Holiday Cinnamon Molded Salad

Grandma did a lot of entertaining. She absolutely loved people and loved giving back to the community, so she belonged to many clubs and guilds that raised funds for disadvantaged youth or kids who needed medical care.  Her servant's heart ran deep.  

When a meeting place or special event location was needed, Grandma often opened her home. She was a natural at putting together something memorable, carried out with attention to every detail.

Her beautiful table always had a centerpiece of some sort with flowers or candles. She cared about each place setting and the silverware was deliberately placed in its proper location. There had to be order but she was never compulsive about it so things were very relaxed. Such a life lesson to be learned from that.

As she got older, the soirees began to diminish and she wasn't able to be a member of so many organizations, but she still had family over for holidays and other special events well into her 80s! Where she got all that energy was a mystery.

Family dinners always included some sort of gelatin salad and Grandma used to say that a good salad starts off a meal on the right foot...and they always did. Her holiday salad fixings were wonderful and with Thanksgiving around the corner these "tried and trues" should give you a few ideas for your own family gathering.

Holiday Cinnamon Molded Salad

½ cup red cinnamon candies (Red Hots--trust me on this)

4 Tbsp sugar

2 cups hot water

2 pkgs cherry Jello

2 cups cold water

2 cups diced apples

1 cup diced oranges

½ cup walnuts (optional)

Dissolve candies and sugar in boiling water then pour over 2 packages of cherry Jello.  Add cold water and chill until partially set, then add apples, oranges, and walnuts.  Chill until set.