The following is as reprint of a previously published post. Enjoy!
It is no secret that I have a PhD in leftovers wizardry. Bread ends become bread crumbs, dried up cooked rice goes into soup and the last bits of stale cereal find their way into muffins.
But an entire week devoted to throwing leftovers into a Jell-O salad? Yes, I grew up with a midwestern mother who had no qualms about throwing cottage cheese and mandarin oranges into a Jell-O-mold. And yes, I admit that I ate it. But in the 16 years of working in a hospital, I have never munched down on the available Jell-O. (I have however served it thousands upon thousands of times.)
But I am here to say that cheese cubes, peas, onions, and holy hell, is that meat? are very, very bad ideas when mixed into a fruity gelatinous medium.
So please, keep your leftover tidbits confined to soups, frittatas, stir-fries and casseroles. But in the name of all that is innocent and pure, keep them out of the Jell-O!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
You don’t have to convince me, Katy! Gross!!
One word: Aspic.
OK, maybe TWO words: EEEEEWWWW!
OK- guilty admission. . . Every time I go to a garage sale, I look for those tupperware jello molds. I love the IDEA of a jiggly jello salad. Then I think about eating my grandma’s “creations”, and I put down the mold and back away very quickly. Orange jello with carrots, walnuts and canned mandarin oranges- yikes!
Yeugh! That is gross. Jelly in the UK is with ice cream and occasionally has fruit in it. I normally love anything you have but I draw the line there. Tara x
My aunt used to make orange jello with fruit cocktail mixed in, whipped cream over it, and grated cheddar cheese on top. Does not sound good, but is delicious! My cousins and I devoured bowls of this every summer!
All was good… until you added cheese… ewww
I agree – NO cheese!
LOL Will do…promise!
Oh, you modern young things! One of my very favorite dishes is lime jello with cottage cheese, pineapple, walnuts, mayo and a soupcon of horseradish — delish! Problem is, nobody else will eat it. Clearly, I need to get me some older friends.
The nastiest thing I have ever had served was at a work picnic – lemon jello with sliced black olives!! Looked like eyes floating in jello. Haven’t forgotten it 35 years late!!
Oh my! UGH!
This post made me chuckle 😉
This does not seem too bad. Growing up we raised piglets and a kind of a jello my mom was making was a jello made of pigs feet, heads and tails. She would throw into it a boiled egg and cooked carrots and voila – 24 hours later – perfect jello! My dad would put some vinegar on it or (if we felt rich) some real lemon juice and eat with bread.
Now the best part. I actually liked it! And I still do when I visit (although now I insist that we put some other parts rather than tails)
See, now, that’s what it ought to be. It’s when you get the fake fruit flavors playing with odd bits of left overs and violent colors that things get really odd.
Thankfully I grew up in a time and country where such culinary atrocities did not exist. However I have been reading about some of these crazy concoctions recently; inspired by the astronauts’ wives club series. There is a steady stream of jello delights each week and I became fascinated!
Still not tempted to try them though.
This makes me think of my mother-in-law. She’s always raving about this disgusting-sounding jello salad she she and her nine siblings enjoyed while growing up… it contained carrots. CARROTS. In jello.
Um, no thanks.
I realize these things seemed to be popular a generation before me. But in my mind vegetables and jello just do not belong together. Although I do love jam with eggs, so to each their own I guess.
But isn’t Jello (faked) fruit flavored?? How can it be good with meat, veggies, etc??
Yuck! I used to eat jello but, now I am not such a fan of it. Especially if you add cheese, and veggies to it yuck. That does not sound very good.
Yuck! My grandma used to make the lime jello, pineapple, walnut, cottage cheese thing and it was ok. Of course she usually made it for the holidays, so it only showed up a couple times a year. But meat?- that makes me sick!
Zero waste is great but unimaginable… Using the leftovers is a good idea but you need to innovate on a big scale to re-use organic items..
-Vickram.
Ha! I would have agreed with you, but my ex-mother-in-law makes an amazing jello mold with red jello and all kinds of stuff (fruit, veggies, and nuts). It doesn’t sound good — I read the recipe and think, ‘no, can’t bear to make that’ — but when she makes it, we all scarf it up, including the kids.
I love your sense of humour Katy.
Thank you. 😀