Thanksgiving Salad

Thanksgiving Salad is on the plate with green olives and cranberry sauce.

Happy Thanksgiving 2014!  As you can see, I made most of the traditional items.  Needless to say I will be eating leftovers all week.  Most of the food pictured pre-dates Mom, Sandy, or me.  Thanksgiving Salad does not!  My sister may know the history of this recipe, but I am not certain from where it came.  It materialized on Mom's table shortly before I went to college and became an instant hit!

Granny always made a citrus salad, which I love, and a Waldorf salad, which I never found to my taste.  Citrus salad is easy to make.  A can of pineapple, supreme an orange, peel and chop an apple, slice a banana, and add some pecan pieces.  Mix and let it set in the fridge for a few hours.  Refreshing and delicious.  It was one of the first holiday dishes that I learned to make.  (I really should make it again.  Perhaps at Christmas!)

Daddy never liked Citrus or Waldorf salad due to the nuts in them.  He liked the Thanksgiving salad though.  We all did, and it became part of the table tradition!  I remember the first year that I had it.  Mom cooked, we ate, and then...we started to decorate for Christmas.  Mom was determined to deck the halls the day after Thanksgiving that year for some reason.  Thanksgiving day was chilly, but the following day was very cold.  While hanging decorations outside, we would dash inside to warm up, and I kept eating spoons of Thanksgiving salad on these breaks.

It's easy to make.  Here are the specifics.

Pineapple, Carrots, Sugar, Gelatin, and Water.

Add roughly two cups of canned, unsweetened, crushed pineapple, 2 cups of grated carrots, two packets of unflavored gelatin, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup of water to a pot.  Heat until mixed and bubbly stirring often to keep anything from sticking.

All mixed up

Once it starts to bubble and boil, turn it to a simmer and allow it to cook until the carrots are tender.  This will take about 20 to 30 minutes.

I need my timer.

Stir often to prevent the mixture from sticking.  Once the carrots are tender (but still have some bite to them,) turn off the heat and add two 8 ounce blocks of Philadelphia cream cheese.

Stir, stir, stir.

Mom's recipe says to mix the cream cheese with the whipped cream until it is creamy and then add to the carrot/pineapple mixture.  I simply dump the cream cheese in the hot pot and let the heat melt it while I stir.  Using my spatula, I smash up the clumps until it is creamy.  Then, add 2 cups of whipping cream.

Whipping cream added.

Now gently stir until everything is of an even consistency.  Scrap the sides to make sure that everything is well-mixed.  Then just pour it into a 9 x 13 glass dish.  (Obviously this could be halved and poured into an 8x8 pan.)

In the glass dish.

Using the spatula, evenly distribute everything and cover it with plastic wrap.  (I have yet to keep the plastic wrap from touching the salad.  It's my yearly game.)  Place in the refrigerator overnight.

I make this most years now.  An amusing side note: Every single person to whom I have served this has said, "This is more like dessert."  Then they take a second bite and a third.  I've had several people who return to join for Thanksgiving dinner.  Every single one of them asks, "We are having that white salad, right???"  I say, "Oh...well, sure.  For dessert."  I get this silent, dead stare until they realize that I am joking.  It continues to be a fun tradition that is clearly my own.

Happy Thanksgiving!