Sunday, July 06, 2008

Simple, Cheap and Versatile...Jell-O

Who knew that Jell-O could be added to so many dishes?


My mom gave me her Jell-O cookbook, "The New Joys of Jell-O," that she received as a wedding gift in 1973. I'm figuring 1973 was smack dab in the middle of the great Jell-O boom, because according to this WHACK cookbook, you can add Jell-O to basically anything.

Don't believe it?

How about a stunning Salad Nicoise - as seen on page 67? The ingredient list: tuna, tomato, green beans, olives, green peppers, onions, hard boiled egg, lettuce, mayo, cream, anchovy and the seemingly secret ingredient...Lemon Jell-O! I'm imagining it to be the glue that holds the whole dish together. Those who threw up a little bit in their mouths, please raise their hand. (Yeah, me too.)

My favorite chapter happens to be "Things You Never Thought Of" because, really - the whole book should be titled that! I'm not going to spill the beans too much, but I'm thinking that it might be fun to host a little Jell-O party. I mean, this cookbook pretty much has a 5 course meal planned out, including appetizers. I'll blame it on having a broken oven. Dare me?

4 comments:

Ruby Bleu said...

OMG...this is too crazy for words! I totally think you should try it and have the pizza delivery # near by. A friend several years ago told me about veggie jell-o...I didn't believe her. Now I do.

If you try anything, we need to see photos!

Michele

Arlene Delloro said...

I made an antipasto for dinner tonight and, forgive me, I just don't know if lemon jello--or any other flavor--would have enhanced it in any way. It may be that the Greeks are way ahead of us. I took a Mediterranean cruise quite a few years back and on their midnight buffet they had a jello salad. Lemon jello with sliced hot dogs in it; I kid you not!

Anonymous said...

YIKES, I'm scared ... and yes I do remember being served jello with veggies in it ... YUK!

Denise
http://WineFoodPairing.blogspot.com

Stephanie said...

That is definitely one of the most unique recipes for Jell-O I've ever seen. You should try it, just for fun! Though I agree with Ruby Bleu - have a backup plan!