I never met my maternal great grandmother, Estelle Strobel. Yet, she is part of every Thanksgiving in our home. I don’t know where she got the recipe for her Cranberry Salad, but it’s been a holiday staple for every generation in our family since.

• 1 pound of cranberries
• 1 orange (yes rind and flesh), cut in cubes, seeds removed
• 2 cups of sugar
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 1/2 to 1 cup of chopped pecans
• 1, 8 ounce can of crushed pineapple, un-drained
• 2 boxes of cherry or black cherry jello (do NOT use the sugar free type)
• 2 cups of boiling hot water

In a food processor, chop the cranberries and orange. Place them in a bowl, pour the sugar in, give it a stir, and then let it sit for a few hours. This gets the fruit’s juices running and sweetens the berries.

To the cranberry/orange mixture add the pineapple, celery and pecans. In a separate bowl, pour the boiling water over the jello; stir until fully combined. Pour the jello mix over the cranberry mixture; stir well, then pour it into a 13 x 9″ dish. Chill until firm.

Cut into squares. Mom serves the salad with a small dollop of Miracle Whip on top. I enjoy it simply plain.

To get a jump start on Thanksgiving cooking, I made our batch today. Since it’ll be just the three of us, I made a 1/2 batch.

I hope it lasts until Thursday!