Thursday, November 22, 2012

Green Jello Salad Recipe - A Family Favorite?

Hello Ladies,



Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families!!!



Can one of you please let me know how Grandma used to make that lime Jell-O with olives carrots etc.?



Thank you!

Nettie

Dear Nettie,

When you sent that email to our mom and our aunts today requesting the green jello salad Grandma used to make, we were in the middle of gathering the ingredients to make one for our Thanksgiving dinner. Mom was delighted someone was asking for the recipe and called you immediatly. The following emails arrived this evening and provided a bit of entertainment. (As if we were not already being entertained with a houseful of kids - seven kids ages seven and under.)

Aunt Kathleen oughta know. Her kids are quite crazy about it, and I think she worked many years perfecting it. I believe that's all they have at Thanksgiving. She sometimes stuffs the turkey with it.

Aunt Elaine

Elaine, you are impossible! Monica asked if she should make it this year and I said no, no one likes it. But she said we had to have it and some of them actually finally like it. But the best thing is that it's going into the new generation. Liam asked on the way here if Grandma was going to have the green jello salad. He said, " I told my teacher about it. I said it has carrots and green olives and pecans. " He did ask not to put celery in it.

Margie

Nettie, I like it enough to eat it all by myself, so have never worried about whether anyone else liked it. It's best with black, not English walnuts.





I don't know whether my mom or grandma made it first, but we never had a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner without it. I think the thing my kids found most disgusting (yes, that's the right word; Philip once took it outside to throw at his cousins) about it was that some of us even put a dollop of mayonnaise on top.

Enjoy!



Love,

Aunt K



Ha Ha! Margie called me so I am good to go.





Sorry Aunt Kathy! I just figured you would know, no idea it was the bane of your Thanksgiving dinner. I told Margie, either you liked it as a child or you didn’t. I have always liked it but haven’t had it in so long and thought it would be a nice addition to the table tomorrow.

I know you will all have wonderfully made dinners either by you or your well instructed off-spring. Enjoy and I love you all!Nettie

So, now that the table and jello are both set, we have a minute to send you the recipe.





Mix jello with 2 cups of hot water and be sure to disolve all of the gelatin. Add 1 cup of cold water. Place in fridge until it starts to set, about 10 minutes, maybe more, stirring occasionally.


Add the rest of the ingredients. 4 cups of whatever. Green olives, apples, carrots, pecans or black walnuts, celery, grapes. You do not have to add everything and if you can think of other things that might taste good, knock yourself out.


Pour into a jello mold, or in our case a bundt pan, refridgerate until set and ready to eat.
When ready to serve, invert the salad on a serving plate and add a dollop of mayonaise to the middle of the mold. We filled the hole in the salad up with mayo. Too bad Aunt Kathy isn't here.


Happy Thanksgiving!
Monica and Emily


7 comments:

  1. oh dear...
    on santa's wish list .....
    a new rectangular pan

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  2. I use 1/2 cup vinegar, green olives, carrots green onions, and radishes all chopped up. 1 rspn salt add to lime jello and let set. Its got a tartness to it our family loves.

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    1. THIS is what I would do with the vinegar and would definitely add radishes. I think the sweet tart flavor would be perfect for me. I would probably use an herbal sea salt that has great flavor.

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  3. It's just awful, truly awful. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Just like grandma used to make."

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  4. Beautiful! My Grandma, who was born in 1918 and passed just shy of her 101st birthday, made a "perfection salad" of a lime jello mold with included: shredded cabbage, celery, sweet pickles, green bell peppers, green olives AND topped with an "icing" of mayonnaise. She may have occasionally put sliced green grapes in it, but I'm not sure. Either way, I would do ANYTHING at Christmas to not have to eat that! Think Aunt Bethany's Lime Jello mold in "Christmas Vacation" with the cat chows in it. My sister and I still howl laughing about that. Only we didn't have Cousin Eddie to eat it all).

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  5. So beautiful...I would eat the hell out of that! I do have odd food tastes and love "weird" jello molds. They didn't used to be weird! I love your family still making it. The one in our family my Great Grandmother would make every Easter and passed down was orange jello made w/ orange juice and fruit cocktail (grapes too - peeled I think?). We'd have that every year with the Ham, Baked Beans & Scalloped Potatoes. Orange Jello is my least favorite since I had it so much, I've always much preferred lime and am a sucker for a green jello mold.

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