Happy Thanksgiving and Cranberry Salad

This is very late obviously, but I am still trying to catch up from the semester.  My husband and I hosted Thanksgiving this year for his family and our extended family.  He made the turkey (isn't it beautiful) and I made mashed potatoes, wild rice stuffing, green beans, sauteed carrots, cheesecake and pumpkin bread with marscapone.  I also made the cranberry gelatin mold, but since it is my own creation I will share more on that later.

We have a lot of food allergies/needs so it is always a bit of a challenge to meet all of those.  My goal was to try to make as many items available to as many people as possible.  I managed to allow everyone to get all but one or two items.  The only place I didn't succeed was the cranberry gelatin as vegetarian gelatin is not consistent, and I ran out of time to troubleshoot.  Things turned out well though; we had a good variety as well as leftovers but not so many that I felt like people didn't like what was made.   The stuffing was a big hit, gluten-free, and vegetarian when I changed it to vegetable stock.  It also worked pretty well in the crockpot as long as I kept it on low and added extra liquid.  This was good as I had run out of stove/oven space. 

I think I may have found my Thanksgiving menu finally.  I like tradition, and so I wanted to find a menu that I could really master over the years.  I thought it should be interesting though.

 For our family, pie is always a losing battle. I have to make 4 pies for 8 people in order to ensure that everyone has something they like and are not allergic too.  Cheesecake works for everyone and pumpkin bread helped make it feel more festive.  They are pretty heavy desserts, but it is the least amount of work.

My family never really did the whole "cranberry" thing with thanksgiving.  I think at most we had the canned stuff.  I really love molded gelatins but find most of them unpalatable, so this was my big challenge to myself.  I did some reading online and combined elements from a couple different recipes.  What I came up with worked pretty well and I am overall pleased. 

 
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you have much to be thankful for.  I know I do.

Spiced Orange Cranberry Gelatin

1 bag  (12 oz.) cranberries

½ cup  sugar

1 navel orange, peeled, sectioned and chopped (zest the orange first)

1-1/2 cups  boiling water

2 pkg.  (3 oz each) JELL-O Cranberry Flavor Gelatin, or any red flavor (I used cranberry and raspberry -they only had one cranberry left at the store)

1 tsp.  or 1 packet of mulling spice

1-1/2 cups  cold water

1 Tbsp.  lemon juice

 

PLACE cranberries in food processor container; cover. Process until finely chopped; place in medium bowl. Add sugar, chopped orange segments and zest; mix well.

PREP a 6-cup mold with cooking spray.  Add fruit mixture.

BRING water with the mulling spice to a boil. Strain out the spices and stir boiling water into dry gelatin in large bowl at least 2 minutes until gelatin is completely dissolved. Stir in cold water and lemon juice.

ADD gelatin to mold.  Stir gently so the fruit is distributed throughout the gelatin.  Alternately, you can allow the gelatin to set for an hour and then add the fruit, but I wanted to go to bed so I did them all at once.

REFRIGERATE 6 hours or until firm. Unmold. Garnish as desired. Store leftover salad in refrigerator.  If the mold does not release, place in a dish of warm water to allow the mold to expand slightly and the gelatin to release from the sides.