Yummr

Yummr's Main Dish

Archives for Dec 2008

Wear A Tacky Holiday Sweater & Bring the Ambrosia Salad

By now, I'm sure your thoughts are filled with what you need to be getting as last minute holiday gifts, if you have enough wrapping paper, where you've put your holiday sweater and/or vest and most importantly, if you'll have enough delicious food to feed your loved ones! I love the holidays. It's one of the few times of the year where my family gathers and brings huge amounts of food and a test out new recipes. I love being the guinea pig in these situations.

I also like to put other people in the guinea pig position just like I did this past weekend. My friend and I were briefly talking about ambrosia salads one day and I had only heard the term from Edward Scissorhands so I decided to look it up. If you think Tim Burton's world is wacky and fantastical, so is the mix that is put into an ambrosia salad. I ventured out in the cold and got all the ingredients anyway and decided that yes, it would be fun to see the look on his face when I brought this concoction over to the party. Surprisingly, my ambrosia salad was a hot topic of the night and was a hit. Not my original intentions but I'll take it.

Before making this mosh-posh of canned fruits and cream, I Twittered (or Tweeted) my desire to find a good recipe and sure enough, @GirlieErin (a.k.a. ErinCooks on here) came to the rescue with her Aunt's version:

Aunt Kara’s Ambrosia

2 16 ounce containers of sour cream
3 15 ounce cans of mandarin oranges (drained)
3 20 ounce cans of pineapple chunks (drained)
2 10.5 ounce packages of mini marshmallows
21 ounces (approximately 1 1/2 bags) of shredded baking coconut

Combine all of the ingredients together in a large bowl, cover and place in the refrigerator. Serve cold.

She even made her own marshmallows, how neat is that?

Here is my delightful version of it:

4 ounce containers of sour cream
1.5 15 ounce cans of mandarin oranges (drained)
2 20 ounce cans of pineapple chunks (drained)
1/4 bag of 10.5 ounce package of mini marshmallows
4 ounces of shredded baking coconut

1 small jar of maraschino cherries (drained)

Fold all the ingredients together. Add about 2 tablespoons of the leftover maraschino cherry juice into the mix and voila! You have what people call an ambrosia salad.

Anyone else have a good ambrosia salad recipe and/or story? I'd love to hear it! The beloved fruitcake stories are welcomed too!

Posted Dec 22, 2008 by SuDoughName | Add a comment | Share It

Filed under: ambrosia salad Fruitcake

Winner of the Pesto-rific Challenge!

All last month, Yummr and The Adventures of Kitchen Girl otherwise known as KitchenGirl on here held a challenge for all brave cooks who dared to step into their kitchen and share their best pesto recipes. We ended up with some really great Pesto-rific dishes and some great ideas that would be yummy meals and wonderful additions to great feasts year round. Check them ALL out in the Pesto-rific Gallery!

From all the challenge submissions, we asked our members and readers to vote for one of our top 3 finalists:

• Gemelli with Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
• Stuffed Pesto Chicken
• Arugula Pesto and Wild Mushroom Pizza

We are pleased to announce that the winner of 5lbs. of Barilla Penne Pasta is the Arugula Pesto and Wild Mushroom Pizza recipe by NoFearEntertaining - congratulations to you and thank you for providing a such a wonderful recipe incorporating the savory taste of pesto! Click the photo get and try out the recipe yourself!

Thank you to everyone who participated in this fun challenge and we look forward to hearing, smelling and seeing more of your yummy recipes, photos and thoughts here on Yummr!

If you'd like to learn a little bit more about Basil, check out our fun quiz on Basil and you could earn up to 500 food stamps!

Posted Dec 15, 2008 by SuDoughName | 1 Comment | Share It

Filed under: basil Pesto-rific Challenge

What To Do with Thanksgiving Day Leftovers

I know this question is an all too common one for many who don't quite finish those 14 lbs. of turkey goodness with family and friends in one sitting. I love going over the different ways to use the leftovers from using the bones to making a tatsy broth to what we did with ours... make a turkey hash!

My aunt is an experimental cook and loves to present one different dish each Thanksgiving. She' mastered a creamy sweet tiramisu last year and decided to play around with the cornbread this year. She didn't use anything fancy as the cornbread base, just your reliable Jiffy cornbread mix that you can easily get two boxes for a dollar (perfect for these times). Instead of regular cornbread, she turned them into a breakfast biscuit by mixing in creamed corn and just the slightest hint of sausage bits and hot peppers. I'm always a fan of real bits of corn in cornbread.

We used her leftover breakfast biscuits, turkey, potatoes and stuffing to make turkey hash for breakfast the next day. It turned out tasting really great since everything was very flavorful. Did you have any leftovers? Share your Thanksgiving Day leftover recipes and ideas with us!

Posted Dec 1, 2008 by SuDoughName | Add a comment | Share It

Filed under: Thanksgiving Day leftovers