“That relative” at Thanksgiving

[alisoncooks]

16 minutes ago, unsinkable said:

My dad used to pour milk on jello. I thought it was weird until I tried it. 

Then when I got older, and did Atkins...I found out a sugar free jello with a hit of cream was even more awesome than regular jello with milk.

Makes sense. Whipped cream is delicious on jello. Same difference. 😂

[Jaybee]

2 hours ago, unsinkable said:

mayonaisse.

J/K

HAHAHA...no, I'm guessing she meant dressing like the bread side dish "dressing" that is also sometimes called stuffing

Oh gross gross gross! 😂 Yes, I mean stuffing that isn't stuffed, otherwise known as dressing.

[Jaybee]

2 hours ago, Just Kate said:

I was doing the EXACT same thing! My family’s cranberry salad also has jello in it. But boy, is it good!!! I don’t eat any other jello though and honestly, I never even considered my mom’s cranberry salad to be in the “jello family”. It is though. 
 

And yes, that cranberry salad alongside the dressing is just so yum!

Yes, yes it is! And that's pretty much the only thing I ever make with jello, though my boys (and dh) do like it.

[TechWife]

10 hours ago, Matryoshka said:

My MIL also referred to jello as 'salad'.  It was the only 'salad' she served at holiday meals.  Green jello mould with mysterious probably fruit-cocktail-from-a-can floating in it.

Yum! My mom made this recipe for years! I love it & miss it. I know it has lime jell-o mix, a drained can of fruit cocktail, small marshmallows and walnuts. There is something else in it that I can't remember - it lightens the color of the jell-o. It's not cream cheese. I wonder if it's Cool Whip?

[Frances]

3 hours ago, TechWife said:

Yum! My mom made this recipe for years! I love it & miss it. I know it has lime jell-o mix, a drained can of fruit cocktail, small marshmallows and walnuts. There is something else in it that I can't remember - it lightens the color of the jell-o. It's not cream cheese. I wonder if it's Cool Whip?

Very likely. Recipes with jello and Cool Whip are huge in the part of the Midwest where I grew up. While I no longer like it or eat it, my favorite jello salad as a kid was made with orange jello, tapioca, Cool Whip, and mandarin oranges. From what I recall, many jello salads and desserts had similar components.

[klmama]

Pistachio Fluff or Watergate Salad.  Pistachio Jell-o (Eta: apparently, it's pudding, not gelatin), Cool Whip, drained crushed pineapple, chopped pecans, and marshmallows.  Delicious.  It always surprises me how much I like it.

Edited December 4, 2019 by klmama

[unsinkable]

5 hours ago, klmama said:

Pistachio Fluff or Watergate Salad.  Pistachio Jell-o, Cool Whip, drained crushed pineapple, chopped pecans, and marshmallows.  Delicious.  It always surprises me how much I like it.

Pistachio Jello is pudding, not gelatin. It is a brand, not the ingredient.

But the "salad" is a family favorite. My nieces and nephews who are like the Herdman kids always call it the "green sh!t." Affectionately, and Herdman-like as in... "Aunt Unsinkable...that better be the green sh!t in that bowl."

[alisoncooks]

I love that this has morphed into a discussion on Jello salads. 😄

Ironically, I made a jello fluff to take to Thanksgiving this year. Never have done so before, and it's usually not on the menu. My MIL had never had this variation before and loved it so much that I left all leftovers of it with her. She even texted me after we left, to tell me how much she liked it, lol. (It was the orange jello, cottage cheese, cool whip, pineapple, mandarin orange type.)

[klmama]

2 hours ago, unsinkable said:

Pistachio Jello is pudding, not gelatin. 

No wonder I like it!  ☺

[teachermom2834]

Yes please keep the jello “salad” discussion rolling. I have been on these boards some 15 years or so?? and this is definitely the best thread I have ever started. So keep it rolling.

Next year I am going to assign my brother jello salad and see how that goes. 

[unsinkable]

13 minutes ago, klmama said:

No wonder I like it!  ☺

yeah, I think pudding is completely different than gelatin (Jello). But I love both.

HOWEVER...if I had to choose one, I'd choose pudding. Butterscotch. 

[unsinkable]

Just now, teachermom2834 said:

Yes please keep the jello “salad” discussion rolling. I have been on these boards some 15 years or so?? and this is definitely the best thread I have ever started. So keep it rolling.

Next year I am going to assign my brother jello salad and see how that goes. 

rollin' rollin' rollin'

keep the jello rollin'

sal-ad...

[cjzimmer1]

I keep wondering if the people who object to the use of jello salad because it's not a "salad" also have a problem with a fruit salad.  I mean it's still a mixture of non vegetable foods.  Miriam's Dictionary even includes a definition of salad as small pieces of food (such as pasta, meat, fruit, or vegetables) usually mixed with a dressing (such as mayonnaise) or set in gelatin or a usually incongruous mixture either of which would apply to jello salad.

Anyways, I'm not fond of plain jello unless I'm sick (and then we usually drink it before it sets up because it's very soothing on sore throats).  But for holidays, we always have a jello salad.  The original version was called Honeymoon Salad and had lime jello, cream cream, canned pineapple and whip cream stirred together.  I don't like lime so I've modified it to strawberry jello (or sometimes blackberry) and I usually use sugared strawberries in place of the pineapple (but this year I was out of strawberries so used frozen peaches in orange juice syrup).  My sister who always says she doesn't like jello informed me she like the peach version better than the strawberry version.  I laugh because despite her telling me every year that she doesn't like jello, she eats my jello salad every year knowing full well it's jello.

[catz]

16 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

Yes please keep the jello “salad” discussion rolling. I have been on these boards some 15 years or so?? and this is definitely the best thread I have ever started. So keep it rolling.

Next year I am going to assign my brother jello salad and see how that goes. 

Be sure to assign him a very specific recipe in a particular dish in true Marney style.     😂

[Slache]

47 minutes ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I keep wondering if the people who object to the use of jello salad because it's not a "salad" also have a problem with a fruit salad.  I mean it's still a mixture of non vegetable foods.  Miriam's Dictionary even includes a definition of salad as small pieces of food (such as pasta, meat, fruit, or vegetables) usually mixed with a dressing (such as mayonnaise) or set in gelatin or a usually incongruous mixture either of which would apply to jello salad.

Anyways, I'm not fond of plain jello unless I'm sick (and then we usually drink it before it sets up because it's very soothing on sore throats).  But for holidays, we always have a jello salad.  The original version was called Honeymoon Salad and had lime jello, cream cream, canned pineapple and whip cream stirred together.  I don't like lime so I've modified it to strawberry jello (or sometimes blackberry) and I usually use sugared strawberries in place of the pineapple (but this year I was out of strawberries so used frozen peaches in orange juice syrup).  My sister who always says she doesn't like jello informed me she like the peach version better than the strawberry version.  I laugh because despite her telling me every year that she doesn't like jello, she eats my jello salad every year knowing full well it's jello.

Yes. The dictionary is wrong.

[Jaybee]

Ya'll are bringing up all kinds of childhood memories of deliciousness! 😄 Church potlucks, big family get-togethers, etc. My mom didn't make too many of these jello concoctions, but she had a congealed strawberry salad that was/is always a winner. My favorite when I was a child was one she made with black cherry jello and canned cherries. (Or was that cherry jello with canned black cherries maybe?) 

[katilac]

3 hours ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I keep wondering if the people who object to the use of jello salad because it's not a "salad" also have a problem with a fruit salad.  

I don't object to people using the phrase 'jello salad,' I object to them using the single word 'salad' and then plopping gelatin on my plate. I've never encountered the use of 'salad' for fruit salad, both words are always used. 

If dh's grandma had asked if I wanted jello salad, my whole day would have gone much better. 

Edited December 3, 2019 by katilac

[KungFuPanda]

On 12/1/2019 at 9:59 PM, school17777 said:

This reminds me of a meal at my dad’s and stepmom’s.  She assigned me to bring au gratin potatoes from a specific recipe that she emailed to me.  When I brought the dish in, the only thing she said was, “This is au gratin potatoes and NOT scalloped potatoes, right?”  Like there is something terribly wrong with scalloped potatoes.  I don’t even know the difference, I’d have to compare recipes.

 

"Yes, not-my-mom, I'm on a quest to ruin Thanksgiving in such a subtle way that only YOU will notice and decided that scalloped potatoes would accomplish that goal."

I'm pretty sure that cheese is the only difference and that people use the titles interchangeably.

On 12/2/2019 at 1:10 PM, Sallie Mae said:

The dear older couple who introduced me to my husband treated us like family. One of the most thoughtful wedding gifts we received was from the wife. She hand wrote out all of her favorite recipes and put them in a little recipe binder. In the salad section was one of her favorites "Green Jello Salad" with walnuts and other stuff in it. She also gave us a green Tupperware  jello mold that matched the one she used when she made it. The color of the Tupperware mold was the same sea foam green color of the jello when done. 🤣 

I have gotten rid of the Tupperware mold, but I will keep the recipe binder. I love seeing her handwriting - it reminds me of times gone by. Who knows, maybe Jello Salad will become popular again? Look at how popular 80's and 90's fashions are now. 😂

 

My Mamaw gave me her cranberry salad mold when she stopped cooking.  Her recipe was like a cranberry relish but with a packet of gelatin so it would hold it's shape.  You still have to cook cranberries but you can't use fresh pineapple.  It IS prettier on a holiday table in that cute scalloped shape with a star on top, but I rarely make it that way.

[Frances]

How Jello Molds Claimed Their Spot on the American Table

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/25/dining/jello-mold.html?action=click&module=Editors Picks&pgtype=Homepage

I thought of this thread when I saw this article today. It actually contains quite a bit of history about jello molds and salads. The article also reminded me of my other favorite jello salad as a kid, orange jello with grated carrots and crushed pineapple.

Edited December 5, 2019 by Frances

[happi duck]

My grandma always made orange jello with mandarin oranges.  I hadn't thought of that in ages!

[daijobu]

All this talk about American "salad" culture reminded me of the first half of this old SNL video with Lin Manuel Miranda:

 

"Yeah, the Americans eat something called "Marshmallow Salad." Marshmallow Salad! No vegetables, just marshmallow! "