Yum! Summertime Jell-O Salads

The 'Jello Salad' was totally one of my moves. It was best without the Puddin'.

Yuck! White trash food.

Girls, the eternal crowd pleaser : 'Frosted Orange Salad'

'Pineapple, bananas and marshmallows are folded into orange Jell-O in this refreshing salad. Frosted with a creamy topping, pecans and coconut'

Frosted Chicken Salad.

The grapes lend an air of sophistication to this easy-breazy summertime staple

I've never had a Jell-O "Salad", but the examples here look disgusting. They look as if Richard Simmons vomited a dessert. Why do they call them "salads"?

What should they be called R5 ? Pies?

How about just Jell-O [followed by modifier]?

Those examples look horrible.

Jello Salads can be very good though. My mother made one called Watergate Salad and her sister made one called Jello Pretzel Salad.

They were delicious. Both women have passed now and I'd love to sample those again.

[quote] Both women have passed now and I'd love to sample those again.

You'd like to taste the corpses of your mother and aunt?

I wouldn't call this stuff food.

[quote]My mother made one called Watergate Salad

It was all Martha Mitchell ate before she was shipped back to NY.

The pretzel salad with cream cheese was always a staple at our midwestern holiday meals. I have not eaten Jello since I moved away 20 years ago. I associate it with nurseries and nursing homes.

A refined beetroot and vodka jelly salad, with mackerel and horseradish, for the snobs among us

A dessert not a salad (I am a rebel and never follow rules) but it does contain Jell-O, mix roughly equal parts of jelled jell-O and vanilla ice cream in a blender, mix completely then refrigerate until the mixture is jelled again, very tasty, has the consistency of pudding, I have only done this with Strawberry Jell-O my favorite but no reason it wouldn't work on any flavor.

I love Watergate salad. It's one of those tried and true recipes that every respectable hostess should have in her repertoire.

R2 It's NOT white trash food. It may be white food, I'll give you that, but Jello salads were on every table of the middle and upper middle class in the 60's and well into the 70s.

Cottage cheese, pineapple chunks and chopped salted walnuts folded in to Lime Jello.

Yum.

If you're having the President and First Lady over to your house, or you just want to impress your family, a sophisticated and exotic jell-o salad is black cherry jell-o with canned black cherries and pecans. It's always a showstopper.

R16 speaks the truth. I have known of several upper-class (not just upper-middle-class) families who could buy and sell all of us, who like jello salads/desserts;whatever you call them.

R19 Yup. My mother was a Junior League, DAR, country club golf playing woman of leisure, and her repertoire of Jello salads could fill a small book. They were mostly sweet, but there were a few savory as well. She did a tomato aspic-y thing with a lemon jello base which had seafood in it all molded in one of those salmon copper molds. It could be either a light luncheon entree, or served with small melba rounds as a drinks nibble.

You know R20 is *really* "country club" because he says "drinks nibble."

Is this an American thing? Do they eat this stuff in Europe? I was raised by a grandmother from Italy. We never had this stuff. We knew what Jello was, but we never ate it. My husband is from the Mid-west. Apparently, jello is traditional out there.

My mother's friend used to make a salad with lime jello, sour cream, and pineapple chunks. Also, she made the same recipe with orange jello and mandarin orange segments. I searched and searched but couldn't find the recipe - until one of you dolls posted it here for me. The orange version has made many appearances since.

[quote] lime jello, sour cream, and pineapple chunks

Reading that makes one wonder whether it's actually edible.

Ready to vomit....thanks DL.

R23, could you be talking about Divinity Salad? It has lime jello, cottage cheese or cream cheese, pineapple, nuts and Cool Whip. It was on every midwest church basement potluck table in the 70s.

Divinity salad is probably the second worst thing that can happen to you in a church basement.

You're all kidding about eating this shit, aren't you? Like R22, I was raised in an Italian cooking and eating tradition (thank you, Lina!), and I never had anything like this at home.

Gotta love the food snobs slumming it on Datalounge.LOL

I'll bring the nut mold.

I vaguely remember something with lime Jell-O and cabbage. Found this 5-star (!) recipe but I don't think the version I had contained pineapple. Actually, with sugar-free Jell-O and no pineapple this would be very low carb/low cal.

I like Jell-O but if it involves vegetables or meat then no thanks.

Gelatin, sugar or artificial sweetener, artificial color and artificial flavor. I'm sorry but it's junk "food."

You don't have to be a "food snob" to recognize this "food" as shit, R29.

R21 I may not be *country club* but my mother sure was.

'Flummery Eggs and Bacon' was a fashionable choice for the wealthy in the eighteenth century .

The eggs and bacon sat on a bed of green jello, meant to represent spinach.

Theodore Garrett's Encyclopaedia of Practical Cookery from 1892 gave the recipe for these fruit flavoured jelly bombes on a bed of crystallized fruit. Spherical jellies and creams were very fashionable between 1860 and the First World War. They were made in little two part moulds called ballette or bombe moulds.

Jello was the first fabricated foodstuff I ever encountered. Hated it. Still do.

Not a food snob. Some of us come from different traditions and ate very differently growing up. Those habits tend to stick with a person in adulthood.

My mother used to make lime Jell-O with canned pear halves,then topped with a dressing made of cream cheese and strawberry jam (thinned with milk.) It was pretty good.

At Thanksgiving I make one with raspberry Jell-O, canned whole cranberry sauce, crushed pineapple, and walnuts, also with a cream cheese dressing.

Is there a I guess fancy version of Gelatin?

I loved how my grandmother made peaches suspended in Jello. As a little kid I thought it was mystical. I'd just stare at it forever until it started to melt and she'd yell "Eat it!"

One of my favorite Jello things was to make it extra thick with less water and cut it into candy like squares.

What I want to know is why most hospitals always give lime gelatin when cherry or strawberry is most people's favorite or even orange but how many prefer green lime flavor?

R41, there's aspic, but I have no idea when it was last popular. 40s? 50s? Maybe it's due for a comeback.

The most modern "fancy" gelatin-like things would probably be the sodium alginate applications used in molecular gastronomy. For a short (and awful) time it was considered high art to make liquid olives and anything and everything formed into spheres.

Similar spheres are available as "popping boba" in tea shops and as a frozen yogurt topping at pay-by-the-ounce places, so they're pretty much done for.

I'm making that jello/strawberry thing, but I just have to make a freshly whipped Chantilly cream to fold in, maybe with a bit or marscapone or creme fraiche to hold it firm. I used to love Cool Whip, but I think it would taste less fresh than real cream.

That's why I love being an Uncle. My nieces and nephew think I'm a great cook, and love what I make for them.

General Foods published a Jell-O cookbook called the JOY OF JELL-O, with a selection on Jell-O salad.

I wasn't much of a Jell-O salad eater, but I loved broken glass Jell-0 that my mom would make with black cherry, lime and cherry Jell-)

Reading R3, I could hear the voice of the announcer who read the recipes in commercials on Kraft Music Hall TV specials when I was growing up. My sisters and I used to mock the pronunciation of "miniature" as in "Fold in Kraft Min-e-a-tyure marshmallows...

I was from an upper middle class family in the 60s/70s, never encountering Jello salad. Would've been considered trashy. Plain Jello with Cool Whip - period.

Forgot to mention I like lime Jello, orange second.

R47 I am guessing that you are from a state north of the Mason Dixon line, yes? Trust me, in southern states, Jello salads were very present at the tables of the haute bourgeoisie.

Crushed pineapple, shredded carrots and pecan pieces in orange Jello. My grandmother made this one all the time and I loved it.

Someone asked why hospitals don't serve cherry or strawberry Jello: if a patient vomits or passes something red, they need to know it's blood, not Jello. (Just a guess there.)

I'm surprised none of you connasses de la haute bourgeoisie haven't mentioned Jell-O's fancy cousin, tomato aspic.

The first time it was presented to me--red and gelatinous topped with a decorative swirl of mayo, on a frilly lettuce leaf--I thought, "I cannot eat this."

I was wrong then, and later in a similar situation.

R23, it wasn't Divinity Salad. I have listed the ingredients below. For the orange version just use orange jello and canned mandarin orange segments.

1 (3 oz.) pkg. lime or lemon gelatin (Jello) 1/2 tsp. salt 1 c. boiling water 1 (13 1/2 oz.) can crushed pineapple 2 tbsp. lemon juice 1 c. sour cream

Ugh, meant R26. I'm R23

THERE'S ALWAYS ROOM FOR JELLO!

These were a product of the 50s and 60s, when people from a broad slice of life from the "paycheck to paycheck" to the well-off but w/o servants would have happily used packaged foods to whip up meals. No buffet would have been complete without a green bean casserole or something similar prepared with a Campbell's soup base and at least one of these jello salads. I think WWII shortages forced people to get creative with packaged foods and these were a step up from the improvisation of the war years and "modern" in that they included nuts and things like pineapple that would have been luxuries (even canned) during the war. They began to die out in the 80s and a younger generation developed its own cliches like spinach dip in a blob of sourdough bread.

I remember seeing aspic in a can in obscure parts of the canned food aisle--that was even in the 70s.

The only things I miss from the old days is 3 bean salad and the carved out watermelons with balls of watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe. My guess is that the usual bean/corn salad with tortilla chips is a descendent of the 3 bean salad, although the latter is worth having on its own.

[quote]No buffet would have been complete without a green bean casserole or something similar prepared with a Campbell's soup base and at least one of these jello salads.

I never even heard of that green bean casserole until I moved to Flyovia in 1999, and it was presented as something "everyone" eats on Thanksgiving. Hadn't even heard of it.

I was never served a Jello salad at home in my entire life. And it is hard to be more mid-century, age-wise, than I am.

As a little boy, I loved how Luby's cafeteria would serve brightly-colored jell-o cut into small cubes in the salad section. I thought it looked so pretty.

[quote] What I want to know is why most hospitals always give lime gelatin when cherry or strawberry is most people's favorite

It's a leftover from the days of Red Dye hysteria.

[quote] Hadn't even heard of it.

Me either. Never heard of, let alone saw green bean casserole, yet have been vehemently called a damned dirty liar on Datalounge by those who cannot believe there are parts of America where lots of canned food concoctions were not a staple. I never saw green bean casserole in a tv ad until the last 10 years or so.

We never had any casseroles -- another thing Dataloungers cannot believe is possible. We had Campbell's soup, but we ate it as soup. We had Campbell's tomato soup as one of our meatless Friday meals, with grilled cheese or tuna sandwiches. We had Campbell's chicken soup when we were sick. But my mother didn't even own a casserole dish. We thought those Kraft commercials were a joke and that nobody really ate that stuff, like macaroni made with milk, cheese, hot dogs and marshmallows. We always looked forward to the commercials for Kraft theater. Was Hollywood Bowl a Kraft show? I seem to remember Kraft commercials during that show.

We ate very plain food. We were working class and my mother was not adventurous in the kitchen. Roast chicken, potatoes. pork chops (cooked in sauerkraut, but served separately), spaghetti, green beans, more potatoes, corn on the cob. My father forbade peas at dinner because of something traumatic. Not sure what.

I would have eaten spaghetti and meatballs 7 days a week, given a choice. It wasn't Chef Boyardi. My mother made the sauce from the recipe on the ronzoni box. It seemed to be simmering on the stove all day

R46 That would be me.

[quote]What I want to know is why most hospitals always give lime gelatin when cherry or strawberry is most people's favorite or even orange but how many prefer green lime flavor?

The population of Utah, apparently.

[quote]Salt Lake City is America's Jell-O-eating capital. Every man, woman and child in Salt Lake City buys two boxes of the stuff annually, or twice the national average, says Mary Jane Kinkade of Jell-O brand gelatin-maker Kraft Foods. Utah residents also eat twice as much lime Jell-O as anyone else on the planet.

Popping in to say that while I haven't read this thread yet, I haven't hit the ignore button yet either.

When I get a chance I'll pop back in.

Hope it is worth the wait.

R46 I still have my copy of the Joys of Jello, and while I have not used it it many years, I bet that I have made every recipe in the pamphlet at least once.

R62, let the following be a warning, a parable if you will.

My dear departed grandfather was a fan of light opera, in particular The Three Tenors. When they gave a concert in Hyde Park , London in the 1980's, he bought the VHS cassette.

I asked him one day what he thought of it.

'Oh I haven;t watched it yet' he said. 'I'm saving it. I'm sure it'll be worth the wait'.

He never watched it. He died from a massive stroke.

Enjoy the threads while you may, R62.

Canned tuna and lime jello are the convenient keys to this eye-catching centrepiece.

Anyone remember that weird Jell-O product that you blended and it separated into layers?

What's cookin' America?

How about this Jello , marshmallow and cheddar cheese pudding.

[quote]Anyone remember that weird Jell-O product that you blended and it separated into layers?

I sure do. I was fascinated by that product as a child. I would beg my mother to buy it when we went to the grocery story. It didn't live up to the commercial hype, though, and was quickly discontinued after a couple years on the market.

R66 R68 Do you mean 1-2-3?

My mother made plain jello. I think my sister are a bit of it but I didn't. It didn't seem worth the effort to me. It was like spooning solid pieces of water down my throat. Big whoop.

Sghe never out anything in it or on top of it. When I switched from Catholic to public school was when I first encountered a cafeteria. They served jello with a squirt of whipped cream on top. I thought, "Hmm.. maybe the whipped cream will give this lackluster, jiggly solid water some depth, texture and nuance.

Nope.

Why bother?

Jello is fresh, light and fun!

Yes, I'm from the northeast.

Like R59, we never had casseroles either. My mom said she knew my brother and I would hate them, so why fight about it. Three items never, EVER appeared on our table as my mother and or father hated them: liver, Spam and lima beans.

We didn't go to church functions and such where these Jello ... creations would be found. I hate pineapple, so these recipes make me glad I missed them!

I'm not a food snob at all but some of the Jell-O recipes in this thread are nauseating.

It's no wonder that countries with great food like Italy and France, just to name two, can't believe what passes for food here. This 2015 not the 60s and 70s!

I loved Jello 1-2-3, and my mother, an easy mark, would always buy it for us. We prepared it in those orange plastic "Snack Pack Pudding"-sized Tupperware containers. She drew the line on Snack Pack Pudding, it was too expensive, so we made our own, and chilled it in the perfectly-sized containers for our lunch boxes!

I was stunned when it was discontinued.

If you really think Jello is "fresh," R71, I don't want to know your opinion on anything else.

Go and comb your cashmere, Martha Stewart at R76. It'll put you in a better place, dear.

I loved Jello 1 2 3! Jello on the bottom, pudding in the middle and a sort of mousse on top.

Rather be me than think Jello is fresh, R77. Or a good thing.

I never got to try Jell-O 1 2 3, my mom would never buy it for me.

Salad? You Americans eat some evil crap, don't you....

I like Jell-O as a dessert and a diet food but when you start combining it with meat and fish I gotta politely say no thanks.

Just wondering, is Jell-O something that's no longer in style or found desirable by people? I'm 28, from the Midwest, and grew up with Jell-O desserts galore. It was (and still is) present at every family holiday in the form of desserts, sides, and jigglers, and I even find myself making a box every few weeks, just because I like it so much.

I was talking with some friends recently and mentioned making a red, white, and blue Jell-O dessert for 4th of July and they all cringed in disgust. Virtually every one of them loathed the idea of Jell-O and the rest admitted to having it as a child but not for several years. For some reason, I was under the impression that it was widely consumed and liked.

" It's one of those tried and true recipes that every respectable hostess should have in her repertoire."

Do the people from Pleasantville post here?

White trash food. YUM!

Good GOD, most of these recipes look awful - especially the savory ones - but that Walgate "salad" that was posted earlier looked like it might be good. BTW, OP, declaring something made with so much sugar as "healthy" and good for the kids is insane. Are you diabetic?

Anyway, if you must use gelatin (not "Jello") for something, use it for a traditional English dessert loaded with booze - a "High Church" Trifle.

I'm from the Midwest, ate lots of jello as a kid and wouldn't go near it now. The only place I've seen in recent years was at cafeterias in the South, which is where blue hairs go for fried chicken.

Mom still makes a dessert -- she makes a box of strawberry jello in a big bowl and then lets it set in the refrigerator. To this she folds in a half gallon of softened vanilla ice cream and a can of drained crushed pineapple.

She serves it with whipped cream.

F**k it. I'm making that strawberry thing!

Behold! The Jello Mold Mistress of Brooklyn

It's not summertime without Jello salads

I grew up with a bunch of hillbillies that LOVE jello salads. What continues to amaze me is that some of these recipes - take Watergate 'Salad' for example - are made up entirely of dessert ingredients like marshmallows, puddings, Cool Whip, maraschino cherries, etc, but are called SALADS. These are desserts, people.

r91 You bumped a three-year-old thread about summertime Jell-O salads for that? In DECEMBER? Moron.

R93, maybe R91 is from the Southern Hemisphere.

R94, out of curiosity: Did you have this thread bookmarked or did you -for some inexplicable reason- search "jell-o salads"?

This is my favorite commercial ever, just for the look of pure disgust on the elderly father's face at :05 when his daughter says she didn't make dessert.

Just scoop some red and blue jello dollop with cool whip 4th of July salad

Were these finger gelatin treats called KNOX BLOX, or JELL-O JIGGLERS?

Like Hedda and Louella, darling, you can only choose one.

Did I just witness incest @:21?^

For R96

I grew up in NJ, my grandmother made the melon basket mentioned upthread as well as Ambrosia salad. I cannot remember what was in the salad exactly. I think it was pineapple, coconut, marshmallows, cherries, all tossed in a white dressing made from God only knows what. I liked it as a kid but it was a little too sweet for me.

I made this at Easter!

Jello poke cake was a summer picnic staple when I was growing up.

Autumn Cherry Salad

1 lb. fresh cherries, pitted 1 stalk celery, washed and thinly sliced 1 package black cherry jello 8 oz cream cheese 1/4 c. white sugar 1/4 c. heavy cream

Make jello according to package directions. Pour into bundt cake pan. Refrigerate about 30 minutes until thickened but not set. Stir in cherries and celery. Return to refrigerator.

Meanwhile, mix cream cheese, sugar, and heavy cream. Whip with mixer on high speed until well-blended. Spread over jello once it has set. Serve with love.

[quote]Were these finger gelatin treats called KNOX BLOX, or JELL-O JIGGLERS?

Jell-O Jigglers were limited by the fact that you can only buy flavored Jell-O, but Knox is unflavored and so Knox Blox can be customized with any flavor or color you like.

If Flyoverstan was a country, Jell-O Salad would be the national dish.

Well that and the Big Mac.

I am a fuh-REEK for a well-prepared tomato aspic with tiny shrimp in the mold and big shrimp on top. With homemade mayonnaise dolloped on top of course!

I admit I do love a good Watergate Salad. It's about as trashy as they come, but on a hot summer day it's like a breath of fresh cool air. So refreshing.

Cherry Jello with a big dollop of Dukes Mayonnaise on top is delicious.

Jello is a sweet or dessert aspic. Aspics originated in Europe and became fashionable in France in the 18th century, where molds allowed chefs to create spectacular set piece courses. These were usually savory and based on a veal broth. Later tomatoes, introduced from North America, became a popular base. Sweet aspics were developed, as noted above, in the 19th century. The English omitted the diced fruit, etc. and simply refer to them as jellies, but the Americans stuck with the French category of "salad", as the word originally referred to any cold dish that incorporated a selection of diced or shredded meats, vegetables or fruit. Jello (or any aspic) without diced meat, fruit or vegetables in it is not a salad.

American gelatin salads, if well made and from scratch, are perfectly acceptable and date back to at least 1904, when a recipe for Perfection Salad was published; they probably debuted in the US during the 1890s in expensive restaurants. They became more popular with the rise of modern packaged foods which made what would have been an expensive and time-consuming process much easier for Americans of any budget.

As a child I encountered a towering salad at a banquet that was a champagne aspic with lobster and crab-meat suspended throughout. It looked like a stained glass pylon someone had yanked off a skyscraper. I did not eat it and was not expected to because of the alcohol base and I don't think I'd enjoy it now if I tried it. But it was certainly not white trash food.

Salade Utopia, a variant of Watergate Salad, was part of the ludicrous dinner menu Mr. Kidd offers James Bond and Tiffany Case in the final scene of "Diamonds Are Forever". Its appearance with roast beef is a tip-off that Mr. Kidd knows nothing about food and is therefore not actually a table service waiter.

[quote]If Flyoverstan was a country, Jell-O Salad would be the national dish.

Molded gelatin salads are HUGE in Utah.

All this talk of aspic is making me think of the aspic lion from Dinner At 8.

Never had it and don’t plan to start now.

R113, you've never had gelatin? I think you have numerous times.

"Never had it and don’t plan to start now."

I'm guessing getting laid would fall in that category, R113?

^^LOL!

That Aunt Bea’s tomato aspic recipe is ghoulish gunk concoction made with lemon Jell-O.

That is NOT a proper tomato aspic!!

Ugh! Nasty!

Wtf is a tomato aspic?

We never had jello salads (though I think I remember seeing one at a party as a kid once and it was pretty vile).

However, around christmas my mom used to layer red and green jello in wine glasses (tilted between the wires of the fridge shelf and then top them with whipped cream. They were pretty, but a lot of effort for something that was really just jello.

[quote] Wtf is a tomato aspic?

It's basically like a bowl of tomato soup turned into jello. It sounds vile, but I like it with a big dollop of mayo on top.

[quote] Salade Utopia, a variant of Watergate Salad, was part of the ludicrous dinner menu Mr. Kidd offers James Bond and Tiffany Case in the final scene of "Diamonds Are Forever". Its appearance with roast beef is a tip-off that Mr. Kidd knows nothing about food and is therefore not actually a table service waiter.

Mary!

NOTHING gets by YOU!

Add some chopped small shrimp!

That looks revolting R123

R103, is a poke cake anything like a dump cake?

No. A dump cake means you just dump all the ingredients together and mix. A poke cake requires you to pierce the baked cake and pour some kind of syrup over it.

[quote]No. A dump cake means you just dump all the ingredients together and mix. A poke cake requires you to pierce the baked cake and pour some kind of syrup over it.

I hadn't thought of "poke cakes" in a generation. Generally you were supposed to pour red Jell-O into a white cake or something.

These days, with the raw fish bowl poké so popular, my first thought was fish cakes.

Many dump cakes are made by putting a box of dry cake mix into the pan, dumping a couple of cans of some sort of pie filling on top (but not mixing in), pouring melted butter all over that, then adding some sort of liquid on top. Some dump cakes even call for using 7-UP as the liquid component. When baking the liquid works its way down into the cake mix and it rises up and around the fruit toppings, somewhat like a cobbler.

I tried make one once. It was truly vile. Trashed the whole thing after one bite.

[quote]R94out of curiosity: Did you have this thread bookmarked or did you -for some inexplicable reason- search "jell-o salads"?

No, they are the 2015 Bump Bitch.

R128 That seems like a really lazy dessert. I think I would be humiliated showing up to a party with that.

I think I would be humiliated showing up to a party where I was expected to haul in some food to share.

R131 I don't drink (recovering alchy), so bringing wine to a party is out. Usually I bring an hors d'oeuvre or a dessert.

This is excellent, though it may not qualify as "salad".... It has the texture of panna cotta, and is lovely with a bit of zest.

I still see Watergate salad at picnics and sometimes at the local delis.

[quote] Here's a recipe for one of my personal faves: Strawberry Fluff Jello-o Salad. It's healthy

How is it "healthy"? It's mostly sugar.

------

Ingredients

1 large package Cook and Serve vanilla pudding

1 large package Strawberry Jell-o

2 cups water

16 oz Cool-Whip (lite or fat-free is fine)

1/2 bag mini marshmallows

1 container fresh strawberries cut into bite size pieces

J'adore Orange Jell-O with julienned carrots, crushed walnuts, and sometimes celery. For some reason, the flavours just go so very well together. An Australian friend introduced me to it. She said her family had enjoyed it at breakfast. She was an aspiring tennis pro, this was probably the least healthy food she enjoyed. I don't really care if Jell-O is trashy, I love it!

These all sound like a tasty and easy to eat treat for our British friends with their rotten teeth!

This sounds like a tasty treat for our British friends with their rotten teeth.

Wow, 138 peeps watching the thread now! I dare say there are at least a few closeted Jell-O lovers!

R139 how can you tell how many people are watching?

These would be easy to eat treats for our British friends with the rotten teeth.

R140 Your device may display features differently... on iPad to the right of the title in the column of threads on the right side of the screen, there appears a number which changes...Just recently, it had declined to 123

A relative makes a cranberry mold that involves cranberry Jello, walnuts and celery as well as ground, fresh, uncooked cranberries. I avoided it for years. Then I tasted it. It was DELICIOUS! There is something about the fresh celery that makes it. It is not too sweet or tart and did not give me indigestion.

R143 That sounds really good!

I started this thread 5 years ago, so it's a pleasant surprise to see it's still in circulation. Jell-O salads are a classic and never go out of style, I guess.

R135, Did you miss the strawberries? The fresh fruit overcomes any added sugar, thus making it healthy. A garnish of fresh mint also adds a healthy touch to this nutritious salad.

[quote]How is it "healthy"? It's mostly sugar.

Because the OP is clearly Simply Sara.

DL introduced me to this entirely foreign concept a few years back when that Watergate salad YouTube video was posted. Despite being equal parts hilarious and revolting, I have to say I’ve been pretty intrigued by it ever since. I definitely itrly plan to try making the watergate one, and maybe this strawberry one now.

I’m excited to taste it but moreso to get the confused and disgusted looks when I bring it to dinner.

I make Watergate salad all the time, especially in the summer. It's light and very refreshing. The only thing I refuse to do is use Cool Whip. I make whipped cream. Makes a much nicer end product.

r148 By "end product" do you mean what you eat, or the product that comes out of your "end"?

They all look like a form of spackle.

Since I don't eat meat, I can't have gelatin because it's made from hooves. But I used to be a celebrated Jello Pudding Queen.

One of my greatest hits was black cherry Jello with a can of black cherries (drained, use the juice for part of the liquid that dissolves the Jello) and a sliced banana. Tasty, plus beautiful contrasting colors and textures.

My favorite triumph was the savory/sweet treat at the link. It doesn't sound good or look good, but it definitely tastes good!

I loathe jello salads. They were really popular back in the day but I always hated them.

[quote]Since I don't eat meat, I can't have gelatin because it's made from hooves. But I used to be a celebrated Jello Pudding Queen.

Jell-O Pudding is not the same thing as Jell-O gelatin, and as far as I know contains no hooves.

R143, BITCH I need that recipe!!!

vile thread! just vile!

I think OP is Mormon.

Sorry, R153 -- I was typing in the middle of the night when I was apparently too tired to think straight and should have been in bed. I meant to say "Jello Salad Queen", since that's what I used to be known as before I stopped eating meat and had to commence eschewing Jello due to the hooves in it. I know that Jello pudding doesn't contain hooves, which is a good thing because I love that too and can continue eating it. Now I'm sorry about veering off topic (and hungry for pudding).

If it is possible to replace the water (or any liquid) in a jello salad with good tequila THEN I might try a taste of any the above recipes. Well, maybe, I'd still need to think about it.

Jell-O is racist!

Dorcas Lane, mistress of Candleford Post office, was famous for her calf’s foot jelly. Fantastic with champagne.

Can I eat as much sugar free jello as I want and not get fat(ter)?

My all-time favorite is "Strawberry Pretzel Salad". It's composed of a sweet & salty pretzel crust, a middle tier of whipped topping, cream cheese, powdered sugar & vanilla, & a top layer of strawberries (I only use fresh, but one can use frozen...they just don't look nearly as nice) suspended in strawberry Jell-O. I don't even care for Jell-O, but it's wonderful here. There are variations (blueberry, etc.), but the Strawberry version is best.

I only make it for summer events, & never leave a gathering with anything but an empty casserole.

I LOVE "The Supersizers" series, 161! I have a bit of a crush on Giles as a result. I've watched & re-watched it multiple times. Sue Perkins is also great!

R 164 Agree it was a great series. Giles as Napoleon -lol. Sue was also on the Great British Bake-off initially.

[quote]I think OP is Mormon.

Mormon "funeral potatoes" are the fucking shit. So, there's that.

165 I loved her in "The Great British Baking Show", but once she, Mary Berry, & Mel left, I lost all interest. Even Paul Hollywood's gorgeous blue eyes and striking silver hair weren't enough to keep me watching. The addition of Noel Fielding was an absolute mistake. He grates my nerves, and is chronically unfunny.

And forgive me, but I STILL don't know how to link/highlight a post number in a reply. I'm not tech savvy, so if anyone reading this would kindly inform me, I'd appreciate it.

R167, all you have to do is type an R (uppercase or lowercase doesn't matter) followed by the number of the post to which you're referring. In your post numbered 167, you referred to the post that was numbered 165, so you could have started your first paragraph by typing an R in front of the number 165 and your opening sentence would have read: "R165 I loved her in 'The Great British Baking Show' ......"

Jell-O hadn't yet been invented when we lived in Walnut Grove. Ma had to render hides and bones of pigs, cows, and horses to make our own gelatin. Back then we didn't use the hooves, though.

[quote] Is this an American thing? Do they eat this stuff in Europe?

It's even more hardcore in Europe.

r163 I've made that several times (I use the ATK or Cook's Country recipe.) But it's really much more like Strawberry Cheesecake than it is a salad. It is delicious, though.

My go-to Jell-O salad is not a summer one, but a Thanksgiving one -- Paula Deen's, using raspberry Jell-O, canned cranberry sauce (not the jellied kind), canned crushed pineapple, walnuts, and a dressing made of cream cheese. You make it in a ring mold or a bundt pan and put the dressing in the center.

Discussing Jello is so 2015.

R172 aren’t we in a Mercury retrograde?

My mom in the '60s and '70s would make lime or strawberry (my fave) jello set into little bowls in the fridge, topped with Cool Whip. Simple and awesome. And for about the 18 seconds it was on sale during the middle '70s, she'd make this awful coffee-flavored Jell-O that didn't live up to expectations!

I'd appreciate some non-trashy recipes that use unflavored gelatin so that I can use up some I bought on sale a while ago.

They’re always reminded me of something out of Lovecraft ....

[quote]aren’t we in a Mercury retrograde?

My Mercury is in Park in the garage.

[quote]I'd appreciate some non-trashy recipes that use unflavored gelatin so that I can use up some I bought on sale a while ago.

I've seen a number of America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country recipes where they add unflavored gelatin to things like stew, especially in recipes where they're trying to create a quicker-cooking version and need to replicate the taste/feel of collagen that is produced when cooking low and slow for a long time.. (That and they seem to use baking soda a lot on meats.)

[quote] I used to be a celebrated Jello Pudding Queen.

R151, is that like being the bukake guy in a porn?

I just discovered Apricot flavour Jell-O, and aim to create a new salad with it: I'm thinking chopped dried apricots, dried coconut, chopped dried dates, apples, and pecans. I may layer some vanilla or Apricot Jam swirled into plain yoghurt and make a Trifle. I'll report back with an update after the weekend...

I'm thinking about trying the Mango flavour for a salad as well. Has anyone tried the Mango?

I’ve been eating this all week! Strawberry pretzel “salad” so good!

i am a mango fruit salad.

Trying to imagine OP's version of a healthy diet. He calls this "healthy". Reminds me of the time my friends wife called a package of Snackwell's Devil Food cookies "healthy" because they were low in fat and then ate six of them.

There is no difference between eating a bowl of this fluff and eating a snickers bar. Nothing wrong with having a desert but dont call it healthy

R183 Not OP here, but would like to add Jello-O by itself is very low calorie. Much lower in calories per serving versus many other dessert options. Some avoid eating plain fruits or vegetables, so if the addition of Jell-O makes the option attractive to them, it's better they get them into their diets somehow.

There is always the sugar-free options as well. Does everything necessarily nave to be healthy when it comes to desserts? Many of us do not indulge in these everyday, or save dessert for special occasions only. Live a little, and enjoy the Jell-O.

[quote] There is always the sugar-free options as well. Does everything necessarily nave to be healthy when it comes to desserts?

Of course not. But you're missing the point that tOP called this particular dessert, which is made of vanilla pudding and marshmallows as well as Jell-o, "healthy." It may be delicious, but healthy it is absolutely not.

R185 Has it occurred to you that quite possibly this [italic] is [/italic] healthy for OP? Or at least healthier than the other desserts he enjoys?

I'm not keen on marshmallow, and wouldn't begin to argue the health promoting qualities of CoolWhip, however I don't find vanilla pudding to be so deleterious to one's health really. I didn't miss any points actually, I'm just defending Jell-O as a [italic] healthier [/italic] choice over other options is all.

You don't come to a thread on Jell-O with an expectation there will be no ardent defenders! I generally feel it's in bad form to crap all over others' yum as well.

[quote] Has it occurred to you that quite possibly this is healthy for OP?

Because it is not.

[quote] Or at least healthier than the other desserts he enjoys?

That does not make it healthy.

[quote] I generally feel it's in bad form to crap all over others' yum as well.

Spare us your bullshit and go die in a grease fire, you prissy enabling scold.

That Paula Deen raspberry Jell-o salad looks good, I'm going to try that.

I've heard rumors you can use 7-Up or cola in some of these.

It's like people lay awake in bed all night, thinking up bad recipes.

[quote]That Paula Deen raspberry Jell-o salad looks good, I'm going to try that.

Are you talking about the cranberry one? It is really good. I've made in on Thanksgiving several times and people seem to like it.

^Yes!

R42 I think hospitals serve patients green Jello instead of red Jello, because red food coloring might appear like pale pink blood in their urine or poop.

For a colonoscopy prep, the instructions always say don't drink red, purple or pink juice for that same reason.

My family is from the midwest. I grew up on casseroles. Jello salads were also a very common item. Green bean casserole of course also. One of the most common jello salads was Sunshine Salad (lemon jello w/ shredded carrots and crushed pineapple suspended in it). One I refused to eat was strawberry jello w/ strawberries, topped w/ mayo and then sprinkled with shredded cheddar cheese (VILE). My mom had an old Joys of Jello Cookbook from the 60s that is hilarious. In those days there were the fruity / sweet type jello concoctions but also they had jello flavors in "celery" and "mixed vegetable" for making savory jello creations. Those would be the types with meat, seafood, vegetables, and other odd things suspended in the jello. Often they were made in a copper ring-shaped jello mold and then emptied out onto a glass serving platter for serving. Preferably on a bed of lettuce.

R43 Beware of Bubble Tea. A teenage girl had 100 undigested bubble tea balls stuck in her body.

As if Bubble Tea weren't disgusting enough... how the fuck do people drink things with tapioca crap in it? UGH. Disgusting.

My mom used to put canned pear halves into lime Jell-O and serve it with a dressing made from cream cheese and strawberry jam, thinned out with a little milk. I need to make that again some time.

We always had jello salads for special occasions, I thought everybody did that until I moved out of the midwest. My mom actually had her picture with her jello salad recipe in our local newspaper back in the 70's.

I used to like the kinds with marshmallows, my mom made one with pistachio jello pudding

R187 Au contraire you nutty and pretentious prof! I simply came to defend the OP. All my other posts and remarks are positive, or sharing recipes, whilst you make multiple posts that his recipe is unhealthy. I merely attempted to help you see the matter from a different POV.

In point of fact, rather YOU are the scold. Whatever did you major in at Harvard? Gaslighting? Honestly mate, you need to chill out with a nice cool refreshing Jell-O salad. I dare say EXTRA marshmallows are in order as well to sweeten your sour disposition. You come off as a hopeless narcissist. Can't take the least bit of good natured criticism can you?

We get it: you're [italic] special. [/italic] You've told us before (ad nauseum) how you find loose-meat sandwiches, Sloppy-Joes, and hard-cooked eggs detestable.... Whyever come to a thread on "Jell-O Salads"? It's just another exercise in futility for you which enables you to feel superior to some posters here.... Nothing remarkably funny or witty about your remarks either. You sound like the biggest priss of all, you sad little tosser.

I spent half this morning making the strawberry pretzel "salad" posted upthread, but it ended up tasting amazing (considering what it is and my low expectations). I was the one asking before for recipes to use up unflavored gelatin (which I used to thicken my version of the cream cheese/whipping cream middle layer and instead of strawberry jello), so mission also accomplished there. A perfect (white trash) 4th of July dessert.

OPs pic looks like barf in a bowl.

🍑Peach schnapps jello shots.

Serve with a carrot stick or a celery stick, and it's a salad.

This jello dessert is so pretty and patriotic. I don't know whether to eat it or salute it.

I'm actually a big fan of Jello, but normally stick with the individual sweet flavors. I like to always have some prepared and ready for those times when I'm feeling 'peckish'. I've enjoyed reading these recipes, but have to admit to feeling squeamish about the recipes that combine sweet and savory ingredients. The only Jello concoction I've ever had (beside poke cake) combines any flavor of Jello that's colored red with a can of jellied cranberry sauce, a can of Mandarin oranges and a handful of pecan halves. You would prepare the Jello in a saucepan, add the cranberry sauce and keep stirring until the cranberry sauce melted, then drain the can of oranges and add with the pecans. Pour the entire mixture into a clear Pyrex container, and put in the fridge to set. Eventually, you end up with clear red Jello studded with little orange jewels. There were several recipes listed that were very similar, but some of the additions I found off-putting.

I see r200 is stalking me all over this site.

BLOCKED.

I'm pleased to report back that Apricot Jell-O and Yoghurt Parfait, or Trifle was a smashing success. My beau convinced me to add bananas, almonds, and granola in the yoghurt. I went with plain, and swirled in a bit of Apricot preserves.

I'm usually not a breakfast fan, but must confess we ate more of it this morning!

Looking at Paula Deen's recipe, it appears to be close to the one we always made for Christmas, except ours had a third, green layer with pineapple in it. The lime jello layer was first, the second was the cream cheese with a little mayo and pineapple juice (with plain gelatin to keep it firm) and the third was red jello with the cranberry sauce, celery and pecans. When I was young, I refused to eat it, but when I became an adult, I tried it and fell in love. Whenever I mention our Christmas salad to anyone in the family, they all moan because they love it so much.

Vile substances, all.

[quote] My mom actually had her picture with her jello salad recipe in our local newspaper back in the 70's.

R198 that is so precious, lol.

R208 that does sound really delicious.

R200, another way to use plain unflavored gelatin is Eggnog Pie, which I make every year for Xmas. I use a store-bought graham cracker crust and 2 cups of CoolWhip instead of whipped cream because I'm busy that time of year. Always a big hit, light and refreshing.

It takes less than 5 minutes to make really good whipped cream from scratch. There's literally no excuse for using that oily cool-whip crap.

Nigella Lawson's adult gelatin dessert.

I'm from the Midwest and go back often, but I doubt that I've seen a Jello salad since the 70s. It must be more of a small town thing. Outside of a hospital, the only time I've seen Jello as a commercial dessert was in those cafeterias that appeal to the blue rinse set in teh South.

Amazing! This thread has been bumped twice since 2015 and still draws responses. OP, you are Svengali.

We had jello in our school lunches all through the 80s.

Vintage Shrimp Jello Salad

R212 that actually looks good.

It is good, R219. I just saw "Easter egg nog" advertised at a local supermarket so, if that catches on, we won't have to wait until Xmas time to buy egg nog and make this pie. I've frozen egg nog at Xmas so that I can make this in the Spring because it's such a nice light, cool dessert.

Got to keep this one alive before Muriel condemns it to the boundless deep for good.

R108 why not just like what you like? Why worry if other people find it trashy?

The people putting their noses up have never tried that strawberry pretzel salad like r8 mentioned. I have fond memories of it from my childhood and would love to have some today.

This one r223? It does look like a nice, refreshing, light dessert. I think I might try it out this summer.

Yes r224, that's it. If you make it let us know how it is.

This thread is doing Sandra Lee proud. It’s only missing a Jello Kwanza pudding.

That said, Jello skins are everything, as is that state where the gelatin is a little bit liquid and a little bit solid. Not sure if it’s remotely helpful during sickness, but as an adult it’s when I like to dig in.

It was featured at every birthday party I went to in Great Britain in the 60s.

Fruit cocktail suspended in red "jelly" (what the English call Jell-o). With whipped cream (real cream -- easier to find in the UK).

Absolute favorite at a kiddy party along with pass-the-parcel.

These salads remind me of every time I felt sad as a child.

Please don't bring them back.

And I’ve never actually seen one in the wild.

r229 I am from the midwest, growing up they were at every major holiday. But now even my mom doesn't make them any more. Sometimes I will buy her a container of ambrosia salad from our grocery store deli and it's pretty good.

R2 don’t pretend you don’t love them

It has a chalky undertaste...

bump

OP-That reminds me of these cookies I bought AND ate today from Trader Joe's

Bump

Lol, wypipo food.

My sister-in-law brings that jello strawberry pretzel dessert to my parent's cottage every 4th of July. All the jello snobs I wish they could try it, you would be surprised.

^^^ This looks like what she makes. It is so good.

Bump