Land of the Jell-O Mold

Our church is putting together a cookbook “fundraiser.” ?It really isn’t a fundraiser per-se. ?It was more that the kitchen/custodial staff wanted a cookbook and I volunteered I said that we needed to give the old ladies something to spend their money on and tell them it was going to a good cause. ?At the time we were fundraising the heck out of the congregation for the China trip and I came up with the idea that we could spend the money on new “furnishings” for the kitchen since it is going to get remodeled this summer. ?The old ladies liked this idea, but like any Lutherans they don’t work quick. ?I wanted to send the cookbook stuff off at the beginning of March and here it is late Junuary (it has been a horribly cold June around here) and I’m still not finished with the book. ?Sometime around April I crapped out and decided to go with a publishing company because I just can’t type all of the recipes myself.

There is much more to this whole cookbook story (including me purchasing a new scanner because my old one died), but my point was Jell-O.

If you follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook you’ve seen a few random bits about Jell-O recipes. ?If you don’t know anything about Lutherans just know that Lutherans loves themselves some Jell-O molds. ?In fact, our church kitchen has a cupboard dedicated to nothing but Jell-O molds. ?Lutheran Jell-O molds nonetheless. ?They are the same as Catholic or Methodist Jell-O molds, we just use them more frequently.

When I mentioned that I was the one organizing the cookbook one of the quilters decided that we needed to include recipes from the old books too. ?Books no one has ever heard of or seen. ?But somehow the Widow Snustead (not her name, but it could be) had the last remaining copy and she marked it up for me with recipes that “should be included.” ?Knowing the Widow Stensruud I was not to argue and I went about my business photocopying parts of the old book. ?Then I began to scan the recipes.

Normally when I’m doing projects like this I put it all together and then go back and edit. ?That was my plan until I came across a recipe for Crab Salad. ?We’re from the Northwest, this might be good… if you are INSANE!

Crab Salad

2 small packages lime jello dissolved in 2 C. hot water

When partly set add:
1 C. cream, whipped
1 C. Mayonnaise
1 C. stuffed, green olives, sliced
6 hard cooked eggs, chopped
1 C. diced celery

After set put a crab louie dressing on the top and 1 C. flaked crab over the dressing.

Sounds delicious right? ?It doesn’t end there.

This morning I was going through a few more.

Chicken Gumbo Salad

1 pkg. lemon jello
1/2 C. boiling water
1 can condensed chicken gumbo soup
1 can tuna (or 1 C. diced chicken)
1/2 C. sour cream
1/2 C. mayonnaise
3 T. minced green pepper
1/2 C. diced celery
1 T. grated onion

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water, mix in remaining ingredients. Pour into a 5 C. mold or 6 – 8 individual molds. Chill until set.? Serve on lettuce, good for luncheons.

And one more just for good measure…

Delicious Sunshine Salad

2 pkg. orange jello
2 1/2 C. boiling water
1 small can crushed. drained pineapple
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 small can frozen orange juice

Mix and set in 9″ x l3″ pan.

Topping:
1 pkg. chiffon pie filling
1 C. whipping cream, whipped

Make pie filling as directed on pkg. and add whipped cream. Spread over set jello. Sprinkle grated parmesan cheese on top.

That last one was good up until the parmesan cheese on top. ?I have half a mind to do a regular feature of some of the most whacked out Lutheran Cookbook recipes since I have no less than 5 books.