When I was at the library book sale the other weekend, I picked up a handful of “community cookbooks,” those that are put together as a fundraiser typically for some organization and various members contribute their favorite recipes. Some of them were old and they’re fun to read through for forgotten ideas. One of them had a whole bunch of different gelatin salads. It reminded me that jello with fruit cocktail, and sometimes miniature marshmallows, used to be a fairly common after-school snack for us. My mom had a few fancier salads that she would make in these copper molds. I used to have a few of the molds and then “lost” them. However last time I went to my niece’s I saw them hanging on her wall and remembered that I’d given them to her! I told her if she got tired of them, I’d take them back for fun, but was glad to see they were in the family.
I did take out for dinner last night, a reward for some good test scores for my eldest. She chose In-n-Out Burgers. The meals all come with sodas and I don’t drink soda very often, although it’s a big treat for the girls. I remembered one of the salads I’d seen had soda in it, so got a Sprite for myself and used it to make the salad. The measurements were a bit sketchy: one package of gelatin–uh, what size? I thought that when I was a kid jello only came in one size so I used the smaller box. Then it was a 303 can of applesauce. Huh? Luckily one of my old cookbooks converted that to 2 cups for me. And one can of soda–I presumed they meant 12 ounces. The salad didn’t set up quite as firm as I’d have liked so I think it might be better with less liquid or more gelatin. Maybe 2 smaller or 1 larger box of jello next time so I’m putting that below.
- 2 3 oz packages of cherry jello (or the larger 6 oz size obviously)
- 2 cups applesauce
- 12 oz lemon-lime soda
Heat the applesauce to boiling and stir in the jello until it’s dissolved. Add the soda and refrigerate until firm.
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