Cranberry Dream Fluff Salad

Ingredients:

1 bag of fresh cranberries

2/3 can (ish) frozen orange juice concentrate 

1c sugar or more, to taste

1/2 to 2/3 tub cool whip, thawed

1/4 c pulverized grated walnuts

1/2 c or so chopped walnuts

1/3 large can crushed pineapple

Directions:

Combine all I grsdients to taste and desired sweetness. Store in frig when not serving/eating. 

Hot Mama Grade: A

Hot Mama Notes: Originally, this started out as a fresh cranberry salad (almost like a relish) with only chopped fresh cranberries, the orange juice concentrate, and sugar. But the result (to me) was overpowering and very tart but at the same time ridiculously sweet. I added in the pineapple to increase sweetness. I tried marshmallows, but it didn't give me the taste or desired consistency. The cool whip really transformed the salad into something better. Creami[55er and tastier. The Walnuts added a lot of good substance, texture, and flavor. I really liked this salad and will make it again. 

Cariann's Nana's Potato Casserole

Hot Mama Grade: A

Hot Mama Notes: I had this at a work potluck. It was so delicious that I asked for the recipe! 

Corn Bake Side Dish

Ingredients:

Hot Mama Grade: B+

Hot Mama Notes: This was good, but after reading rave reviews, I thought it was going to be the best thing since sliced bread! 🤣🤣 It's important to note that this is a side dish. As it is written, it is a sweet mushy corn casserole. When you look at it, it almost looks like corn bread, but it is not. I baked it way longer than 15 minutes. More like 45 minutes or so. After 15 minutes, it was liquid. I saw in the comments that someone used a 13x9 pan. In 20/20 hindsight, I would definitely have done that to decrease cooking time drastically. I see people did a number of changes that sound good, but I wanted to make the recipe as is. Now that I have, I would omit the eggs as someone suggested. It is a bit eggy. Or maybe go down to one egg at most. I also think green Chiles/jalapeños, onions, and some spices would liven it up. That being said, while I like this dish, I actually think cornbread might be preferable for me! 🤣🤣 I did used frozen corn instead of canned corn for the regular corn. This is definitely the way to go. I used jiffy corn muffin mix and sour cream, as listed.