11.23.2010

Thanksgiving traditions and pimento cheese

I LOVE pimento cheese. LOVE it. I have always loved it. Of course Mr. C can't stand it.

One of my family's traditions is eating pimento cheese on celery with Thanksgiving dinner.

Does anyone elses family do this?

I doubt it seriously. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't think it's strange.

Well, this is the what we eat with the "relish tray."

The relish tray is basically the celery/cheese, black olives, green onions, and gerkins combo. (Now real Henderson style is also pickled okra, green olives, banana peppers, and dill pickles. All of which I have eliminated because I don't think anyone in my immediate family eats.)

This is something that my mom insist us having and Little J and I both try to manipulate my mom into assigning the other person it because it has no real cooking to it. 

It's sort of funny we try to assign the person the who is the worst cook it. When we were younger and tried to help mom and aunt cook we would always be assigned the relish tray and doing the dishes. I think eventually I wised up that if Little J did the relish tray and dishes I could do real cooking. I think this worked for approximately one year and she wised up too. My mom however if you still go into her kitchen to try to cook she'll have you doing the dishes.

Anyway this year I decided to go ahead and volunteer for it because I wanted to make homemade pimento cheese. We usually always buy the pimento cheese. I didn't even know it could be made until fairly recently. Well, when I did finally have the real stuff no store bought would be ok again.

So, I made it. And it's yummy. I kinda made up the recipe which I do alot and this time it worked out. It's not rocket science.

Bridget's Pimento Cheese:

1 package of cheddar cheese. Mine was 8 ounces and kraft.
1/2 c Mayo
1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice (it sounds weird but don't leave it out. I think it's key ingredient for making the whole thing come together.)
2 ounce jar of pimentos drained
Pepper to taste

Mix all together. Chill well for flavors to meld together. Enjoy, maybe even on some celery.

*I'll add a picture on Thursday so you can see a real and proper relish tray

By the way up next tomorrow is my Aunt Margie's Broccoli Cheese Casserole.

11.22.2010

Happy Thanksgiving Week

Hello, neglected blog friends! I have missed you. Honestly the pregnancy has been a bit of a bugger recently. I have done no running and no cooking that anyone would blog about (boxed mac'n cheese, salad, frozen pizza, you get the picture). But of course this week is Thanksgiving! One of my favorite holidays because it can't be too commercialized (until black friday of course) and Mr. C's least favorite. Of course I love thanksgiving because it's all about the cooking. YUM. So, this year I am bringing to the perspective families:

Turkey cake x 2

relish tray (This is one of those my mom insist on but I could do without. I don't really feel it's a holiday food but if she wants it she gets it.  There's no cooking excepting I'm going to make homemade pimento cheese, double yum, and maybe deviled eggs)

broccoli and cheese casserole

maybe a cheese ball with veggies and crackers.

homemade rolls =( yup my breadmaker died yesterday and i know bread can be made outside of it but i'm just not that skilled. i guess it's store bought for us this year.

Obviously these are not outlandish holiday foods but they are my family's favorites. I'll post pictures and recipes as I go throughout the week.

What are you cooking this year?