Frozen Cranberry Banana Salads
(Originally posted July 10, 2008. Please see letter at bottom)
Tea rooms in the south are a far cry from formalized locales where you sit up straight, sip hot tea, and nibble on a scone. In the south, our tea rooms have a relaxed and bright atmosphere. They are filled with smiling ladies gathered together for a special treat of girl time – away from kids, husbands and demands of home. Plates are filled with an assortment of salads: potato, vegetable, pea, macaroni, and chicken or ham usually served inside a fresh buttery croissant. Tea is still drank over ice, served in special stemmed “iced tea” glasses.
While the salads vary by tearoom, I have personally never been to one which did not serve a frozen cranberry salad such as this. Creamy, fruity, light tasting and just the right size when prepared in a little muffin paper, this is the quintessential tearoom must have and a very special treat to enjoy at home.
This recipe came from my husband’s grandmother, Granny Jordan. She was the embodiment of everything a southern lady should be. Practically anytime guests happened by, she was always prepared with a warm welcome and plenty of southern hospitality thanks to these little delights.
Once you make them, simply remove the muffin papers from your tins, pop them into Ziploc freezer bags and have an instant company worthy dessert or special treat for yourself anytime!
As always, the entire recipe is at the bottom of the page. You will need sour cream, sugar, whipped topping, crushed pineapple, two cans of whole berry cranberry sauce, and four bananas. I used light cool whip and light sour cream but you can use whichever type you like.
Drain pineapple well and put in large mixing bowl. Add sugar.
And whipped topping….
Add whole berry cranberry sauce and sour cream.
Combine all and stir well.
If I have a lot of cranberry sauce clumps, I use my potato masher after I’ve stirred it a bit.
Line a muffin tin with papers. This will actually take several muffin tins so I use all of mine at once provided I have freezer space to use them at the same time.
Scoop into muffin papers and freeze until hard.
While you are waiting for them to freeze, just stick the bowl of salad in the refrigerator and it will be fine.
Pop them out of the muffin tins, leaving them in their papers until time to serve, and place all of the salads in ziploc bags. Freeze!
Frozen Cranberry Banana Salads
- 1 lg can (20 oz) well drained crushed pineapple
- 1 pint sour cream
- 1- 9 ounce cool whip
- 4 mashed bananas
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup nuts (optional)
- 2 cans whole cranberry sauce (make sure you get whole)
- (Optionally you can add 1 cup of chopped nuts if you like)
Mix all ingredients well and spoon into cupcake papers placed in a muffin pan. Freeze. When frozen, remove from muffin pan and place in Ziploc bag.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey Everyone!
Today we have a gaggle of Jordans coming in from Georgia to help us move. (that sounds like a tongue twister just waiting to happen). I’m kind of dreading tomorrow but I’ve decided that moving is a lot like childbirth. You know it is going to happen and prepare as best you can but at this point you start having second thoughts. Fortunately, you’re too far gone and just have to suck it up and get it over with. When all is said and done, you’ll be glad you did and reap the rewards of your efforts for the rest of your life.
Think relaxing thoughts for me tomorrow as its going to be a hectic day but tomorrow night we get to sleep in our new house! Thank you all so very much for your well wishes! I hope to have the name of my new house for you when I next post but it’s not coming as easy as I had hoped. I LOVED all of your suggestions and Southern Cabinet jumped out at me (so cute, Southern Cabinet, home of Southern Plate!) so I looked up translations of “cabinet” in different languages to see if I could come up with a fancier way of saying it but didn’t get anywhere there.
~watches as the cat dumps over an entire box of packing peanuts and sighs while she continues to type~
Now I am looking at Indian names that mean “beautiful” or “fruitful” or “Happiness” and such, but I still have your list of comments close at hand and I think once I get moved in one of those will jump out and take claim to the house (much like Bill Gent said it would).
Our internet is going to be turned on at the new house tomorrow as well so I shouldn’t have to do without (or go into withdrawal). The kids are thrilled and two of their cousins are also coming over from Georgia so this should be a grand christening to the new place – kids abound!
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I REALLY hope you get to try these salads soon! When my mother had her car accident (see impossible coconut pie post) she was bedridden for about six weeks. She ate two of these salads every day as a special treat. They were actually all she wanted to eat but she settled for two ~grins~.
They are so nice to have on hand in the summer time. Your guests will be impressed with such a delicious treat and you’ll love being able to present them with so little effort! I always make a double batch so I don’t run out too quickly! The husband has been known to make multiple trips to the freezer on a regular basis whenever they reside within!
Gratefully,
Christy
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Hello there, fellow southerner. I found your blog from the Foodie Blogroll!
There aren’t many of us southern food bloggers around. I can’t wait to come back and compare recipes with you!
I am so glad you stopped by! Your blog is fabulous! May I add it to my list of favorites? I love how you’ve been “making do” with things on hand, I try to do that as much as possible.
Your recipes will always humble mine!
Love it..super simple and delish!
Thanks for you comment on my blog today! As always, thanks for stopping by!
Hello Christy. You have a very pretty site. There is something so gracious about southern cooks. Your site reflects that. I bought this book called “Tea Party” by Tracy Stern and it is just so beautiful, I love it. Thanks for sharing your southern hospitality.
Wow, those look great! Simple and fruity and delicious. Definitely going to try that!
Oooh Stephanie, they are soooooo easy and really impressive in taste! I just love having these on hand!
Thank you for commenting!! If I could, I would send you over a batch!
You’ve just been tagged! Instructions are posted on my blog. I hope you will play along. Mmmm… good ole summer food. Gonna have to try this recipe, my fellow Foodie Blogroll person.
That sounds really good! A southern tea room sounds like a great place to be. I used to live in AL, but we had an apartment, so no tea room
Christine: Thank you! I’m on it!!
Katie: I just love your name..~gushes for a moment~ I have a little Katy, who made her grand entrance on my apple pie tutorial I believe (in pics). I wish I could pass these salads out to y’all!!
thank you for stopping by and hope you come back often!
Thanks for your kind comments on my red velvet cupcake post!!
Hello I am jaishree from India. I found your blog from the food buzz!!! Your blog is fabulous! those look great! Simple and fruity and delicious. I love your blog very clear instructions…Thanks for sharing wonderful recepies…
Teresa, that sounds like a great book!! I have a few southern tearoom cookbooks and always love them! Thank YOU for stopping by! Please come back anytime and let me know if you have any recipes you are looking for!
Myviews:
India! WOW! I can’t believe I have an international readership now! I am so very glad you stopped by, please come back often and let me know if you have any questions at all!
Yes, yes! Put me on your favorites! You’re already on mine. I make simple stuff, too…sometimes LOL
Isn’t it amazing the places people are that read your blog?! It amazes me every day.
Thank you, Nikki!
I added you to my list! Sorry it took me so long to get back to you, been a busy day!!!
I look forward to keeping in touch, I just love your posts!
~Christy
Hi Christy this is Lou Ann.
Remember me? I’m your Mom’s quilting buddy. I can’t wait to try this recipe. This is going to be part of my lunch menu for the ladies of my quilting class followed by Elvis Presley cake. Making my own chicken salad recipe just a bit different from yours. I like a little celery, almond slivers, grapes and of course mayo! A friend had made the Elvis cake for a dinner at church Sunday it was a raving success! You are just becoming quite the celebrity. Imagine how shocked they were when I told them I knew you when! LOL Just nothing like good ole “southern cooking”!
My grandmother makes this without the bananas but since I LOVE bananas and have never thought to add them I’m definitely going to have to try it your way. I remember when I was little we’d all go over to my grandma’s house (we call her Mama Pat) for the holidays and she’d have this- we called it ‘the frozen stuff’, lol, and weren’t big fans because it had all sorts of blobby bits (the whole cranberries). Now that I’m older I can appreciate blobby bits more and this was what my dad made for me when he came to visit after my daughter was born. I always remember my big manly dad squishing up cranberry sauce in my little kitchen with a scared look in his eye as I sat with my newborn baby girl watching him. I’m pretty sure he was terrified I was gonna toss her to him or something…or maybe just snap a picture of him cooking.
Thanks for the recipe and the trip down memory lane, I hope my rambling wasn’t too convoluted I just always enjoy when you share your special stories and hoped to even the trade =)
THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU DO. I CAN NOT WAIT TO TRY THIS RECIPE. MY SON GRADUATED FROM USF LAST SATURDAY AND I MADE THE MANDARINE ORANGE CAKE. I LICKED THE SPOON WHEN I WAS DONE MAKING IT AND I COULD NOT WAIT TO TRY IT. IT WAS REALLY HARD TO WAIT THE 3 DAYS. IT TURNED OUT FABULOUS. YOUR RECIPES ARE BEING PASSED DOWN TO MY FAMILY AND HAVE MADE SO MANY WONDERFUL MEMORIES FOR US. I APPRECIATE ALL THAT YOU DO. AGAIN THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH
I still say to name the house “Fred”. Oh well,maybe you can name the 3 swimming pool gardens “Fred, Ethel and Little Ricky”
Good Luck with all the moving, truly wish I was there to help yall but especially, just to harass the fire outta ya, since I take such joy in it. Seriously, I hope it goes well so you can get back online soon.
The salad looks cool and refreshing and I am anxious to try it. Best wishes on the move and getting settled in to what will soon feel like home. Take a deep breath and think of how nice it is all going to be.
Hi Christy,
Your pretend husband Daniel directed me to this site. I like it. I visited tea rooms while vacationing in England and they are very elegant but very relaxing and the food is delicious.
I like the recipe for the cranberry banana salad. I do have one suggestion. You may want to offer a button to print a “printer friendly” version of the recipe for those of us who do not need the step by step illustrations–which are GREAT–when and if you need them. Like when trussing a chicken…
Anyway, great site!
Hey Candy! Welcome! Its so great to have you here!
I actually send out printer friendly versions of all of my posted recipes to my email subscribers to help them out a bit. Unfortunately, It seems to take me forever to get them in pdf format because I don’t have the good pdf writer on my computer so I have to email them to my hubby and get him to do it and…well yeah there is a long winded story behind that! lol I stay so busy though that I usually send them out about once or twice a month although my original goal was once a week!
If I ever get my head above water I would do it more regularly but Southern Plate is growing by leaps and bounds and its all I can do to keep up with the emails! A good problem to have though!!!
I hope you come back often! Its GREAT to have you here!!!
Gratefully,
Christy
Looks yummy and so pretty on the Jadeite. You realize that you listed the optional nuts twice, don’t you?
I might try this as a semi-healthy treat for myself. Have you ever made them with Splenda?
Hey Sonya! I haven’t made them with splenda but it would work just fine in this! great idea!
Christy,
I have just spent the most enjoyable rainy Saturday morning reading your blog and drooling over your recipes! I too am a dyed in the wool, mama trained Southern cook who likes nothing better than to have about 25 – 40 people over for potato salad, green beans (cooked all day),ham, chicken casserole, cakes and pies. In fact, my beautiful 23 year old daughter Martha is maybe going to be the best cook of the past 3 generations of women in my family. Southern cooking and fellowship is my passion – there is not better way to show people they are loved. Just wanted to say thank you!
Sherry Manley
Guntersville, AL
I can hardly wait to try these and have some of my girlfriends over for a gal fest out on the deck. Thank you so much for the recipes and the stories Christy! Hope you have a very happy Mother’s day and good luck with the move.
~Blessings, Pam
My mom used to make these all the time, except she uses canned bing cherries instead of cranberry sauce! She also adds pecans and leaves the bananas sliced. I can’t wait to try this version! These were my favorite summer dessert as a kid, but I haven’t ever made them myself. I need to fix that!!
Delicious! Perfect warm weather treat!
I subsituted fat free greek yogurt for the sour cream and everyone just LOVED them. Perfect for BBQ get togethers because it makes a lot!
My Grandmother used to make this (sans-cranberries) for us all the time. I loved it, and I never knew where she got the recipe. My grandmother always served it with a slice of lettuce underneath!
Thanks for letting me re-live this favorite. I may try to make it myself!
This was a big hit. We were fixing this for our dinner. The family loved it. The grandsons did, too. I have shared this recipe with my friends. Also gave them your url. Glad I found you on WAAYTV in Huntsville. I like the pictures you give with the recipe directions.
Good Morning!
I stumbled across this website quite by accident and I am thrilled! I joined up immediately. The recipes so far appear to be right up my alley, I can’t wait to start cooking. One question though – is there any way I can print just the recipe from my computer, instead of the entire (20+) pages? Thanks!
Beth aka dawgsmama
Hey Beth! I’m so thrilled to have you here, thank you!!!
Absolutely, you can print just the recipe. See my FAQ page here,
http://www.southernplate.com/faq for instructions. It’s the first question I answer on there!
I hope this helps! Thank you so much!
Gratefully,
Christy