Tuesday, June 21, 2011

J-E-L-L-O !!

I love to collect old recipe booklets, especially ones with beautiful color drawings. When we lived in Rochester there was an exhibit of watercolor drawings from the Jello Museum in Le Roy, NY, where Jello was invented! So we got to see some of the original drawings that are in the Jello booklets I have collected. Many early magazine and advertising illustrators were women, someone should write a book about this subject.

I like the price on the cover of this booklet.


Isn't Jello wonderful the way you can see through it?


I never could unmold it successfully....


Paradise Pudding looks divine!

I used to make a Jello 'Sunshine Salad' when Kathy was young. It consisted of orange jello, crushed pineapple, and grated carrots. Although pretty much a desert, it was a way of getting nutritious carrots into the diet! I haven't made it in a long time. It's time to revisit the Sunshine Salad...

The MOULI Salad Maker!

I have been considering the purchase of a food processor, so I could start making Sunshine Salad again. (Grating carrots with a hand grater is a dangerous occupation for me.) I had to go up to New Albany recently to pick up a repaired ring. When there I always like to visit a couple of consignment/jumble shops. At the first one I found the most amazing little gadget, probably from the 1950's, in it's original box, the MOULI Salad Maker. For $8 I thought I could afford to take it home and try it.

Starting with fresh carrots from the Farmers' Market, wash, scrub, trim ends. Set up the Salad Maker and give it a whirl. I chose the medium shredder disc, slipped it in, attached the handle, and grated several carrots in no time. It takes a little elbow grease to hold the paddle down.

Grated carrots, a few grapes cut in half, and Jello quick-cooling......

In the 'frig' for an hour or so...........

Pls. note on the lower shelf a product my mother loved, and which will make the Sunshine Salad taste even more delicious....Cool Whip!

The MOULI Salad Maker with the other four blades:

The finest blade can be used to shave ice! More possibilities.

I just happend to borrow this little recipe book from the library, and there are many interesting recipes for shaved ice deserts!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Pretty Stuffed Peppers

We love to eat. And when we eat out with friends, what do we talk about? Food!! Farmers' markets are everywhere now, thank goodness. During the summer months we get close to overdosing on vegetables, if that is possible. Very few trips to the supermarket are needed, as we can buy most ingredients at our Farmers' Market.

Peppers are so pretty, the Bosts always have a colorful variety of them. For this dish, all the ingredients were found at the Farmers' Market: peppers, cherry tomatoes, herbed goat cheese, and whole wheat bread.

Preboil the peppers until slightly tender. Cube slices of whole wheat bread and brush lightly with olive oil and toss with fresh or dry herbs. Bake the croutons until crisp. Toss croutons, goat cheese, cherry tomatoes and more herbs in a large bowl. Stuff the peppers with the mixture. Bake for approximately 1/2 hour. Mmmm, so delicious.

The flowers also came from the Farmers' Market.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

A Button Display

Some buttons are just too pretty to be used on clothing, stored in a closet. I wanted a way to display some of the buttons I have collected, mostly new buttons, some vintage and antique. Here they are hanging from the 'Forget-Me-Not' shelf in my studio, in honor of my sister, who loves forget-me-nots. The doll is holding a photo of Carolyn taken a long time ago, at Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Lenox. She is shrugging her shoulders in the photo, as if to say, "Don't forget to take me home with you!"


To display the buttons I tore a strip of canvas fabric, glued a little piece of cardboard to the back, made two holes with an awl, and strung a ribbon through the holes. Each button was either sewn to the canvas, or the shank was pushed through the fabric and held in place with a piece of toothpick.