‘Salads’ Category

  1. Bacon Dressing Tops Wilted Salad

    July 26, 2010 by Tarrant Figlio

    Bacon! That should be enough to grab your attention. Wilted salad can sound so blah though if you have either not had one or have only had a really wilted one (which makes it icky in my opinion).

    This recipe makes 6 servings of salad. Best made fresh and served immediately. Do expand the image to read some interesting history of wilted salads. This came from The Evening Sun, but no idea what year.

    Wilted Lettuce Salad

    8 strips bacon
    1/4 cup vinegar
    2 tablespoons water
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    2 quarts torn leaf lettuce
    1/4 cup chopped green onions
    2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped

    8 minutes cooking time. Cook bacon in 10-inch skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 6 minutes. Remove bacon and drain on paper towels. Crumble bacon and set aside. Pour off all but 3 tablespoons bacon drippings. Combine vinegar, water, sugar and salt with the 3 tablespoons bacon drippings. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar, about 2 minutes. Combine lettuce, onions, and bacon in large serving bowl. Add hot vinegar mixture and toss to coat lettuce. Garnish with hard-cooked eggs and serve at once.

    Category Salads | Tags: | 5 Comments

  2. Red Hot Jello

    December 15, 2009 by Tarrant Figlio

    Magpie’s comment to my pie disaster caused me to look for the red hot jello recipe. It doesn’t appear to be here. How can that be? It is the family FAVORITE. Even the vegetarian child who knows gelatin has animal products in it makes an exception here. It is his ONLY exception.

    I have eaten this since a child and served it on holidays my entire life. This was the last food requested (and I believe the last meal eaten) by a woman whose child I cared for as her nanny. She passed away in her early 40s from breast cancer after a horrible last couple of years. Mostly though, I associate this with my kids, holidays, and gathering together in joy.

    Red Hot Jell-o

    1/4 to 1/2 cup cinnamon imperials/red hots-I encourage the kind from the candy section-the ones in the decor/baking section do not reliably dissolve perfectly and cost more. On the night before Christmas-I will take them in any form whatsoever if for some reason we are out.
    2 cups water
    1 packet Knox Gelatin
    1 large box strawberry banana Jell-o
    1 jar applesauce-unsweetened (but if you get sweetened it won’t be the end of the world)

    Set water to boil on stove with candies in it. Stir and wait for all candies to dissolve and rolling boil to be reached. While doing this mix the dry gelatin with box of strawberry gelatin. (Yeah you can do the soften gelatin in a few tablespoons of water thing-but I end up with lumps and why bother if you can mix it together dry.) When candies dissolve and you have a good boil (usually boil comes first) dump that into the gelatin combo. Stir until all gelatin is dissolved. Add one cup cold water and the jar of applesauce. Stir. Now…here is the thing about this…if you let the gelatin partially set before you add the applesauce or if you stir while the gelatin sets-you will get a more even distribution of applesauce. Otherwise, you end up with about 1/4-1 inch of non textured jello. This really doesn’t matter to anyone but me. I often forget to do this because I am too busy making other things on holidays. If you don’t add the Knox-no worries-it won’t come out as firm and I wouldn’t flip it on a plate but it is still yummy. Add another cup of cold water, more applesauce, more red hots. It is a forgiving recipe. It also doubles well.

    Category Recipes, retro food, Salads | Tags: | 1 Comment

  3. Jellied Vegetable Salad

    October 22, 2009 by Tarrant Figlio

    I confess I haven’t cooked since Sunday. I probably shouldn’t have cooked then–but of course Funeral Potatoes with Ham were a big hit. Unfortunately, I made them through a cloud of fever. I have had a lingering cold since before BlogHer Food. It had reached the eh, cough a few times phase last week. This isn’t unusual for me and colds. Then on Saturday night I felt suddenly really bad. Sunday, I continued to feel bad. In the midst of that I started running a fever. I also felt like death warmed over. Monday had me realizing that I would have to go to the doctor.

    Doctor pronounced sinus infection and probable H1N1. He ordered blood tests-because you see the scary part of me having a fever is I am on immune suppressing drugs which mean even when normal people run fevers, I do not. Luckily the blood tests didn’t say head to hospital forthwith. The blood tests said “oh she is on the low end of normal for WBC but still in the normal range” (note: when YOU have an infection your white blood count goes up) I am on antibiotics for the sinus infection. We decided against the antivirals. We are in that stage of waiting for the past three days. Bonus points: headache has gone away. Unfortunately, fever seems to come and go.

    This means I have slept/lounged all day for a couple of days. I am getting nothing done around the house. (Yes, I thought “ooooo sick days-I can clean off my desk-before realizing-oh yuck. Sick day. I wear myself out walking to the other end of the house) McDonalds kindly provided dinner last night. Goode and Fresh is providing tonight’s dinner. (though I really don’t care since antibiotics hate my guts-literally) Leftover funeral potatoes and ham were dinner the night before. At one point yesterday I cursed that we didn’t have #bertollifrozen in the house and that Bertolli is all Italian food which definitely is wearing thin around this house, at least for me.

    Tomorrow-fever or no I must work lest I go insane. I also need to change my mother’s sheets and mop her floor. I also need to figure out what I planned for meals this week. I did it on the fly and didn’t write it down though I know we got special ingredients.

    I know it won’t involve this recipe. My family has rebelled against vegetables in gelatin. This one is even beyond me to think palatable. But it does come from a Knox Gelatine cookbooklet (1961) called Meal Planning for the Sick and Convalescent with Menus and Recipes. If you are into canned peas and shredded carrots as well as aspics-you could give it a try. I am very sure that offering this as required eating to any malingerer in your family will cause instant cure though.

    Jellied Vegetable Salad

    Mix 1 envelope Knox unflavored Gelatine, 1-2 tablespoons sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt together thoroughly.

    Add 1 3/4 cups very hot water and stir until gelatine is thoroughly dissolved.

    Add 1/4 cup lemon juice. Chill to unbeaten egg white consistency.

    Fold in 1 cup shredded carrots and 1/2 cup well-drained cooked or canned peas.

    Turn into 3-4 cup mold or individual molds. Chill until firm.

    Makes 6 servings.

    Category Recipes, retro food, Salads | Tags: | 5 Comments

  4. Head Lettuce Salad with Dressing

    April 6, 2009 by Tarrant Figlio

    Spring is lettuce season! Yay! Spring! But…lettuce can get so dull. The following could be called thousand island dressing…and does resemble it. I do love the “India Relish” listed on my recipe card. If you are scratching your head–just pick the regular pickle relish from your fridge.

    Head Lettuce Salad with Dressing

    1 cup Miracle Whip Mayonnaise
    4 Tablespoons ketchup
    2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
    2 Tablespoons India Relish
    2 hard cooked eggs

    Mix well: add eggs cut in lengthwise sections. Pour over quartered heads of lettuce.

    Category Recipes, retro food, Salads, Sauces | Tags: | No Comments

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