Only time I have seen the veggie tray eaten was if the dinner was early so that people could watch a particular game. The veggie tray was placed in front of the watchers on a coffee table. By the end of the game there was only a couple of celery sticks and one black olive.

I've always used fresh fruit and veggies as snacks for my kids. Every family meal, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, barbeques, etc have always included a veggie tray which gets demolished by my kids, my nieces and nephews, my friends kids, as well as several adults. Carrots, cherry tomatoes, celery, olives, and mini bell peppers are the favorites. There is always some broccoli left if I purchase a tray, I usually make my own.

I make other appetizers as well for Thanksgiving and Christmas, the kids still devour the raw vegetables. Fresh fruit is set out as dessert at informal gatherings like backyard barbeques and is also devoured.

I grew up eating a lot of processed and/or heavy rich foods typical of the American South. I wanted to teach my kids to eat healthier and I know my friends and family members did as well. It seems, at least among my peers in my social circle, that we've all raised our kids on things like fresh vegetables as an appetizer/snack and when it's available, they (and we) happily snack on it.

It's more normal for me to have leftover queso than to have leftover carrots after a get together.

It's not exactly on topic, but ... Last year I was nominated to bring the cookies for the annual Christmas Dinner. So I baked 8 different kinds of cookies so there would be enough of a variety to suit everyone. But every female in the group also brought cookies. Then why did they specifically ask me to do them? I was so aggravated because then of course only a handful got eaten and nobody even wanted to take any home because they had plenty of their own. We only have a small freezer so we ate as many as we could and I packed up containers and sent them to friends and family all over the country! If I get told to bring cookies this year it will only be 1 kind.

As far as foods others won't touch at Thanksgiving, my mother in law makes this stuffing that no one else will eat but my brother in law. He loves it, has a big helping and takes extra home. So she brings it, every year whether I ask her to or not.

My mom loves that gloopy gross green bean casserole with canned soup and french fried onions so I make it every year, even though no one else will eat any, because it's what she likes.

In my family, we have a tradition. I ask every guest coming for Thanksgiving what is the one thing they need/want/like to have for it to be Thanksgiving and I make sure it's on the menu, whether I provide it or someone else does.

One year, my brother was dating a girl from Columbia, and I asked what food would make her feel at home, she said patacones with hogao.

I learned how to make it and had it as an appetizer for our Thanksgiving meal.

She was grateful and, I would like to think, felt just as included and welcome in our celebration of family and home.

That's what Thanksgiving is to me, and why it's my favorite holiday and one I look forward to hosting every year.

To all those who love a veggie tray,i think that's great. By all means, stop by and relieve me of the mandatory one at our family get togethers. I'll pass it to you through the back door when no one is looking. Most of us try to eat healthy all year. Holidays or whatever occasion calls for a big get together are (and should be) an exception. To me, a stark veggie tray plunked down in the middle of all that rich, delicious food is kinda silly to look at, when it doesn't get eaten anyway. Also, we don't really do snacking before a big meal, so that doesn't help the case for the veggie tray. We just eat the meal. All the dips and trays and finger foods and stuff are part of the meal. Along with veggies that have been cooked and seasoned until they are delicious. More delicious than plain raw veggies. Again, the kids always load up on the fruit but the only veggies eaten off that tray are those choked down by my mom and sister. And they only do that because they are STUBBORN and refuse to admit that it's not needed or wanted,so they feel obligated to eat something off of it. Most of the time it gets split up and cooked in other dishes after the fact. The carrots go in a stew, the bell peppers in pasta, the broccoli in a casserole,etc. So it doesn't go to waste. I guess that's something.

TG, my mother likes stuffing/dressing with fruit in it. So I make the regular sausage one and then take a small amount of that and add dried cranberries and Fuji and granny Smith apples just for her. She is the only one that likes it, so it really is just a small pan I make for her but she really appreciates it.

Amylou- I understand completely. In our family, for big meals, BBQs, Thanksgiving, etc, appetizers are set out around 2 hours before the main meal when everyone gathers.

So for Thanksgiving, as an example, the main meal is served between 2 and 3 with appetizers (and guests arriving) around noon.

Glad to see I'm not the only one that makes a special dish for only one person. I do the same for my brother and that canned sweet potato/marshmallow casserole monstrosity he insists must be part of every Thanksgiving!!

Everyone else prefers my from scratch sweet potato casserole but he wants that, I make him that.

It's just me and my kids, occasionally exchange students. So, just me cooking. We do have veggie trays because it's traditional in my family growing up: carrots, celery and black olives. Mostly eaten by me because the kids have to leave soon after eating at my house to go to their father's most years.

Just remembered the trifle. At Christmas, my 90yo MIL likes to contribute, but we keep it simple for her. She makes a good trifle, so I always ask for that even though she and I are the only ones really who eat it. I love trifle but never make it at home because I’m the one one who will eat it, so I take the leftovers :-). MIL is happy, I’m happy

I have a friend who "doesn't cook"....and takes pride in that fact. Our church has a yearly progressive dinner. One house hosts the gathering and provides wine and other drinks and some are asked to bring hors d'ouvres. Then we split up and go to other homes for salad and main courses....then gather at a central place for dessert, many desserts contributed by several people. She always volunteers to bring a dessert and brings a supermarket bakery cake with white frosting and blue and pink flowers. It rarely gets touched, because people are pigging out on home made pies and chocolate cake and pumpkin cheese cakes etc.
If everyone is bringing an hors d'ouvre she brings one of those premade trays of small shrimp perched on a circle over a plastic ring....at least that gets eaten

Amylou, you sound very angry at that poor veggie tray! We don't make a pretence of "healthy". We just like unadorned fruits and vegetables and say snarky things when there aren't enough of them. But we prep them fresh, and properly, arrange them attractively, and they're eaten gratefully. When we were all younger, the family was bigger, and many of the group were hard workers with big appetites, my mother got on my case for trying to make the veg too pretty. Filling the platter was the important part, because all of the veg would go, and go fast. There was also a "relish" tray which had olives, pickles and canned items like hearts of palm. They bring color and liveliness to the table. They don't look sad. Needless to say, I don't think there's any reason for them to be at your house when no one wants them! But there's no reason to get mad at them. Think of them as pre-prep for Denver omelettes and turkey salad.

Oh no, not angry. Just impatient with the insistence that it MUST be there when I KNOW that no one wants it. And they use the excuse of "its healthy". Yes. Yes it is healthy. But only if you, you know, EAT it. I'll put flowers on the table for color.

No, we do not have that problem. Now if someone brought that hated green bean casserole, it would not get eaten. We love green beans but not like that. Yes, most of our family loves candied sweet potatoes and request it each holiday, no marshmallows on top but we would eat it if it did.

Sue

You dear, sweet people - I'm so stoked that now I know I'm not the only one who wishes people would just forget the raw veggie platter. Yes, I always make it myself for the Christmas graze and then I look at what's left over and wonder why I bother. I always pack it away in the fridge and make something later with it all but what a waste of precious time. I will really be re-thinking this one this year.

And then there is the fresh cranberry dish that only my sister and I adore - I used to make it every Christmas and then finally realized we were the only ones. It has fresh ground up cranberries, nuts, cream, and marshmallows in it and to me it's just divine but I always wound up with this huge bowl of it with 2 helpings taken out.

I can't get away from having to make the green bean casserole and the sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving, though. Not that I won't eat them but I could do without them, but there would just be too much pouting if I didn't.

There is nothing that is 'untouchable' at our family gatherings, holiday or not. For T-day, the menu varies widely, the attendees vary just as widely but the food - and their donations/gifts - are all equally appreciated and devoured. We eat earlier than usual on Thanksgiving but not midday.....somewhere around 4:30 or 5. But guests arrive earlier and mingle with a glass of wine and there are always a few munchies to go with to tide everyone over until the main meal is served. Sometimes a prepared appetizer or two, sometimes crackers and cheeses, usually Marcona almonds and yes, a veggie platter with a dip.

Every adult in the family is a decent cook and some of them are exceptional so whatever is served is delicious. It all gets eaten and all is equally appreciated. I can say that a sweet, sweet potato casserole will not appear as none of us grew up with that and no one I know in the family likes it. Sweet potatoes, yes - in a casserole, no. Green bean casserole may appear and if it does, it didn't come out of a can and is a perfectly acceptable addition.

Then again, it is surprising how little wine one needs to imbibe for everything to taste wonderful!! And if nothing else, my entire extended family are wine lovers!!

@ritaweeda, re: fresh cranberry salad. My mother and I love that, too, but we are the only ones. Here's a tip. Cut the recipe in half. Then, before you add the whipped cream, put half of what you've made in a separate storage container to be refrigerated. Add a reduced amount of whipped cream (approx. 1/4 of the recipe amount) to the remaining mixture. That's what you serve. Then, two or three days later, you can pull out the reserved mixture, add whipped cream and you have a fresh batch of the salad to enjoy.

It's fun to see how different all of our families are! At almost every gathering we always have the same three pre-meal noshes and there is never anything leftover: a veggie and drip tray, my SIL's queso and chips, and a cheese tray with several kinds of cheese, fruit, pickled things, dried meats, etc. My late sister and her husband used to always be in charge of potatoes of some kind. Her husband loved potatoes so much he would even eat them raw - yuck! Anyway, they would always make WAY too many potatoes for every meal.

My SIL and I alternate hosting holidays. My SIL always contributes the same dishes when I host. They are standbys and usually get eaten. On the flipside, when my SIL hosts she always asks for me to bring something different. No matter what I bring except homemade lemonade, my dishes never get eaten and in fact sometimes never get served. I have given up guessing what the deal is and just go with the flow and bring what she asks. LOL

Hey, Fun2BHere, thanks for that tip on the cranberry stuff. I just don't understand why people don't like it.

At our house, pretty much like everyone else, the menu doesn't change much or there would be mutiny....the issue is usually how the turkey is prepared, so we make it smoked, fried, and roasted (as I need a roast turkey for the broth for the dressing, my Mother's recipe, and gravy), and yes, that's three turkeys as we have about 40 or more for dinner. I make a ham, only from a local place here, and then Lebanese food also. On the green bean casserole: I can't take the canned soup one because it's so so salty....I make my own mushroom cream and get fresh green beans so it's way different than the norm....the sweet potato casserole is always fresh potatoes and alternating cornflake crumbs crushed with melted unsalted butter and marshmallows alternating in stripes on top. The one thing I remember no one eating is that lime jello "salad" thing my sweet MIL always made...and yes, it sat there. She would put maraschino cherries on top, too, and they'd bleed all over. I despise Jello in all forms as it reminds me of being sick when I was little. Our "salad" is the requisite Ambrosia...oh, not the kind that you want to pull your hair out taking out the orange membrane and grating the fresh coconut....oh, no no no...it's the mandarin oranges, canned pineapple tidbits, coconut (bagged and sweetened of course!), and the little marshmallows!! LOL...my girls would pass out if I didn't do this. LOL....maybe a Southern thing, but my Mimi always added a little whipped cream (real, with your mixer) and a tablespoon of mayonnaise to cut the sweet just a little (and to add a few more calories....) and I add bananas, pears, and apricots just to be sure we are getting enough fruit, lol...yeah, healthy, right? But it's Thanksgiving!! I'm sure that the Tabouli will help flush out all the sugar....lots of other little items, also, but that's a little of what's on the table! I DO so love Thanksgiving, though!! My favorite!

Then on to Christmas when beef will have top billing! NO turkey!

My DD loves her in-laws and they are sweet people, but her MIL cannot cook very well, so she really hates to go there for any meal. She texted me a couple of weekends ago ‘some people just can’t cook’, followed by ‘I’m starving’. I feel bad for her because my DD is a darn good cook and her DH is too really and loves to bbq, so they have asked if they can bring things but the in-laws won’t hear of it. And if you could only hear my DD tell the tale of the green jello concoction her step-mother made one year for TG. She swears she mixed up two recipes from two pages of the cookbook.

Things that bomb around here....store bought potato salad, frozen pie, green bean casserole (or anything else with canned soup), jello salads in general.

Gigi7, thanks for the giggle. :) I love the image of a table set with ambrosia salad and tabouleh! Kind of yin/yang, don't you think?

I go with my DS and DDIL to her sister's house for Thanksgiving. Her mother makes one of the fresh cranberry/orange relish type salads which I actually enjoy eating a bit of. But, it doesn't do the trick for my taste buds with the turkey, dressing and gravy bites. So, with the hostesses's permission, I bring a dish of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, and I am the only one who eats it. We are all happy and I take the dish back home to have with my leftovers.

Please do not bring a live pet to my home as a gift. Especially if it is a fish. I complained and was told, well, it wasn’t a dog! Hello, if you know me I would love a dog!

A live fish?! That's a new one!

Not certain how a pet fish translates to any Holiday food. Now a large eating sized fish for New Years is fine in some countries but I would personally object although I would fix it.

Growing up, one of my aunts would inevitably bring an inedible oyster dressing to Christmas dinner at my Grandparents. Her husband would dutifully choke down a couple of mouthfuls but I don't think anyone else ever touched it. But so as to not offend her, no other dressing was on the sideboard either. A big disappointment to this dressing-lover! Thankfully, we had Thanksgiving at home with GOOD dressing!

I cannot believe that people are offended by veggies. I will admit I like a chip way better but I am an adult who tries to be healthy so I eat the fat laden dip with veggies! All the kids in my family love veggies.They would choose veggies over chips....

If jello or potato salad is what cousin Sally brings, so be it...but if you say you have the entire dinner covered it is offensive because you probably have the table planned out and don't want it "thrown" off. In my case if I have a sit down dinner planned, the brought dish would stay on the kitchen counter for anyone who'd like to serve themselves and if the bringer asked I'd just say, sorry I don't have room on the table. If it is buffet style then bring it on.

Two things really make me gag. One is the Jell-O with carrots (to me it's like there's lint in it) and the sickening sweet sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. (Shudder).

I don't see anything wrong with someone bringing something they eat. And they bring it home with them so you don't have to toss it out. Maybe she doesn't like what you're making and to not insult you, she brings something she can handle to keep the peace. I've often thought I should bring a sandwich when my sister-in-law is "cooking". (Double shudder) Course, I do not go there anymore anyway, not even to "keep peace in the family". I have too much self-respect to compromise my integrity.

I never snacked on the veggie sticks but it was always something I'd take. Couple celery sticks, couple carrot sticks and a BUNCH of radishes. I guess we were taught that they are to be eaten and we got used to it. And if I didn't have radishes, I'd be disappointed. To this day, I still have a thing for raw radishes, especially when they have a little fire to them. But NOT IN JELL-O!

I find it very interesting how so many are so adverse to Jello in any form :-) I quite like it but only certain flavors and it MUST have something in it. Plain jello is just hospital food!

My favorite is cranberry flavor - hard to find except at certain times of year - and I add mandarin orange sections and bananas. If no cranberry, raspberry will do.

My SIL on occasion makes a black cherry jello mold with canned black cherries, green olives and chopped walnuts. An unusual but delicious combination!

I do like jello! Black cherry is my favorite. My mom makes some sort of rainbow jello thing that is very pretty and when she does do it it goes FAST. But I am not sure I like jello with stuff in it. Chunky jello,not for me.

I rarely eat unadorned Jell-o--it's basically just sugar and artificial enhancements, and I'd rather just eat better quality candy--but there are a number of really good molded salads (and some horrific ones). They're convenient to serve on a buffet. Less mess, and they stay on the plates well. I get it why my friends didn't care for the cole slaw mold--it has particular tang that may not be for everybody. One relative makes a secret recipe, which I wish I had, for one that's universally adored.

OTOH, I do have my mother's "recipe" for Red Jell-o. It's a combination of a couple flavors, with less water. She used to put it out mostly for the one who didn't like much of anything but would eat a roll and Jell-o. She kept having to make more and more, however. Apparently everybody, kids and grownups alike, like red Jell-o, even when there's a huge table of great food available. My guess is that it works something like a palate cleanser. Even when the rest of the cooking was given over to a caterer, we made the Red Jell-o.

I haven't made nor eaten jello in years and years....but I do have 2 recipes for jello salad that are not bad if you must....one contains canned dark cherries each pierced with a sliver of almond...I forget what other fruit is in there but the jello is diluted with some red sort of sweet wine. And another is apricot halves with a little ball of cream cheese in each half and sherry wine in the orange jello mix. Not wonderful....but different enough that I can eat them...r.arely!!

Linda, I think you'd like my relative's secret mold. It's on a different level.

My children told me that many international students at their college cafeterias found Jello to be the worst food the US had to offer and could not eat it without gagging. Many felt it did not even qualify as food. Whereas I like Jello, plain or mixed with fruit, but not mixed with veggies, and definitely not mixed with cottage cheese. But I try not to eat it much since I agree that is not much of a food - just sugar and artificial junk.

Eeeek, congeeeeled stuff makes me a little ill. My mother used to make all manner of horrid things with jello and a long list of ingredients, some of which were truly unlikely. Her favorite contribution was the rage in the 60s: lime jello, 7up, mayo, cottage cheese, and maraschino cherries.

But she might also present us with a conGEELed concoction with tomato soup, tuna, and celery jello. I can still see Dad's cheek muscles clench when she would do that to us.

Yummy Jello recipes! Enjoy.

I guess I'm one of the odd ones that actually likes Jello. Well, certain flavors of it, anyhow. And I've had jello 'salads' that I like a lot, and some, not so much. My SIL used to make one with black cherry jello, canned black cherries, & coke for part of the liquid. It was good!! hadn't thought about it in years, until I read the post up thread about cherry jello.

I've never heard of the cole slaw mold mentioned above, but it sounds pretty interesting to me, would love to have the recipe if someone would post it.

Rusty

Rusty, this is the original recipe, but it's one of those things where it's not made exactly like the written recipe, and I'm not sure I can come up with all the adjustments just thinking, rather than touching it. When scaling up, use one lime and one lemon Jell-o, and I think it was best when there was one that had less sugar. I don't know if they still make that. Use the food processor for all the veg. Adjust the seasoning to taste. I feel like I'm forgetting something, but if you make it once you'll figure out how to adjust it to your own taste. It's pretty flexible. it works best in a shallow mold, like up to 4" high, rather than a dome or high tower. It's softer than actual Jell-o being mostly slaw with the Jell-o to hold it together. It works fine in a bundt pan, too. I don't know why it says to cool the Jell-o with the sour cream and mayonnaise. Cool it in the bowl until it's still liquid but only barely warm, then add them. You don't want to break them or curdle the cream.

Green Mold

• 1/2 medium sized cabbage, grated
• 3 medium sized (not horse not tiny) carrots, grated
• 1 ordinary or two baby scallion(s) chopped very fine
• 1/4 medium green pepper chopped very fine
• 1 flat tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. vinegar

Let weep, and squeeze out excess liquid.

• 1 pkg. lime Jell-o

Add 1 cup boiling water to jell-o and let cool before proceeding to the next step.

To cool jell-o, add 2/3 cup mayonnaise and 1/3 cup sour cream and whip into jell-o until smooth.

Put well-squeezed veg. into jell-o and stir, pour into mold.

All time favorite cole slaw recipe. Family favorite. Had it first time to Alaska. KT friend from AK found the recipe for me.

Alaska cole slaw
5 cups shredded cabbage **I buy the preshredded plain, no carrots, etc at WalMart
1/2 cups almond slivers, toasted
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
1/2 cup celery, diced**don't use
1/4 cup chopped green onions, white and green parts
1/2 cups chopped green bell pepper **don't use

This is the creamy dressing I used and it works great:

mix 1/2 c mayo with 2 Tbl cider vinegar **I used white wine vinegar, 2 tsp sugar, salt and pepper to taste Pour over coleslaw right before serving and toss JUST TO COAT

Combine cabbage, almonds, cranberries, celery, green onions, and green pepper in a large plastic bowl with a snap-on lid.
Combine all dressing ingredients, adding salt and pepper to taste, and refrigerate until ready to serve. Pour dressing over slaw just before serving. Stir well

Thank you, Plllog and Glenda! I've put both recipes in my 'to try' file. They both sound very good.

Rusty

My Mom called hers Perfection Salad. Her "recipe" was of course never measure anything LOL but was about 1 cup each of finely shredded green cabbage* & finely shredded carrots*, mixed with 1 can of pineapple tidbits, well drained. She would use 2 boxes of any of the citrus jellos made with about 1/4 cup less water than the box calls for with just a pinch of sugar. Make the jello, let cool but not congeal then mix in the slaw/pineapple. She would put it all in a retangular cake pan so it was about 1" thick. Chilled well, cut into about 3" X 3" squares and served on lettuce leaves. I think she was the only one who really liked it made with lemon jello. My Dad liked lime best, but my favorite was orange. And judging by how much got brought home from church dinners I think most people agreed with me. There was usually nothing left if she used orange!

*I'd just buy a bag of pre-shredded coleslaw mix & use 2 cups.

Rusty, I do now remember the black cherry jello with Coke in it...my aunt used to make it (actually not bad, lol, as per my previous comment...) and it had cubed cream cheese in it. Well, heck! Doesn't cream cheese fix nearly anything??? Just sayin'....ah, memories of the '60's..and probably earlier!

s

Garden gal, my mother-in-law used to make that Jello salad with cherries and green olives. My husband loved it and often spoke fondly of it. But when I tasted it for the first time, I didn’t “get” it. I didn’t think it was bad, but I just didn’t understand how it could bring back such fond food memories for my husband.

And then tehre were the jello "salads" using ice cream...

1 package lemon jello, dissolved in 1 cup boiling water, a can of drained crushed pineapple, a pint of vanilla ice cream stirred into the hot jello, stir until melted and the jello begins to set up, and fold in a cup of grated cheddar cheese.
It's not as bad as it sounds!!
There are others like that some using sherbet....all set up quickly....and are very sweet!

I like Jello most ways. Remember the parfait pies? We made them when I was in Home Ec. many, many years ago. I like Jello with vegetables and cottage cheese and about any way you fix it. I even like drinking hot Jello if I should happen to have a sore throat, very good.

Sue

Sue - when I was a kid and got a sore throat, my Mom always had me drink warm jello. I think she used maybe 3 cups of water to thin it down. It felt good sliding down my poor throat! Thanks for jogging my memory of that!

Pllog- I'm curious what the recipe is for your families red jello. Would you share?

Texas_Gem, I'll have to turn up the instructions. It might take awhile since it's not in the computer. It's pretty much what I said--different flavors of "red", like strawberry and cherry or black cherry, and less water, but not as little as for jigglers (which keeps it from melting as fast, and helps it stand up in the shape of the mold). I'll get back to you when I find the exact directions.

Nope, no jello here, I can't even swallow the stuff, I gag the minute it hits my mouth. It just feels so......icky.

That said, my daughters love a jello "salad" made with apricots, crushed pineapple, cream cheese, chopped walnuts and whipped cream. I make it occasionally for them, usually at Easter for unknown reasons, but I don't eat it.

Annie

I'm fine with Jello, although I never eat it, but that recipe with ice cream and cheddar cheese sounds revolting!

Our holiday dinners are a group effort, everyone brings stuff. Traditionally my mother-in-law will overcook the turkey. SIL will bring the green bean casserole with mushroom soup and crunchy onions. And usually sweet potato casserole of some sort, which I don't eat. Otherwise it's truly a potluck as to what ends up on the table. There's always enough for about 20 extra people, and no one goes hungry.

With the advent of social media, my SIL usually finds one dish that she saw on Pinterest or Facebook. Usually it's a failure, but we just laugh and shake our heads.