Good Golly and Heavens to Betsy! It has been a while since I posted a jell-o creation, hasn't it? Thanks for your patience as it has been a little crazy in my world. But alas! I did recently find the time to whip up a very interesting salad from the 1972 Pennsylvania Grange Cookbook.
And boy, oh boy - What a reminder that 1972 was a really special year for retro recipes...
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| ~LEGIT~ |
OK. You Guys. First can I just say - THIS COOKBOOK. Oh my lawd. I can't even.
There are over 1,500 retro recipes submitted and compiled by rural housewives and farmers residing in 66 counties of Pennsylvania. This is the REAL DEAL. Let me tell you that these ladies are not playing around. The cookbook is JAMMED with over 500 pages of retro cooking awesomeness. I get light-headed just thinking about it.
So you can expect to see many, many more jello adventures from this cookbook. But for now, we begin with...
When I began working on this salad, my biggest quesrion was - I wonder what color it will turn out to be?? That was very exciting to imagine. The ingredients came together quite easily. But - as always this step resembles something that you might find in the halls of a pre-school during the stomach flu season.
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| Ew. |
I decided to use my heart shaped mold since Valentine's Day is coming up...
As you can see, there is nothing better than opening up the refrigerator door to find a heart shaped jello mold doing its thing.
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| Love is in the Air |
The unmolding was pretty simple. No layers, no frills. So that's always a relief. I was actually a bit disappointed in the color, though. I expected it to be brighter. Like toxic waste, or something. But the chunks of red cherry and specks of brown chopped nuts really added a flair to the presentation of the seafoam green delight. Dontcha think?
To be honest, I had my doubts about this one. But there was no avoiding this next step. That's just how we roll - If you have come this far, you gotta go all the way. So slice off a big slab and take a bite.
Oh - by the way, that cherry fell out of the mold when I sliced it. So I picked it up from the floor and used it as a garnish. Yep. I am classy.
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| Here We Go! |
THE VERDICT: Totally, 100% completely tasty! In fact this may be the best mold I have made yet! Or perhaps I was just happy to eat something that didn't make me gag a little. Who knows.
