Some fragmented thoughts on the life and work of a faithful Catholic advocate for justice and the odd, beloved concoction known as strawberry-pretzel salad
Thank you for sharing your conversation with Sister Gramick. Her life inspires me and helps me to stay hopeful, and I need quite a bit of both of those things these days.
I, like you, I am not a big fan of strawberry pretzel salad. I didn’t grow up eating a lot of things made with Jell-O so as an adult recipes with Jell-O are not appealing to me at all. But I did recently create a dessert recipe that tickled me to no end and I’m thinking about making again soon. It’s a double dark chocolate brownie recipe with mint extract and sprinkled with peppermint schnapps after it’s baked. Did I just say sprinkled? What I really meant was doused! I happen to love making homemade brownies with half of the sugar the recipe calls for and then adding either rum or bourbon to make them a little extra special.  And sometimes I will soak 2 cups of toasted walnuts with some sort of booze overnight, strain them, and then throw them in the brownie batter the next day.  It’s surprising how much liquid the walnuts will absorb so they make the dessert a ‘for adults only dessert’. Basically, I like boozy brownies of any kind, so that’s what I’ve been creating these days. (Well, I am going to be making baklava and spanakopita today because I’m in a Greek mood today but that’s another story).
Random question for you: how can I find out when you’ll be preaching at Crosspoint a week or two in advance? There are a few of us in my area that would like to ride over to Raleigh to hear you in person and say hello. We just need more than a day to pull that together.
Thank you for sharing this! I might just have to make some kind of boozy brownie for my husband for his birthday... I don't do much chocolate, but he loves brownies.
Re: Crosspointe, one of the things that I appreciate is that they de-emphasize who is preaching on what weekend, because the church doesn't want it to be about the person so much as it is about the communal experience of worship. There are four of us who are on the teaching team, and everyone brings something different and beautiful to their sermons. But I get that there might be folks who want to visit when I'm in town. Because I have a really full fall schedule, I'm not preaching in person again until December 18th. So you could mark your calendar for that Sunday.
Thank you for letting me know! It’s on my calendar now 😊
Back to the brownie recipe... if Tristan likes Kahlua I’d recommend you try that. But instead of dousing the cooked brownies with it, put a shot of it in the batter. And then, because it’s his birthday, top the cooled brownies off with a thick layer of chocolate ganache that has another shot of Kahlua in it. I did this recently for a birthday party and it was a big hit. Side note: I always use the brownie recipe on the King Arthur Baking site and I only use their flour as well (I’m a born & bred Vermonter so I’m very committed to them plus their quality standards are very high) but I always cut the sugar in half. Another side note: if Tristan likes extras in his brownies but isn’t a huge fan of walnuts try dried tart montmorency cherries (with or without soaking them in booze first). I love talking food & could do this all day but I’ll stop now 😆
I have several foods that I don’t consider particularly good and yet are delightful because they are “extended family foods” - foods that showed up at reunions at my Mamaw’s house (midwestern fare) or at church potlucks (Italian American staples): iceberg layer salad, peanut butter pie, green bean casserole, chili Frito pie, baked ziti, lasagna, manicotti. The last three I do consider both delightful and truly satisfying. Perhaps one of my very favorite foods though is grilled cheese. This week I discovered that pesto in grilled cheese can be magical. In the book Heidi there is a description of the girl’s grandfather melting cheese with a skewer over the fire and letting the melted cheese fall onto bread. I’ve never fully understood the physics of it but was enchanted at the image. So any kind of bread and melted cheese experience also involves the charm of an awakened beloved book memory.
I love when the experience of food can stir other memories as you describe. That's one of the reasons I love eating so much. It's usually not just about that one moment, that one dish, but the echoes of others.
When I was in high school, my best friend was Italian. I remember going to Linda's house and no matter what time of the day it was, it seemed her mom was pulling a ziti out of the oven. I always associate ziti with Ms. Milevoi. :)
I loved your interview with Sister Jeannine Gramick. She seemed so hopeful in spite of what is swirling around us regarding the political climate. As someone in their 60s, it was nice to read this interview and dream of what I can still be doing to support marginalized peoples. And the pretzel salad…..my grandmother made this for special occasions! Thank you for your blog.
When I read “strawberry pretzel salad,” I pictured a spinach-type salad with cut up fresh strawberries and pretzel pieces to provide crunch, with a balsamic dressing.
Now THAT is a salad I think could be good.
My Mennonite family also calls all manner of concoctions with Jello and/or marshmallows “salad” and it drives me up the wall. At one family potluck (extended family, 45 people), all the people who had volunteered to bring a salad brought Jello/marshmallows, and those assigned to hot veggies brought corn, which is mostly starch. My face looked something like this: 😑
But because I am an enneagram 8, I spoke up, and now people specify if they are going to bring a “sweet salad” or a “green salad.”
Jeff, I always look forward to your posts. I lived in Italy for many years, and the first question people ask you is , "What did you eat today?" And when you pay a visit to someone (which you may do unannounced and expect to be welcomed), the first words are always, "I'll put on the coffee pot." The culture around hospitality and food is central to identity, and that is one reason (though only one) that your posts resonate always with me. Thank you!
Born and raised in Wisconsin and I love strawberries pretzel salad. I do agree that it mostly has to go with great memories from family get togethers as a kid 😁
Loved the interview. What a beautiful soul! I'm not Catholic at all, but I have this unbelievable affection for Pope Francis. I think he's such a kind man.
Being a Southerner, funeral casseroles are part my of psyche. The thing about strawberry/pretzel salad is that it's good after having a plateful of salty, savory casseroles.
In our family, we always have broccoli rice casserole, which my late BIL dubbed "moldy rice." We don't have a get-together without it.
I loved the interview! What a beautiful legacy she is leaving.
I grew up in the Midwest, but my husband's from a Northwestern somewhat-hippie family, so he is continually APPALLED by the kinds of things I casually call "salad." ;) I don't think I've ever had that particular kind, but I have a 1980's cookbook from my mom's hometown in rural Illinois, and the "salads" section, while seventy pages long, has only five salads with actual vegetables— the rest are an assortment of jello, marshmallows, cottage cheese, cool whip, shredded coconut, and various fruits and cookies. I'll admit, I love these kinds of salad— and not just because they annoy my husband so much!
Scrapple (Rapa brand) is a food I associate with wonderful memories of sitting around my grandparents’ table in rural southern Delaware for big breakfast when growing up. I don’t think I would have eaten it had I known what it was made of, but, not knowing, I did eat it and I still love it today.
We just watched an episode of Chopped in which scrapple was one of the designated ingredients! I actually don't mind it, but then my people will eat pig meat in almost any form.
Ahh, yes. My Aunt Marges Beans (Revenge). I believe they might also be called Calico beans. They showed up at every family picnic and I just made them for my family for the first real gathering we have had in years. Great memories of Aunt Marge.
I have never had that "salad" that I can recall, but I do have strawberries with Cool Whip pretty often, something my grandma always used to give us as kids when we were over at her house. There are lighter and lower sugar versions, fwiw. haha Or, if you want more types of sugar, plain strawberries (fresh or frozen), light Cool Whip, and chocolate cookies (I use a sprinkle of Teddy Grahams).
In answer to your last question, I just finished a dinner of dijon chicken, zucchini, and gold potatoes from my weekly meal kit that arrived today. I have appreciated how it helps cooking feel so much less overwhelming. I started it in spring of 2020 and that ritual helps provide some stability.
What a wonderful conversation! Thank you for sharing with us.
That strawberry pretzel salad is....NO
Here is an amazing salad. You should have everything in your house or easily purchased at a farmer's market....corn, tomatoes, salt, lime, basil, and cilantro. It's the best thing I have eaten this summer.
Confession: corn is one of the few things I don't like, unless it's in the form of popcorn, cornmeal, grits/polenta, or corn nuts. In other words, not on the cob or in kernel form.
Thank you so much for the interview with Sr. Jeannine. She is a breath of fresh air. Her relationship with Pope Francis gives me hope that possibly the Church can change. Nuns walk such a tightrope to maintain their integrity and yet remain in the Church. I would like to see Pope Francis go further and commit to caring for the elderly nuns. Perhaps this is just a US problem, but while the Church takes care of retired priests, it does nothing for the nuns. They must depend on their former students and family members to support them.
Thank you for sharing your conversation with Sister Gramick. Her life inspires me and helps me to stay hopeful, and I need quite a bit of both of those things these days.
I, like you, I am not a big fan of strawberry pretzel salad. I didn’t grow up eating a lot of things made with Jell-O so as an adult recipes with Jell-O are not appealing to me at all. But I did recently create a dessert recipe that tickled me to no end and I’m thinking about making again soon. It’s a double dark chocolate brownie recipe with mint extract and sprinkled with peppermint schnapps after it’s baked. Did I just say sprinkled? What I really meant was doused! I happen to love making homemade brownies with half of the sugar the recipe calls for and then adding either rum or bourbon to make them a little extra special.  And sometimes I will soak 2 cups of toasted walnuts with some sort of booze overnight, strain them, and then throw them in the brownie batter the next day.  It’s surprising how much liquid the walnuts will absorb so they make the dessert a ‘for adults only dessert’. Basically, I like boozy brownies of any kind, so that’s what I’ve been creating these days. (Well, I am going to be making baklava and spanakopita today because I’m in a Greek mood today but that’s another story).
Random question for you: how can I find out when you’ll be preaching at Crosspoint a week or two in advance? There are a few of us in my area that would like to ride over to Raleigh to hear you in person and say hello. We just need more than a day to pull that together.
Thank you for sharing this! I might just have to make some kind of boozy brownie for my husband for his birthday... I don't do much chocolate, but he loves brownies.
Re: Crosspointe, one of the things that I appreciate is that they de-emphasize who is preaching on what weekend, because the church doesn't want it to be about the person so much as it is about the communal experience of worship. There are four of us who are on the teaching team, and everyone brings something different and beautiful to their sermons. But I get that there might be folks who want to visit when I'm in town. Because I have a really full fall schedule, I'm not preaching in person again until December 18th. So you could mark your calendar for that Sunday.
Thank you for letting me know! It’s on my calendar now 😊
Back to the brownie recipe... if Tristan likes Kahlua I’d recommend you try that. But instead of dousing the cooked brownies with it, put a shot of it in the batter. And then, because it’s his birthday, top the cooled brownies off with a thick layer of chocolate ganache that has another shot of Kahlua in it. I did this recently for a birthday party and it was a big hit. Side note: I always use the brownie recipe on the King Arthur Baking site and I only use their flour as well (I’m a born & bred Vermonter so I’m very committed to them plus their quality standards are very high) but I always cut the sugar in half. Another side note: if Tristan likes extras in his brownies but isn’t a huge fan of walnuts try dried tart montmorency cherries (with or without soaking them in booze first). I love talking food & could do this all day but I’ll stop now 😆
I have several foods that I don’t consider particularly good and yet are delightful because they are “extended family foods” - foods that showed up at reunions at my Mamaw’s house (midwestern fare) or at church potlucks (Italian American staples): iceberg layer salad, peanut butter pie, green bean casserole, chili Frito pie, baked ziti, lasagna, manicotti. The last three I do consider both delightful and truly satisfying. Perhaps one of my very favorite foods though is grilled cheese. This week I discovered that pesto in grilled cheese can be magical. In the book Heidi there is a description of the girl’s grandfather melting cheese with a skewer over the fire and letting the melted cheese fall onto bread. I’ve never fully understood the physics of it but was enchanted at the image. So any kind of bread and melted cheese experience also involves the charm of an awakened beloved book memory.
I love when the experience of food can stir other memories as you describe. That's one of the reasons I love eating so much. It's usually not just about that one moment, that one dish, but the echoes of others.
When I was in high school, my best friend was Italian. I remember going to Linda's house and no matter what time of the day it was, it seemed her mom was pulling a ziti out of the oven. I always associate ziti with Ms. Milevoi. :)
Oh gosh yes. I remember being fascinated by that passage as a kid. I made grilled halloumi for a salad last week and it scratched that itch for me!
What fun to discover a shared book memory with a stranger! Grilled halloumi on salad sounds lovely on this hot summer day.
I loved your interview with Sister Jeannine Gramick. She seemed so hopeful in spite of what is swirling around us regarding the political climate. As someone in their 60s, it was nice to read this interview and dream of what I can still be doing to support marginalized peoples. And the pretzel salad…..my grandmother made this for special occasions! Thank you for your blog.
When I read “strawberry pretzel salad,” I pictured a spinach-type salad with cut up fresh strawberries and pretzel pieces to provide crunch, with a balsamic dressing.
Now THAT is a salad I think could be good.
My Mennonite family also calls all manner of concoctions with Jello and/or marshmallows “salad” and it drives me up the wall. At one family potluck (extended family, 45 people), all the people who had volunteered to bring a salad brought Jello/marshmallows, and those assigned to hot veggies brought corn, which is mostly starch. My face looked something like this: 😑
But because I am an enneagram 8, I spoke up, and now people specify if they are going to bring a “sweet salad” or a “green salad.”
Isn't jello salad is an oxymoron? This sounds more like dessert!
Jeff, I always look forward to your posts. I lived in Italy for many years, and the first question people ask you is , "What did you eat today?" And when you pay a visit to someone (which you may do unannounced and expect to be welcomed), the first words are always, "I'll put on the coffee pot." The culture around hospitality and food is central to identity, and that is one reason (though only one) that your posts resonate always with me. Thank you!
Born and raised in Wisconsin and I love strawberries pretzel salad. I do agree that it mostly has to go with great memories from family get togethers as a kid 😁
Loved the interview. What a beautiful soul! I'm not Catholic at all, but I have this unbelievable affection for Pope Francis. I think he's such a kind man.
Being a Southerner, funeral casseroles are part my of psyche. The thing about strawberry/pretzel salad is that it's good after having a plateful of salty, savory casseroles.
In our family, we always have broccoli rice casserole, which my late BIL dubbed "moldy rice." We don't have a get-together without it.
I loved the interview! What a beautiful legacy she is leaving.
I grew up in the Midwest, but my husband's from a Northwestern somewhat-hippie family, so he is continually APPALLED by the kinds of things I casually call "salad." ;) I don't think I've ever had that particular kind, but I have a 1980's cookbook from my mom's hometown in rural Illinois, and the "salads" section, while seventy pages long, has only five salads with actual vegetables— the rest are an assortment of jello, marshmallows, cottage cheese, cool whip, shredded coconut, and various fruits and cookies. I'll admit, I love these kinds of salad— and not just because they annoy my husband so much!
Scrapple (Rapa brand) is a food I associate with wonderful memories of sitting around my grandparents’ table in rural southern Delaware for big breakfast when growing up. I don’t think I would have eaten it had I known what it was made of, but, not knowing, I did eat it and I still love it today.
We just watched an episode of Chopped in which scrapple was one of the designated ingredients! I actually don't mind it, but then my people will eat pig meat in almost any form.
Ahh, yes. My Aunt Marges Beans (Revenge). I believe they might also be called Calico beans. They showed up at every family picnic and I just made them for my family for the first real gathering we have had in years. Great memories of Aunt Marge.
Loved this interview!
I have never had that "salad" that I can recall, but I do have strawberries with Cool Whip pretty often, something my grandma always used to give us as kids when we were over at her house. There are lighter and lower sugar versions, fwiw. haha Or, if you want more types of sugar, plain strawberries (fresh or frozen), light Cool Whip, and chocolate cookies (I use a sprinkle of Teddy Grahams).
In answer to your last question, I just finished a dinner of dijon chicken, zucchini, and gold potatoes from my weekly meal kit that arrived today. I have appreciated how it helps cooking feel so much less overwhelming. I started it in spring of 2020 and that ritual helps provide some stability.
I think I'm going to stick to regular, old-fashioned whipped cream.
Very valid!
Jeff,
What a wonderful conversation! Thank you for sharing with us.
That strawberry pretzel salad is....NO
Here is an amazing salad. You should have everything in your house or easily purchased at a farmer's market....corn, tomatoes, salt, lime, basil, and cilantro. It's the best thing I have eaten this summer.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1023332-corn-salad-with-tomatoes-basil-and-cilantro
Confession: corn is one of the few things I don't like, unless it's in the form of popcorn, cornmeal, grits/polenta, or corn nuts. In other words, not on the cob or in kernel form.
Thank you for that beautiful interview!
jeff, your essays bless me. today's is especially poignant; imagine having pope francis as your pen pal!
Thank you so much for the interview with Sr. Jeannine. She is a breath of fresh air. Her relationship with Pope Francis gives me hope that possibly the Church can change. Nuns walk such a tightrope to maintain their integrity and yet remain in the Church. I would like to see Pope Francis go further and commit to caring for the elderly nuns. Perhaps this is just a US problem, but while the Church takes care of retired priests, it does nothing for the nuns. They must depend on their former students and family members to support them.