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Growing up, holiday cooking wasn’t exactly a grand affair in my family. Sure, we had good meals—consistent, comforting, and filling. But with just the five of us around the table, there weren’t any big traditional recipes passed down or an overwhelming spread of sides we couldn’t finish. The holidays were cozy and simple, but they didn’t revolve around elaborate culinary traditions.
In my recent step into independent adulthood, I’ve experienced my fair share of new responsibilities—some I love, others I wish my mom still handled. Among those I love? Cooking. Experimenting with new recipes is often the highlight of my day.
Last year, I attended my first Friendsgiving and decided to contribute a dish—a chance to flex my budding skills. I’m a bit of a charcuterie board fanatic, so I found a baked variation that features some of my favorite typical elements.
This recipe is perfect for Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving, Christmas, dinner parties, or really any gathering where you want to impress without overcomplicating things (my forte).
Ingredients:
Instructions:
This is my mom’s recipe that she makes every Thanksgiving. It is a family favorite on both my mom’s and dad’s side of the family. She makes it every year.
Ingredients
Instructions:
Recipe Title: Winnie’s Sweet Potato Casserole
My Grandma Winnie made the best sweet potato casserole. Every holiday each person in the family would fight over who got the corners because they came with more toppings and we always requested a double batch. The recipe has been passed down for generations and the original recipe card has quite a few sweet potato stains.
NOTE: this recipe calls for A LOT OF MARGARINE! While we love margarine, we actually do advise to cut down the butter a little or it gets runny.
Casserole
Mix with mixer and add to 8×8 dish
Topping
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes
Thanksgiving brings on many traditions from family-to-family. Dishes are often requested, and even downright demanded if they’re good enough. This is one such dish that cannot be left out in our Thanksgiving gatherings each year. We even have to make two batches to tame the “leftover wars”.
Ingredients:
Directions:
In large crockpot, add frozen potatoes, sour cream, can of soup, and top with cheddar cheeses. Melt 1 stick of butter and pour all over ingredients. Stir thoroughly. Set crockpot on high for 4-5 hours, stirring occasionally. Let cool 15 minutes in crockpot before serving.
Note: Some recipes call for thawing frozen potatoes before preparing. I have found that using the potatoes directly from the freezer provides a little better texture. Ensure that the cheeses are shredded or grated.
Also, you might consider a crockpot liner to help reduce intense clean up once you’ve finished with the dish.
I was browsing chicken & noodle recipes on Zaar, but there aren’t many with homemade noodles & IMHO that’s the best part. I am posting the current evolution of my mother’s (my grandmother’s) recipe before I start to forget it. The flour amounts are not specific because it’s always different. I just add more as needed to keep the dough workable. Sometimes I use cans of herbed chicken broth or substitute seasoned salt for the regular salt. This is a recipe from memory & I am constantly making little changes to it, but it’s always satisfying at the table. Comfort food at it’s best. Simple, filling & especially good on a cold winter day. Don’t let the length of instructions intimidate. This is very easy, I’m just very detailed. I hope you will give it a try.
Ingredients
Directions
Pear and Brie Crostini
Note: I love appetizers…I’m not a huge fan of meals, so I always bring at least 3 apps for Thanksgiving (or any other event to be honest). This is one of my favorites, and always popular.
Ingredients:
Instructions
I’m a corn gal through and through. Though I’ve lived the majority of my years in Chicago, I grew up in a very small, very rural downstate farming community where the entire village was surrounded by cornfields. Heck, my first job was detasseling corn for local seed companies (where in my second season, I was awarded “Super Puller” – a prize that came with a green trucker hat that displayed my new title on the front in puffy Cooper Black font). Despite all of that, I don’t remember growing up with a ton of fresh veggies. It was the 70s and 80s, and there was only one store in town. The fresh produce was really hit-or-miss, so we relied on lots of cans and preserves.
That’s what makes this dish so great – it’s made entirely of things you probably already have in your pantry. This super easy side dish is like cornbread’s slightly sweet, satisfyingly savory, spoonable cousin. In fact, when I’ve taken it to potlucks in the past, others have said they’d call it “spoonbread”. That’s acceptable! In my family, we’ve never really had a name for it except “corn casserole”, but I feel like that’s boring and inadequate considering the bang for the buck and minimal effort resulting in this consistent crowd-pleaser. So I tasked AI to help me come up with a new name. These are the impressive results after feeding the recipe to ChatGPT.
So without further ado, I present you with Golden Corn Soufflé. Image credit: ME!
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
Casserole will be puffed up when you pull it out of the oven, but will collapse into a more dense, scoopable consistency after resting for 20-30 min. Fantastic as leftovers too!
I have the best dessert recipe! It started with my Grandma Feldman who lived in Greensburg, Indiana. She lived during the depression and was a widow with young children. She was frugal! She made most everything from scratch. Everything always tasted so good. One of the all time favorites was her chocolate roll. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas she would make two or three so everyone could have one piece, and sometimes if we were lucky, there might be a second piece available to snatch up. Now my mom has taken on the tradition. She makes it just like my grandma made it. It is not easy to make and therefore not made very often, but my goodness it is awesome!
See photos of the well used chocolate roll recipe pictures.
Chocolate Roll
Mix
Bake
Get ready to slice it and enjoy!!
Pictured are my great-grandparents who immigrated to the South Side of Chicago from Prussian Poland.
G-Gpa opened a meat shop to feed his family (Bednarek Sausage Co, now known as Slotkowski sausage, which is still found in stores today).
G-Gma baked sweet treats and pastries to keep said family happy.
This is the inspiration behind the Bednarek (my maiden name) Thanksgiving and Christmas (and honestly any other family get-together) tradition.
So here I share two, deeply rooted Polish recipes. The first, kiełbasa (Polish sausage). G-Gpa made this all the time, selling it at markets and in delis all over Chicago, but he never measured. This is the closest we can get to replicating his.
The second, kolachky (Polish cookies). G-Gma ALWAYS measured. So this is exact.
Both are a pain in the dupa to make.
Kiełbasa
Run trimmed reserved fat through the ―fine plate on the grinder (pork butts have the perfect ratio of fat to meat, so don’t trim out the fat. (If you do, you’ll wind up with dry, flavorless sausage). Keep the meat as cold as possible.
Add the seasonings to the ice water and stir; then mix it into the meat.
Sausage is thirsty: it might seem wet when you first mix it, but come back in an hour or so and you’ll find that all the water’s been absorbed.
Let sit overnight before stuffing the meat into casings.
There are many ways to cook Kielbasa and each method is appropriate for a given set of end characteristics. The following method is quick and easy, but still provides optimal flavor and texture characteristics.
Be sure to bring the internal temperature of the sausage up to 165 degrees F. This is most easily done by bringing enough liquid* to cover the kielbasa and bring to a boil. (* adding spices, onions and/or beer to water is an optional way to add flavor!)
Reduce heat and simmer this for 30-45min until you reach 165 degrees internal temperature continue cooking for desired tenderness.
Serve with sauerkraut or kapusta.
Kolachky
1 unbaked 9-inches pie crust (see below for recipe)
Slice and serve with lots of Cool Whip
Pie Crust
Sift the flour and salt together in a bowl. Cut in the lard with pastry blender, two knives or blending fork until pieces are the size of small peas. Add cold water a few drops at a time until particles just hold together. Press together lightly to form a ball. Chill for easier handling. Divide pastry in half, roll pastry ⅛ inch thick and line the pie pan. Trim ½ inch beyond the edge and fold under, flute the edge of the pastry.