Favorite Recipes of Home Economics Teachers - Salads

This post will drive my friend, Granny, over in Australia, nuts!!! It is not customary to have jello (or congealed) salads in Australia. I got a big laugh out of that one! She said the first time she came to America, she was astounded to see Americans with "jelly" on their plate!!!

Anyway.

I have several old, old cookbooks from the "Favorite Recipes of Home Economics Teachers" series, dating back to the early 1960s. This one features salad recipes - all kinds! After seeing that my previous post from this series continues to get a lot of online visits, I did a little exploring and found out the Favorite Recipes Press is alive and well and has a website as well as quite a following from the public.

You can tell by a quick look at the table of contents that this is an old book. They refer to pasta salads as "macaroni salads!"

Over the years, I have used this volume quite a bit and have gotten my share of compliments.

Here is a quote from the Introduction to this book: "To exchange recipes is an age-old custom. To share a favorite recipe symbolizes friendliness and good will, as well as pride in one's culinary performance. The recipes in this book were contributed voluntarily by home economics teachers who had used them and found them to be good enough to recommend to others as a favorite recipe."

Here are a couple of recipes that I like. Let me know what you think.

7-UP Salad (For those readers outside the US who may not be familiar with the term "7 UP," it is a soda (or soft drink). Not sure if it is still sold (I'm not a soda drinker!) It is similar to a lemon-lime soda. I have often used ginger ale in this recipe rather than 7 UP.

1 small package lime jello
1 cup boiling water
2 small packages cream cheese
1 small can crushed pineapple
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 6oz. bottle of 7-UP

Dissolve jello in boiling water. Cool. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into jello mold and chill.
Note: I use an old Tupperware jello mold that makes an attractive display on the table. You could simply use any bowl.


Cold Meat Salad

2 cups leftover roast, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup tart apple, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine meat, celery and apple. Mix mayo thoroughly with mustard and salt. Add to meat mixture. Toss lightly until well coated. Serve on crisp lettuce leaves.