OK, I’m back.  And I brought with me a little something from my Mormon roots.  It kind of makes me a little ill that I even went here.  Every time I eat Jello I wonder why I am doing it even while I am doing it.  Actually, I take that back, I do know why.  It’s because I think Jello looks cool, and you can easily swallow large bites of it with little or no chewing! You can even suck it through a straw! There also exist (in my memory) a couple of Jello salads that border on being palatable.

When I was a little girl maybe 7 or 8 years old my Granny Julia would take me to the cafeteria at our local neighborhood Kmart for lunch sometimes. I always wanted the parfait cups filled with chopped up red Jello, topped with whipped cream, and then secured with a clear layer of cellophane. What was wrong with me? Was there no chocolate pudding up for grabs?

I am not going to write out a recipe here because the recipes are essentially on the boxes with minor modifications.  I was going for a candy corn theme so I used orange and lemon flavors (for their color).  This is one of my fall failures because Jello just isn’t that good unless it contains one part vodka one part water! Don’t boil the vodka! Boil the water, dissolve the jello, then add the vodka. Just in case you were wondering.  I don’t even drink, but the Jello shot recipes out there make me want to, WOW! FYI, I followed the jigglier recipe on the box, and to make them murky I added a tablespoon of heavy whipping cream.  I am sure you could use whipped cream, or milk, or half & half.  I just used what I used because it’s what I had on hand and I did not feel they needed any more sugar.  I poured them in a mini muffin tin in layers to create the correct (candy corn like) shape (allowing one hour of refrigerator time between each layer). I also coated the muffin tin with cooking spray so they would come out easily.  They still did not come out easy.  I practically had to hold a torch under each cup and melt them out!  It was quite a mess!

I’m writing this like your actually going to try it.  But you’re not going to because Jello is gross. Although if you visit their website you will see that Jello has been transported to a new level.  A level that will make you think you should dare try to venture over into Jelloland.  Is gelatin even food?

The next thing you know I will be featuring aspic recipes.  I have never tried aspic but if it is anything like the disgusting sludge surrounding SPAM and Vienna Sausages in their cans why would you?  But maybe people just make aspics because they are pretty and they can swallow large bites of them whole with little or no chewing.

If you know of an amazing Jello salad or aspic recipe, let me know!