So five minutes ago

Food fashion.  I believe food fashion exists.  Not how food looks.  Rather, what is “in” right now vs what is “so five minutes ago”.  Perhaps the correct term is not fashion, but trend.

 

A current popular food trend I’ve noticed is that a recipe can’t just have a name.  It has to have a complete ingredient list description.  Example:  Elbow-shaped Italian pasta in an English Cheddar cream sauce sprinkled with a toasted bread crumb topping instead of Mac-n-Cheese.

Some food trends are decidedly over.  Take, for instance, Jell-O.  When I was a kid, any decent hostess served a Jell-O dish to her company.  You couldn’t go anywhere without see Jell-O.  Now days, Jell-O is “so fifty years ago”.  The problem is, there are still a few Jell-O recipes that I love.  Guess it’s me that is “so fifty years ago”!

 

I still love raspberry Jell-O with fresh raspberries and whipped cream all swirled together.  I still love mandarin oranges floating in orange Jell-O.  I still think sparkling Jigglers are fun!  We don’t eat Jell-O very often, but I do still like it – whether or not it is still “in”.

 

One of my favorite recipes is actually for a savory Jell-O salad.  I’ve made this since I was a kid.  I loved it then and I still love it now.  And I’m not afraid to show up at someone's house with this in hand as my contribution to a joined meal.

If you still love Jell-O, dig around in the back of your Tupperware drawer and pull out your mint-green Jell-O mold with the scalloped edges (you know you still have one *wink*) and give this savory creamy cucumber Jell-O recipe a try.  Who knows, it might become a favorite - even if it is "so five minutes ago"!
 

 

 

Spring Salad Ring

INGREDIENTS

1	large pkg lemon Jell-O
¾	t salt
1 ¾	cup boiling water
4	T lemon juice
3	medium cucumbers
1	pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1	cup mayonnaise
¼	cup minced onion
¼	cup snipped parsley

Directions

1. Dissolve Jell-O and salt in boiling water; add lemon juice.

2. For the clear layer:  Measure ¾ cup of Jell-O mixture and to it add ¼ cup cool water.  Pout into 6-cup mold.  Chill tell set.

3. Meanwhile prepare cucumber-cheese layer.  Pare the cucumbers, halve, scrape out the seeds.  Grate cucumber using coarse size.  Drain.

4. Combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, onion and parsley, mixing well.  Add cucumbers. Stir in remaining gelatin mixture.  Pour over clear gelatin in mold.  Chill until firm.

5. To serve, I like to place a few green leaf lettuce leaves on a large platter.  Then I unmold the Jell-O ring onto the platter.  Lastly, I drain a can of small black olives and place the olives in the center of the ring.  The color contrast is nice.

NOTE: As an alternative to lemon Jell-O you can use lime Jell-O.  Or, you could mix lemon and lime together.