“My favorite food is pecan pie with lots of cool whip or kringla with butter. Kringla is a Norwegian pastry and it is my all-time favorite food. My grandma makes them every year. However, my favorite Thanksgiving or holiday activity is spending time with my family. Last year around the holidays, I got to bake with my grandma and my Aunt Lori. It was so much fun! “
Jessica McWilliams, Managing Editor & Photo Editor
My favorite Thanksgiving food is my aunt’s cherry Jell-O. She would also bring another bowl of strawberry or orange flavor Jell-O because she knows how much the family would eat and knows that we’ll take some back to our own house to snack on. Honestly, there’s nothing really special about it, but it’s one of the few dishes that everyone can enjoy.
Debra McRoberts, Outreach Coordinator
I remember how my aunt and grandma would make frog eye salad during this time. It went so well with the bountiful meal of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy with that home-baked pumpkin pie topped high with a sweet whipped cream. “Want some pie with that whipped cream?” would often be the joke at the table during the dessert phase.
Chris Klepach, Staff Writer
There are two foods I am torn between. One is stuffing. It’s savory and good even after days spent in the fridge. It easily fills half my plate on Thanksgiving. My other favorite is baked pineapple, a recipe my family got from my aunt. You can say it takes the place of cranberry sauce in my house. It’s made of pineapple, corn starch, sugar and cinnamon. While unconventional, it’s incredibly popular in my family.
Laura Hoff, Copy Editor
I am from Southeast Iowa and one common stereotype here would be that we eat “Americanized food from different cultures.” As fate would have it, my grandma stumbled upon a Rhubarb plant growing in her backyard when I was a child. The saccharine flavor combined with being a homegrown Grandma-special rhubarb pie far outweighed the nostalgic taste of Thanksgiving classics such as turkey in the end and will always be the part of a Thanksgiving meal I look forward to the most – just maybe not this year!
Parker Palen, Staff Writer
My mom, sister and I cook together every Thanksgiving. Green bean and corn casserole are big staples for our Turkey Day dinner.
Casey Dennis, Staff Writer
Every year (except this one sadly 🙁), my extended family gets together for a big Thanksgiving supper. These days, with all the spouses and great-grands, we have to rent out a community center. As you can imagine, the spread at an event like this is essentially a church potluck. There are several iterations of the staples: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. But there are also all the special dishes that various relatives bring every year. It’s all delicious and it’s hard not to feel loved when I’m just one of 50 people but when dessert-time comes my aunt hands me a slice of pecan pie piled high with whipped topping without even needing to ask what type I would like.
Andrew Schneider, Web Editor
Categories: Staff Picks
