Some of the best holiday recipes can bring a lot of happy and cherished times for families as well as many memorable moments.

Teacher Steve Reitman shares some enjoyable moments he has had during his childhood and how family recipes and shared meals during the holidays make memories. 

 “When I was growing up as a kid, my mom made this brisket with potato pancakes. That was one of my favorite things that we had because we celebrate Hanukkah. And so it’s just one of those traditional things that we… had every year for the Hanukkah holiday. It was just there was beef brisket with homemade potato pancakes and [it was] really good,” said Reitman. The sharing of these recipes have made an impact on his life in positive ways and can start new traditions. Reitman has some of his own family traditions and enjoys them still during the holiday times with his family at the dinner table.  

“I don’t cook a lot myself, but … for Thanksgiving, I’m a big believer in making my own cranberry sauce. I don’t like getting stuff out of cans…It’s the one kind of [time of the year] that makes something a little more special, so I have a recipe … I get fresh cranberries,” said Reitman.

Reitman with this recipe is showing how it tends to be more enjoyable if you make a recipe from scratch because it will show someone that you care and that is especially appreciated during the holidays.

Another person who has had recipes impact their holidays is a senior at Grayslake Central. Brandon Munoz has a lot of meals with his family as well as people that are close to him. 

“My family always makes tamales, and they make a sort of stew. And basically, we eat tamales like every day for the next week after Christmas. And like desserts, we have a dessert called flan. It’s sort of like cheesecake, like a Hispanic cheesecake.” states Munoz. The recipes that Munoz enjoys with his family are important to him during the holidays because he has had a lot of cheerful times while eating these foods.

Try a new recipe to make some new traditions during winter break. Here’s a recipe for fresh cranberry sauce like Reitman makes!