Jell-O Love Wheel

Valentine's Day is the most romantic day of the year. All those cherubs and roses! Have you decided what delectable delights you will eat by candlelight tonight? As always, Curly Wurly has some entirely serviceable ideas that will undeniably set a distinctive mood. Heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and lobster tails have been done. Why not take a spin on these Jell-O brand menu wheels? Who knew that choosing which Jell-O salad goes with which meat is even more difficult than selecting the wine!

Feeling like Chicken tonight? This little coterie looks dazzling next to the Peaches a l'Orange! If you prefer your chicken fried, you might be interested in the Orange Glow Salad. That special crunch of pineapples and carrots is the perfect complement to the crispy coating!


Making Pork Chops tonight? Once again, if you're opting for fried, you want a crunchy salad accompaniment. Apple Crunch Salad is your best bet; it packs a triple crunch with its trio of apple, celery, and nuts! Apparently, breaded pork chops require something unusual and smooth. How about Saucy Yogurt Salad? I don't think I've ever seen an aspic salad quite like this one, though I have to say that there's nothing too objectionable in it.


There's no group of food that is more romantic than seafood; oysters, lobster, and shrimp have long been linked to love. I'm confident that fish slabs and this Pimiento Circle, that seems to shine as if lit from within, is the most romantic menu option for Valentine's Day. For something a little zestier, you can try the Pickle Salad (aka Cucumber Dill Slice).


It's never too early in the holiday season to make the ham. Give it a nice tropical glaze and pair it with the Pineapple Lime Temptation. Better yet, serve up the Banana Greens salad. It's so great that Jell-O insists it's 'great with any ham dish'!


Or, there is always the Carrot Cheese Ring, which is also great with any ham dish.


As many cookbooks have revealed, the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach. If that is so, hamburger is surely a one-way ticket. Leave off the buns, omit the fries, and feed him the Ranch Relish Salad or the Tangy Tomato Mold. Just wait until he tells the whole neighborhood what a great cook you are!


Another hamburger salad option is the Red Red Salad. Strawberry flavored gelatin, catsup, and green pepper! Best to serve with some Red Red Wine.


The Longhorn Salad is practically an extension of the steak dinner. Or, better yet, make him feel like a king with the Asparagus Castle! For future reference, food should probably not be named after an edifice that is meant to withstand attack from hostile invaders.


Bell Pepper Salad also goes well with steak dinners!


So does the French Bean Basket! Plus, 'basket' sounds less imposing than 'castle.'

For more Jell-O (and don't we all want more Jell-O?), wiggle on over to Months of Edible Celebrations to take a look at Louise's assortment of Jell-O booklets! Now, some of the desserts in her booklets might actually pass for romance!

200: Resolution #4: Add excitement!

Was 2008 a humdrum year for you? Perhaps your resolution for '09 is to break through the barrier of monotony and routine and create for yourself a more exciting, lively year. But how do you transform yourself from lifelessness and fatigue to vim and vitality? The Coca Cola Company has long insisted the 'Coke adds life,' so the obvious extension of their claim is to guzzle down as much Coke as you can possibly muster. And none of those second-rate other brands will do; if the can or bottle doesn't specify 'Coke,' then not only will it not 'add life,' but it will probably taketh away!

Once you start drinking more crisp, refreshing Coca-Cola, you'll notice that your diet just can't keep up with this amazing elixir. How could it? The Coca Cola Company divined this problem in 1978 and had a set of recipe cards created to address the issue head on. Feast your eyes on this 'Easy Meals' set from the 'Coke adds life to... your cooking' recipe collection.

Introductory card from Helen Geist, director of the Culinary Arts Institute.


Baked Ham and Sweet Potatoes - This dish requires two beverages: the mandatory Coke accompaniment and the orange juice marinade in which the ham is soaked. The ham does sort of look as if some of the Coke was spilled on it, though.


Beef Polynesian - The contents of this platter are largely unidentifiable. See if you can spot these ingredients: ground beef, mushrooms, golden raisins, green peas, orange slices, and cashews. The fried rice may or may not be seasoned with an ingenious mixture of Coca-Cola, curry powder, and soy sauce, but it must definitely be served with Coca-Cola.


Chicken Hawaiian Turnovers - Don't stray from Polynesia just yet! Chicken Hawaiian Turnovers capitalize on the crepe craze by stuffing chicken, banana slices, and pineapple into a paper-thin crepe. To ensure the authenticity of the dish (not to mention your enjoyment of it), it is best served with Coca-Cola.


The Comfy Buffet Casserole - You weren't thinking of making this delectable casserole and not drinking Coke with it, were you? To be fair, it's only spaghetti with added corn, but the Coke makes it so much more than that!


Lamb Patties on Eggplant Slices - This is a hideous crime against eggplant. Only that cure-all, Coca-Cola, can make this sight better!


Parmesan Macaroni Casserole - Usually one thinks of Coke as the ideal beverage for meats, but it's equally good with pastas or, in this case, macaroni and cheese with ham and green pepper!


Planked Fish Fillet Dinner - Ahoy there! Have a filling banquet on the high seas with this slab of fish and potato.. and a few cans of Coke!


Pork Chops with Onion and Lemon - So simple yet so classy.. made all the more stylish with cans filled with the energizing tonic, Coca-Cola!


Shrimp and Rice Au Gratin - Shrimp nestle near a bed of processed cheese cubes in the fanciest dish yet! Skip the wine and the champagne, and uncork a bottle of domestic Coca-Cola!

Man, is Coca-Cola good!!

Underwood Spreads A Feast

A few days ago, I was looking through an empty recipe portfolio, and, tucked into one of the last pages, I found a little booklet that appeared to have never been opened. My eyes lit up when I spied the Underwood devil logo on the cover. The Underwood devil has been the sign of premium quality spreads since 1870, and Underwood has remained the preeminent brand of deviled potted meats. They certainly have always been the favored brand of deviled potted meats in my house! According to the B&G Foods, Inc. website, Underwood has expanded its production to include spreadable roast beef, sardines, and even non-spreadable potted meats. Underwood Spreads A Feast: 30 new recipes from Underwood Kitchens probably dates from the mid-1970s.

Your next banquet can look like this! Scoops of your favorite meat paste sprinkled with greenery and hard-cooked eggs stuffed with Chicken Spread are just a few of the adventurous snacks to serve at your next fête.


Deviled Ham and the Chicken and Liverwurst Spreads featuring the classic Underwood packaging. Note the pairing of the bedeviled meat pots with the bacchanalian grape bunch. Balanced lunch or infernal temptation?


Sweet and savory paired in unusual ways! These Glazed Ham & Peach Sandwiches will entice the young with their playful pinwheel simplicity. Bonus recipe (in large version): The Breakfast Sandwich (for teen-agers) knocks the Egg McMuffin off its greasy pedestal!


Chicken Go-Rounds - I generally try not to post too many appetizing pictures on the blog, but I can't see how you'd go wrong with the combination of cottage cheese, tomato, and chicken spread. The addition of the avocado background only makes it more mouth-watering!


Totem Pole Sandwiches are a 1970s take on the long-lost art of canapé making. Are they finger sandwiches or kabobs? It doesn't matter as long as you have them sticking out of a dirty planter!

Encyclopedia Repulsica, vol. 9 (Sod-Ste)

Volume 15 of the Family Circle Illustrated Library of Cooking has few pictures of interest. While the highlight is Family Circle's signature Sodden Steak, there are a small handful of soup and steak foodscapes that are surely as bland and runny or tough and gristly as their pictures suggest. This edition also features some intriguing presentation ideas that could possibly impress the least impressible.

Running out of candles, the hostess discovered that her taper-like breadsticks made a satisfactory substitution.


Is this a group of 'Soda Fountain Sensations' or are they from the 'Soup Kettle'?! These glasses seem to contain either a beverage, soup, sauce, dip, or relish, but all glasses don't appear to contain something from the same family! Also, why is there lemon gelatin in a mug with a hard-boiled egg on top?!


The featured recipe on this page is the Tomato Consomme (under the category of Clear Or Thin Soups). But who's looking at the soup?! To be honest, the room's so dark, it's hard to see anything but the sparkling gelatin!


The artful Anchovy Steak 'wears an olive and anchovy lattice trim.' It looks like a board game!


'Is this a steak? It is, indeed,' teases the caption. Why, this is a sinfully luscious Steak Bombe with Stuffed Tomato Cups!

Encyclopedia Repulsica, vol. 8 (San-Sea)

We've made it to volume 14 of the Family Circle Illustrated Library of Cooking! Volume 14 is the coveted San-Sea edition of the series, which includes delicacies made from the fruits of the surf as well as various foods coated in sand.

It is often stated that the modern hors d'oeuvres industry has never achieved the level of inventiveness of the 'good old days' of hors d'oeuvres design. Here is picture proof. Here we see a display of the 'Sea's Bounty.' That is, indeed, Glazed Tuna-Salmon Mold decorated with radish scales, a green pepper caudal fin, and a green olive eye. The cantaloupe formation is reminiscent of the maw of some bloodthirsty undersea creature. Schools of deviled eggs and stuffed mushrooms teem around it for protection.


On a more appetizing note, here's a toasted sandwich of grape jam and honey mustard. Mmm.


This really is a peanut butter and lettuce sandwich. With a pickle on top. Really.


Here is a hot crustacean band, or another view of the Glazed Tuna-Salmon Mold. I love how it's completely encircled by a champagne-colored gelatin. Is that really necessary? Does the gelatin increase the palatability somehow? Also nice is the Lobster Salad Supreme (that's the stuff spilling out of the poor lobster)!


Finally, Stuffed Lobster, 'a snappy seafood salad made of frozen lobster tails and a bottled French dressing.' I actually thought the lobster tails were stuffed with roasted marshmallows. The cucumber mold is the perfect complementary touch!

Encyclopedia Repulsica, vol. 7 (Pot-Sal)

Excerpts from volume 13 (Pot-Sal) of Family Circle Illustrated Library of Cooking. Interestingly, there is no recipe for potato salad in this volume!

This menu proposes that teenagers have arrived at your house 'by the carload.' The book doesn't say whether the ravenous teenagers are friends of your youngsters or if they're a roving gang looking for sustenance. Pizza, the book insists, is 'the easiest way to cope with hungry teenagers.' I don't think that these two pies would be considered pizza to most teenagers, though! Here we see the crowd-pleasing Ham-and-Salami Pizza and the Antipasto Pizza.


The roast matches the walls, the table, and the salad!!! This is Pimiento-Stuffed Lamb with that gravel from fish tanks sprinkled over top.


The main heading of this section is 'Roasts: The Comeback Trail' which sounds vaguely political. I certainly wouldn't vote for anyone who would endorse any of these dishes! This page: Boeuf à la Mode en Gelée, Sweet and Pungent Pork, and the top of Cabbage Head's cranium.


'Cool Molded Pork Loaf is an appetizing work of art' - This is perhaps my favorite of all the Dadaist aspics.

Encyclopedia Repulsica, vol. 6 (Lun-Nut)

Today's retrospective of the Family Circle Illustrated Library of Cooking has us examining volume 11 in the series. (Lun-Nut) covers lunch ideas for when you're tired of pickle and pimiento loaf or grilled spam, unique decorations for your Sunday brunch, and jellied poultry.

'What lunchbox toter wouldn't welcome one of these?' That's what I want to know!


It came from the deep to make your lunch box (or bag) appealing!


A scene from the play A Lunch For All Seasons starring Baked Salmon Mousse with Poulette Sauce and Duchess Potato Nests with Peas.


Starbucks' new taste of spring: Watercress Frappé (with optional radish rose). Try this new flavor sensation with soy milk!


Showpiece Centerpieces for Lunches and Brunches - See what you can do with asparagus and a melon!


More centerpieces - You'll never look at eggplant and watermelon the same!


The last two dishes fall into the latter part of the book, the 'You've Got To Be Nuts To Make This' section - 'When you're down to the tag ends of a turkey, it's time to make a sensational Avocado-Turkey Crown.' I'm not sure what that means, but the mere fact that you can't make this dish until you're down to them doesn't bode well.


'Chicken Indienne is a curry, all right, but it's a cool and shimmery mold with chutney sealed on top.' - The text seems to be a bit defensive about this dish being a curry and quickly tries to distract the reader with its refreshing gelatinous nature. Strange!

Encyclopedia Repulsica, vol. 5 (Egg-Lan)

The Sun-Gold Egg Mold is 'a diadem of hard-cooked eggs, sparkling under a gelatin glaze.' Hovering o'er a halo of cuke slices! In actuality, the 'diadem' looks like a gruesome scientific experiment.


Probably the most frightening interpretation of the Swedish Smorgasbord yet. Includes Salmon in Aspic and.. other stuff in aspic.


Cornucopia Ham Glacé is one showy star on your Easter table!


These hotdogs seem to be wrapped in some sort of meat and sprinkled with some onions. I was trying to determine which recipe this was, but, after perusing all the 'Hotdog Happenings' in the book, including the Hotdog Hoedown, the Frankfurter Fiesta, the Hotdog Winders, and even the Hotdog Saucies (not to mention the Pickle Pups and the Trade-Winds Treasure Dogs), I couldn't find mention of a non-bacon meat wrapped round a frank. It is surely a glorious idea, though.


The Weiner Tiara Bake - A traditional dish served at the annual Miss America inaugural luncheon (and, allegedly, the tiara that the contestants actually want!)


Ah, 'The Joy Of Cooking For Others'! But it's hard not to be discouraged when others are calling your 'super-rich thick' milkshakes 'Awful Awfuls'.. Of all the concoctions I see in these cookbooks, a normal milkshake seems the least awful Awful of all! This scene is, by the way, a birthday party, and the Rocket Cones are pretty neat!