Monday, December 1, 2014

What Not to Cook

This morning on our walk we engaged in a Thanksgiving post-mortem, discussing what we'll all do differently in the future, knowing full well that we won't.

In my case I toyed with the idea of NOT making the traditional Jell-O salad.  It's the one stuffed with blueberries and crushed pineapple, not to mention the cream cheese and whipped cream part.  Also, you top it with more whipped cream and bananas.

But it's a SALAD.  So it's healthy.

It's also remarkably beautiful and makes a lovely, shimmery showing on the dining room table.  People oooh and also ahhh when they see it.  The only problem is they don't actually seem to eat it.  I'm not sure why, because it's also very tasty.  Especially for a salad.  Maybe they hate to spoil the optics of the salad by digging in?  Who knows.

At any rate, I always have a lot of it left over.  So I put it in the Retirement Center for Food--aka "the fridge"--telling myself we'll get around to eating it eventually.  Which we don't.  So then I throw it away.

Will I make it again next year?

I hate to say this, but yeah.  Probably.


5 comments:

Amelia said...

That sounds delightful. I make a salad like that that my grandma always made: 5 cup salad, and it is the best. 1 cup of each, shredded coconut, tiny marshmallow, mandarin oranges from a can, pineapple chunks from a can, sour cream. It is delightful, and there is never any left behind. Best if left in the fridge over night. You are welcome for the unsolicited recipe.

James said...

Its a great "salad", and we make it every year. I noticed that I was the only one eating it this year, however. I don't know why. It is very tasty.

Lisa B. said...

I have never had this delightful salad, nor seen it. What flavor of Jell-O is it? (that matters, obviously.) And pineapple and blueberries and all sorts of whipped dairy sounds kind of awesome. I'm just saying, I'm pretty sure I would have had a healthy helping.

Emily said...

Yes to jello salad! It's a tradition!!

CSIowa said...

My family has adopted a raspberry version (raspberry jello with frozen raspberries) that my sister found a few years ago. It's definitely not part of our childhood, but we all make it, together or not, as if it were. It's loveliest with pecans. I recommend putting the pecans on top of the whipped cream/cream cheese so the children can tell which dish has nuts and which dish has not. This year I got to clean out the good pan with the serving spoon, but there was leftover of the no-nut version.

Why do we not figure out how to make smaller versions of the things we always have too much of?