner is tonight, and instead of getting read I decided to write this blog post about everything I have been cooking/will have to cook over the next few days.

This year is the first Thanksgiving on my Mom’s side without my grandma, who normally would do all the cooking for us, so each family member decided to pitch in a couple sides and pie for the meal today as well as for brunch tomorrow. My family decided we were bringing some fried corn, cranberry-jello salad and, tomorrow, some pumpkin bread.

So without further ado, I’m gonna show you how to make some of this stuff. Let’s start with something simple: the corn.

img_2783

Here’s the recipe we started out with, but keep in mind we doubled the recipe because we’re serving about 14 people. So here’s what you’re going to need for a bigger serving:

  • 2 16 oz packages frozen, whole kernel sweet corn.
  • 2 cups whipping cream.
  • About a cup and an half of butter.
  • tablespoon and a half of sugar
  • teaspoon and a half of salt.

Now what you’re going to do to cook this is really pretty easy, just take your corn and dump it into a large skillet over medium heat. Add all your ingredients a little bit at a time; I started with the butter and then added the dry ingredients before putting in the whipping cream. Leave the corn to absorb all those ingredients, and there is no specific time for this, just let it cook on medium until it is mostly just corn again.

The next thing we’re going to be making in the cranberry-jello salad. Once again, we doubled the recipe on this so keep that in mind. So for this you’re going to need:

  • 2 6 oz packs of cherry gelatin.
  • 2 16 oz cans of whole cranberry sauce.
  • 2 pints sour cream
  • about a cup of chopped pecans

To start this you are going to make the jello. There are directions in the package for how to do it, but just dissolve it in water. Add the cranberry sauce into that dissolved mixture and chill it in the fridge until it congeals pretty well. For us, that process took about an hour.

Add the sour cream and the pecans. In the actual mix, we only used about a pint and a half of sour cream, and we use the other half pint to spread over the top as well as what is left over of the pecans. Pour this entire mixture into whatever holiday pan your heart desires and chill for several hours (we did about 4 hours).

Once it’s done, it should look something like this:

 

Okay, now for the last one: pumpkin bread. I have not made this one yet because it is for tomorrow morning, but I have my grandma’s old recipe for the bread as well as the spread we used to put on top of it. So I’m going to tell you how to make it.

img_2797

The ingredients you will need are in the picture. We didn’t end up doubling this one, just because my grandma doubles everything to begin with anyway.

To start, cream the shortening and the sugar together until fluffy. An electric mixer comes in handy for this task.

Then, stir in the eggs, pumpkin and water and blend well. Next, add in the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and cloves. Pour the mix into two greased 9×5 bread pans.

This bread is not like normal bread, where you would have to let it chill and rise, so just go ahead and stick it in the oven for about and hour on 350 degrees. While it’s baking, combine the cream cheese and maple syrup together to make the spread.

Okay, so that’s all I have for this mini-recipe Thanksgiving post. Share what you guys made so I have some new ideas for next year. Happy Holidays!