Sunday, May 13, 2012

Mayonnaise Makes the Salad Creamy

The geniuses at Jell-O thought of everything.  Seriously, I’m pretty sure the last thing you think to suspend in Jell-O is lima beans and they came up with that one.  In the “Crown Jewel Dessert” recipe you actually suspend cubes of Jell-O in more Jell-O. Man, that's so meta…




In The Joys of Jell-O, one of my favorite 
vintage cookbooks, there are lots of recipes 
with mainstay ingredients like pineapple tidbits 
and miniature marshmallows.  But if you’re 
going to devote an entire cookbook to 
Jell-O, you need to get creative. Here’s a 
list of tasty ingredients spotted in various 
recipes:



¾ cup Post Grape Nuts cereal
¾ cup finely cut cooked prunes
1 bottle (7 oz.) cola beverage
1 avocado
Marshmallow-Mayonnaise Topping
Horseradish
Shredded Cabbage
Tabasco Sauce
¼ cup chopped dill pickle
1 ½ cups chopped spinach
Barbecue Cubes
¾ cup drained sliced pickled beets
pickled herring
1 can (1lb.) whole kernel corn
2 bouillon cubes

I wish I wrote this cookbook.  Then, not only could I have developed and eaten a bunch of Jell-O concoctions, I could’ve written descriptions like this:

The fruits for this dazzler are available any season of the year. (Orange and Grape Duo)

This tasty salad is a lovely luncheon entrée with cold cuts and hot muffins. (Waldorf Mold)


A tart mold of grapefruit perks up the most humdrum lunch or dinner.
(Grapefruit Salad)

The sunshine of the West is reflected in this delightful salad creation. (California Fruit Salad)

This tasty salad is economical in cost, but there’s no shortage of flavor. (Penny-Wise Salad)

An easy way to glamorize inexpensive canned pear halves. (Cardinal Pear Mold)

A colorful jewel of a salad that will crown your meal regally. (Cauliflower Radish Salad)

A charming finale to a meal. (Apricot Bavarian Cream) 




I think my lifelong wish to come up with paint color names is eclipsed by my desire to title Jell-O mold recipes.  Here are some of my favorites from The Joys of Jell-O:

Creamy Freeze

Ice Cream Party Dessert

Cherry Cheese Charmer

Ring-Around-the-Fruit

Ring-Around-the-Tuna

Fruited Perfection

Three-Fruit Fantasy

Under the Sea Salad

Hawaiian Eyeful

Supper Salad


Also, if anyone needs to name a cat, there is:

Orange Frost

Ribbon Loaf

Cooky Stacks

Frosty Melon

Everyone, I present to you my cat, Cooky Stacks:



 The Joys of Jell-O, indeed!