It seems that just about every family has its own jello salad that it fixes during the holiday season, and in a conversation with my friend Lori from work she referred to her family's version as an "ugly jello salad." I simply couldn't resist this title, and while admittedly not all of the traditional family jello salads are truly ugly in appearance and actually are quite tasty… this is how I'll continue to think of them for a very long time.
So here they are - a selection of recipes. Ugly jello salads!
Avocado-Cottage Cheese Mold
Perfection Salad
Black Cherry Whee
Cranberry Surprise Salad
Ginger Ale Salad
Great Grandma's Pink Stuff
Jellied Potato Salad
Pineapple Chiffon Salad
Pretzel Jello Salad
Tomato Soup Salad
Avocado-Cottage Cheese Mold
Lori Amato's mom
Lori says this salad is pretty darn good!
1sm pkg lemon jello
1 sm pkg lime jello
2 C boiling water
1 med can crushed pineapple with liquid
1 C mashed ripe avocado
1 C evaporated milk
1/2 C mayonnaise
1 pint sm curd cottage cheese
1 C chopped walnuts or pecans
Dissolve jello in boiling water; cool. Stir in pineapple; refrigerate until partially congealed. Fold in remaining ingredients; pour into 1 1/2 quart mold and refrigerate overnight.
Perfection Salad
Julie's Family's Recipe
A family recipe dating back to the early part of the century, by my great-grandmother. I have a tendency to think of this as Grandpa’s salad, because he always prepared it for us. My sister Cathy still makes it for our family gatherings.
I've discovered that Perfection Salad is not something unique to our family - there are a lot of old recipes out there on the internet for it. They're all pretty similar to the one below.
1 cup boiling water
1 pkg. (3oz) lemon jello
2 Tbsp vinagar or lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1 cup cold water
1 cup finely diced celery
1 cup finely shredded cabbage
1 Tbsp dried minced onion
2 Tbsp chopped pimientos
mayonnaise
Pour boiling water over jello in bowl. Stir until jello is disolved. Stir in vinagar, and veggies, salt and cold water. Pour into mold, chill until firm. Serve unmolded on chilled plate, topped with a generous dollop of mayonnaise (family tradition of the last 25 years or so demands that you use Best Foods brand -whatever you do, do not use Miracle Whip!). If preferred, use 1/2 cup celery and 1 cup grated carrot. 6-8 servings.
Black Cherry Whee!
1 cup cream cheese, softened
1/8 cup walnuts, chopped fine
1 1/2 cup black cherries, pitted
1 pkg black cherry jello
Mix together softened cream cheese with chopped walnuts. Fill each pitted cherry with cream cheese mixture. Mix jello according to package directions. Carefully mix in filled black cherries. Pour into jello mold and chill. The cheese may leak into the jello a little. That's okay… it may look really bad, but reports are that this salad tastes really great.
Cranberry Surprise Salad
1 pkg lime gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
1/4 c grated onion
1/2 c chopped green pepper
1/2 c crushed pineapple, well drained
Cranberry layer:
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold cranberry juice
3 /12 cups hot cranberry juice
1/2 cup sugar
Dissolve lime gelatin in boiling water. Add lemon juice and salt. Chill until partially set. Combine sour cream and next 3 ingredients; add to first mixture. Pour into 2 quart ring mold. Chill.
Soften unflavored gelatin in cold juice; dissolve in hot juice. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Chill until partially set; pour over lime ring. Chill until firm in fridge. About 12 servings.
Ginger Ale Salad
From Fannie Farmer, 1912
The Woman's Home Companion
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup ginger ale
1 cup diced fresh or canned fruit, any combination
2 Tbsp crystallized ginger (optional)
6 lettuce leaves
Soften gelatin in cold water in a large heat-proof bowl, set over boiling water and stir until gelatin dissolves. Mix in orange juice, lemon juice, sugar and salt. Cool to room temperature, add ginger ale and then chill until the consistency of unbeaten egg white, about 30 minutes. Fold in fruit and ginger, then divide among 6 individual molds and chill several hours, or until set, about 3 hours. Unmold on lettuce and serve.
Great Grandma's Pink Stuff
Julie's mom
From Mom: "My grandmother used to make something for Dad and then he for us and then for me and mine. I think we called it "That Pink Stuff." I'm sure it had a real name."
1 pkg cherry jello
1 cup whipping cream, whipped or 1 small carton Cool Whip
1 small jar maraschino cherries
1/2 cup blanched almond quarters
1 cup mini marshmallows
Prepare a package of cherry jello according to directions. Put into refrigerator and let it slightly firm. It should jiggle a little bit but not be syrupy. Take the slightly-set jello from fridge and beat it with a hand beater or mixer until it is in very small pieces but not smooth. Then add whipping cream, whipped, or a small carton of Cool Whip.
Take a small jar of maraschino cherries, quarter them, add to these ingredients. Take the blanched, quartered almonds (the blanching is very important) and add them. Then add the marshmallows; we used to cut big ones up but you can put in the mini ones if you want. Fold all the ingredients together well and put mixture into a jello mold and let set completely. Serve and enjoy!
Jellied Potato Salad
1 1/2 tsp plain gelatin
2 Tbsp cold water
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup diced cooked potato
1/4 cup dried onion flakes
2 oz chopped ham
2 oz low-fat mozzarella cheese, in small cubes
1 hard-cooked egg, diced
1 tsp cider vinegar
1/8 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp celery seed
1 Tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 tsp prepared mustard
2 Tbsp plain yogurt
sliced cucumber for-garnish
Soak gelatin in cold water for 2 minutes. Add boiling water and stir to dissolve gelatin. Chill until it becomes the consistency of egg white. Combine potatoes, onion, ham, cheese and egg. In a separate bowl mix vinegar, pepper, celery seed, mayonnaise, mustard and yogurt. Add to potato mixture and toss to coat well.
Beat gelatin mixture until fluffy. Combine with potato mixture and pour into 2-3 cup mold or bowl. Chill to set. Unmold and garnish with sliced cucumber on lettuce leaves.
Again, this might sound like a really weird recipe, but apparently it's pretty popular at the picnics it's taken to...
Pineapple Chiffon Salad
1 cup crushed pineapple
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup hot water
1 cup grated American or cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 pint whipping cream, whipped
Cook pineapple and sugar for five minutes. Soak gelatin in cold water, and dissolve in hot water. Mix with hot pineapple mixture. Chill until it begins to thicken. Fold in whipped cream, nuts and cheese and put in 8 inch square pan to congeal. About 9 large servings.
Pretzel Jello Salad
I've made this salad myself in the past, and actually like it quite a lot! I know it sounds weird, but the combination of sweet and salty is very tasty. It came out a little too sweet, though, so if I made it again I might tone it down a bit.
2 cups crushed pretzels
3/4 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp sugar
8 oz cream cheese, softened
8 oz Cool Whip, thawed
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp grated lemon rind
6 oz berry jello
2 cups boiling water
2 10 oz frozen berries
Mix together the crushed pretzels, melted butter, and the sugar. Press into a 9"x13" pan and bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.
Mix together the softened cream cheese, Cool Whip, sugar, vanilla, and grated lemon rind. Spread on the cooled crust in pan.
Dissolve the jello in the boiling water and mix in the frozen berries. Carefully pour into pan and refrigerate until set. Enjoy!
Tomato Soup Salad
Sort of a modern version of tomato aspic…
1 10 3-4 oz can tomato soup
2 oz pkg lemon jello
1 cup mayo
1 c diced celery
1 c finely chopped olives
1 c cottage cheese
1 c grated carrots
Heat soup to boiling point and add jello. Let set until slightly cool. Add mayo, mix well. Let set a little longer until starts to thicken and add remaining ingredients. Pour in a 9x9 pan and chill. Serves nine. Can be frozen. Good served with meat.
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