There goes your image of me...

[rivka]

I made Jello tonight. For the first time in my life.

It's not the Jello of my youth, because it's lacking in canned "fruit cocktail." (My mother was a serious cook, and therefore never employed mini marshmallows.) It does have canned pears and banana slices, though.

It would never have occurred to me to make Jello, except that Alex suggested that she could bring some to school to share with the friends on her birthday. When I expressed surprise, she and Michael both informed me that they like Jello. I never knew. So we bought some, and then Michael got sick and it seemed that it would be a kindness to make something that would slip easily down his sore throat.

So, Jello. In our fridge. But I swear I draw the line well before Chef Boy-Ar-Dee canned ravioli.

Comments

[txanne.livejournal.com]

I used to remind my mother of which variety of Awful Canned Glop to buy by singing the commercials. Uh-oh, Spaghetti-Os! Thank goodness for Chef Boy-Ar-Dee!

(even now when I'm deathly ill, Chef BAD, hur hur, is all that keeps body and soul together.)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I used to remind my mother of which variety of Awful Canned Glop to buy by singing the commercials. Uh-oh, Spaghetti-Os! Thank goodness for Chef Boy-Ar-Dee!

Watch it wiggle, see it jiggle
Cool and fruity, Jello brand gelatin
Of all desserts, you'll love the one
That tastes so good and makes such fun
Make Jello brand gelatin
And make some fun!

...I can't believe that's taking up real estate in my brain.

[carbonel]

I rather like Jello. But not with anything in it, just plain.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I also like Chef Boy-Ar-Dee canned ravioli, though I haven't bought it for years. When I did cook (okay, heat) it, I added garlic and oregano. It was comfort food, despite not being a food of my childhood.

[redbird]

I bought Jello this afternoon and have already eaten some.

It's medicinal.

It's medicinal because I'm not happy with how easily my fingernails break, and decided some gelatin might help. Worst case, it does nothing, and julian_tiger and I have had a different kind of snack for a bit.

[selki.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I get Jello when my nails are doing poorly (e.g., at a salad bar), and sometimes I get pho. Happily, I like both.

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

But what is your position on Kraft Dinner?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

We buy an organic no-artificial-anything version called Annie's Mac. Alex loves it, and Michael sometimes eats it too. I can't stand the stuff. But I didn't grow up on Kraft Dinner - my mother made macaroni and cheese from scratch, and hers was really good.

I suspect that it needs to have been a childhood food.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Ewww, jello. The nurses kept convincing me to eat it when I couldn't eat and it came back up so many times I can't even think of eating it anymore.

[lizzibabe.livejournal.com]

oh I love Jello. I didn't eat it much as a child, but I get sick, and all I want is Black Cherry Jello.

I do, however, nurse a mild craving for Spaghetti-Os with weenies that I indulge occasionally.

[rms10.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, Black Cherry jello is the BEST.

And hot jello (i.e. before it sets) is also great when you're sick. Mmm, hot jello.

[eeyorerin]

When I was really depressed last fall I was pretty much subsisting on canned ravioli.

And now I am feeling better, so I am now wondering what I was thinking. (Well, I wasn't.)

[aloha-moira.livejournal.com]

I ate a LOT of Chef Boyardee ravioli as a child, as well as Dinty Moore Beef Stew (the kind with visible hunks of fat congealing at the top of the can). I'm not sure how palatable I'd find it now, but I do still like Spaghetti-Os when I'm camping. I recently had a similar conversation about Pop-Tarts... in college I ate a box of the lower-calorie cinnamon ones every other day or so and now I cannot imagine enjoying them.

But there's absolutely nothing wrong with plain Jell-O!

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I don't like the low-cal Cinnamon Sugar Pop-Tarts, but I keep a box of the regular ones for when I want something sweet. I can only get them in boxes of eight pairs now, so I frequently end up throwing out the last one or two due to date expiration.

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

My image of you is UTTERLY compatible with your making jello with fruit in it because you find out your family members like it.

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Chef Boyardee ravioli is okay, but the real shit is the spaghetti and meatballs. Oh, yeah, baby.

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

I *love* Jello. Lime with sliced bananas in it is my favorite, and mom would always make it for me when I was poorly. That and poached eggs with toast soldiers.

I also love Spaghetti-Os (although I haven't actually eaten them in years, but they were always a part of the care packages I sent Danny when he was in Iraq).

[ailbhe]

We never put fruit in jelly. Ever, as far as I know. Terrible thing to do to innocent fruit.

But we definitely made and ate jelly, often with ice-cream, throughout my childhood, and in particular when people with sore throats are finding it hard to swallow water. It's probably the easiest "cooking" a child can do, and the earliest. Well, that and boiled eggs. Not together.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Jello and ice cream?! Huh. I wouldn't have imagined that.

Fruit went into Jello because, in the culture of my youth, Jello could play the role of a side dish rather than a dessert. Kind of like sane modern people might treat a tossed salad. I remember that at church suppers they would divide up the last names by alphabet to assign dishes, and one category would always be "salad or Jello."

Alex cut up the canned pears and bananas with a butter knife. She was so incredibly proud of having a "cutting job," and also helping Dad when he was sick.

[ewein2412]

when I was pregnant with Mark, I craved jello. It is the only thing I ever craved. I could eat a whole made-up packet of it in one sitting; I got to the point where I could do all kinds of creative things with it, with fruit and cream etc., and didn't even have to look at the directions any more.

I haven't eaten it much since. But I sometimes wish I could recapture how *delicious* it seemed to me at the time.

[janetmk.livejournal.com]

In seventh-grade home ec I failed utterly at the assigned jello-making task. I was traumatized. Lesson learned: read instructions on package.

I've made jello only twice since then--before having a colonoscopy when jello is the only solid allowed.

My sister makes a yummy lime jello and cream cheese concoction.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

Taking a minority viewpoint, here, it seems: there is not a damn thing wrong with Jell-o (I prefer it as dessert, rather than as side dish, though), and I commend you for making it for your family.

[(Anonymous)]

In my middle-class, Midwest upbringing in the '60s and '70s, jello-as-side-dish featured sufficiently prominently that for my wedding shower, my aunt gave me a fancy jello mold, and seven handwritten jello recipes. Let's see (consults memory): the yellow jello with applesauce and little cinnamon candies; lime jello with coleslaw (minus the dressing - basically shredded cabbage and carrots); cherry jello with pears and banana slices; orange jello with mandarin oranges, maraschino cherries and little marshmallows...

[minnaleigh.livejournal.com]

When my family found out I was coming for Christmas, several members got very excited because they would be able to have the orange salad again. The Christmas just after I turned 8, I wanted to make a contribution to the dinner and I picked out a tasty-sounding recipe from the cookbook our church ladies put together. It was an orange Jello salad with ice cream and Dream Whip and mandarin orange slices. The ice cream was melted in the hot jello and then it was chilled a bit and the Dream Whip and orange slices folded in. It became a staple of Christmas dinner and I had to make it every year after that until my first year in the U.S. Apparently I'm the only one who can make this so they've all been missing it!

It actually is very tasty (and I don't even like orange Jello) but it's not a salad!

[kate_nepveu]

ObLink re: Jello and salads: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/002685.html

[txobserver.livejournal.com]

The older I get, the less concerned I am with the sneers of the foodies if I make my mom's 50's recipes, especially her desserts. I don't make them too frequently because they tend to be very rich and very tempting, but my mom's rum cake (made with a good quality yellow cake mix and a package of instant pudding), her bridegroom pie (Ritz cracker crust and condensed milk in the filling), and her Pecan Pie Surprise Bars (the base is a yellow cake mix) all are outrageous and much loved if brought to a pot luck. I grew up on Air Force bases and small town Texas, where the moms/wives vied to bring the best foods, and they were all of modest means, unable to use expensive and hard to obtain ingredients.

Yes, as a California transplant in my adult life, I now have access to great produce, Asian and Hispanic ingredients, and I usually make food much more in keeping with current expectations. But for comfort and for treats, nothing beats Mom's old recipe file.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Did your mom make Jello cake? My mom would make a white cake (from a mix), prick holes all over the top, and then add water to red Jello mix, pour it over the cake, and chill it. I laugh about it now, but you know, it was really tasty. I don't think I could frost it with Cool Whip, though, which is what she used to do. I believe that minnaleigh makes this recipe with real whipped cream.

[(Anonymous)]

There's a great essay called "Desserts That Quiver" in Laurie Colwin's More Home Cooking.

This link captures it fairly well:
http://musicandcats.com/2006/04/whats-for-pud/

[janetl.livejournal.com]

I always want jello when I'm sick. It's that safe first food if you haven't been eating, or a soothing snack for a sore throat. I don't go in for elaborate "jello salads" though.
My Mom's special jello salad for Christmas dinner was a festive red and green. Drain green olives. Open can of cherries, drain, reserve liquid. Prepare package of cherry jello, using the juice from the can for the cold water. Put cherries and olives in an 8 x 8 pan, pour in the jello. Chill. It's powerfully sweet and salty, and back in the day, I liked it.
The one I really liked was lime jello, with softened cream cheese stirred into it, poured over canned pears. Cut into rectangles with a half pear in each.

[telerib.livejournal.com]

Plain Jell-o was a sick food for us, but there are two "salads" that are holiday food - one's green with the cream cheese in it, with pineapple and I think nuts, and the other's some combination of red and orange Jell-os, with walnuts, apples and some other fruits, I think. I'd have to check the recipe.

...okay, that sounds nasty but we're fond of them. I like the texture differences especially.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

I've eaten canned Chef Boy-Ar-Dee canned ravioli. Once. I don't recommend it.

We are a jelly/Jello-free household. Neither d_h nor I particularly cares for it, and it invokes Agent Weasel's gag reflex. She's a smart kid. :)

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

My mother would never get Chef Boyardee products when I was a kid. I loved the taste of the forbidden fruit, though, and when I was in kindergarten frequently wrangled lunch invitations to Richie Rhinesburger's house. His mom served Spaghettios! And Velveeta cheese sandwiches! Yum!!

To this day, Spaghettios and melted Velveeta sandwiches are a comfort food for me. And Jello is lovely.