Thanksgiving wrap-up

Our 19-lb bird came out golden and delicious.

Well, it was a busy Thanksgiving this year at our house.  We hosted about 16-17 people and the day lasted well into the night.  It was a lot of work but a lot of fun.  Although it was not a You Pick Two event, I thought it was worth posting a quick recipe that was an unexpected hit.

I try to rotate in every year something new or different from the year before.  This year I made two things, a different stuffing than normal and this traditional Southern recipe: Pineapple Salad.  I am not sure where the "salad" part comes from (maybe because it has fruit?) but there is nothing green about this.  It's adapted from Clay Aiken's recipe that he gave Martha Stewart.  I cut the sugar way down since the pineapple bits are sweet enough.  It sounds completely bizarre but went fantastically with the ham shank I made.  I could see this coming back to our table next year.

Pineapple Salad
Ingredients
one 20 oz can of pineapple tidbits
one 16 oz (large bag) of shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sugar
6 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder*
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crumbled
1/2 stick melted butter

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
 2. Combine pineapple, cheese, sugar, flour, baking powder, half the Ritz crackers, and half the butter in a medium bowl.
3. Transfer to a 3 quart baking dish and sprinkle the remaining Ritz crackers over and then drizzle remaining butter on top.
4. Bake for 35-40 minutes.  Let cool about 10 minutes before eating.

*you could just use 6 tablespoons of self-rising flour if you have it.