DIY Recipe: A Wiggly Wobbly Thanksgiving Memory

CathyHeckStudio_turkey1

Recently, I was asked to speak about the career of graphic design and illustration.  While looking for some early work to show my path, I came across one of the first illustrations created when I became a free-lance illustrator in New York. This fine fat turkey came with a coupon so that cooks across America could make many-a gelatin mold to woo the Thanksgiving guests.  As I examined this friendly fellow, I began to remember a favorite Jell-O recipe that a family friend used to make for holiday dinners.  It was lovingly known as “Green Stuff.” But alas, over the years, as our gelatin recipes began to be replaced with more natural farm-to-table offerings, I realized that my own children had missed out on the joy of plopping a big pile of pastel lime-green goodness on their holiday plates.

So, in an attempt to make sure my girls enter the world with a proper exposure to some historical Jell-O recipes, I am planning on whipping up some Green Stuff this Thanksgiving to accompany our all-natural, never-been-frozen, grain-fed, calmed-with-Mozart-tapes, massaged-daily-by-local-farmers turkey.  Here’s the recipe just in case you want your children to see the world through Jell-O-colored glasses this year.  Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
P.S. Here are some photos I found on the Internet, my favorite from an article named, “what not to serve for Thanksgiving.”

 

 

 

Photos above top clockwise: Hawaiian Jellied Salad by Bear Head Soup, Lime Jello Salad – Aka ‘the Green Stuff’ from Food.com,  What Not To Serve This Thanksgiving by Holidash, Green Salad from Chubby Hubby,  Furr’s Light Green Jell-O Salad from Copykat Recipes.
Here is the recipe that I think might be the closest to the Green Stuff of my youth:

 

Furr’s Light Green Jell-O Salad:
2 boxes lime gelatin 3 oz (Jell-O)
1 can crushed pineapple 20 oz (drained)
16-oz carton small-curd cottage cheese
1/4 cup pecans (very finely crushed)
1 carton whipped topping 8 oz (Cool Whip)
2 cups boiling water
1 c cold water

 

In large mixing bowl, empty gleatin.  Add the two cups of boiling water and stir until gelatin is dissolved.  Pour 1 cup cold water into mixture and blend.  To mixture, add drained crushed pineapple, cottage cheese, and whipped topping.  Stir mixture until whipped topping is smooth and blended, there should be no large lumps of topping.  Pour into a 13” x 13” pan and sprinkle nuts on top, chill until set.  Mm-m, it’s Jell-O-ishous!

 

2 Comments

  1. Nancy Keirns November 26, 2010

    Oh yes! I do remember that green jello. And we had all those little marshmallows on top and canned fruit inside. Does it jiggle and jiggle inside us, I wondered!

  2. Muv November 27, 2010

    I must say, it was not the favorite dish of the group around your table! Sigh.

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