Family Recipes: Cranberry Jello, a Thanksgiving and Christmas must for any family

Anyone can make this dish in minutes. First, you begin by gathering the ingredients:

• 3 ounces grape Jello or strawberry Jello (grape Jello is preferred if you can find it).
• 3/4 cup water (must be boiling).
• One can Cranberry Sauce.
• 1 cup Sour Cream.
• A couple drops of Lemon Juice (optional).

Bring 3/4 cup of water to a boil in a pot (quart-sized or larger). Mix the Jello into the boiling water (this is a critical step; you need to do this step first or the ingredients won’t mix together properly). Once the Jello is dissolved, mix in the Cranberry Sauce and Sour Cream until they are equally dispersed. Next, add the optional Lemon Juice drops (less than 1/8 of a teaspoon will do). Place the mixture into a container that can fit in your refrigerator or freezer and that’s it!

Tip: Mix all of the ingredients while you still have the pot on the stove because the heat will break down the Sour Cream and Cranberry Sauce or use a blender to mix the ingredients until they are smooth for the fastest way to make the mixture before cooling.

The Cranberry Jello needs to chill until it is solid; similar to all Jello dishes. It is best that you make this dish the night before your meal so that you can put it in the refrigerator overnight. Or, if you’re like me and you find yourself making this dish the day of your dinner (lack of preparation on my part in most cases), you can always throw this in the freezer early in the morning (usually while the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is on television).

I can’t tell you enough how much this dish means to me to have it at the table for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. It is just too good and all of the memories that come with the taste of it bring a smile to my face. I highly recommend that you try this yourself and report back on how well it tastes to you.