6.01.2010

we are going to have to eat that weird jello...





The story of the Pretzel Jello.  Oh, the pretzel jello indeed.


I did not grow up eating casseroles or any kind of potato or macaroni salad, coleslaw or, more importantly, jello concoctions.  My mother grew up in post WWII England.  I do not think the average household in England during the '40s and '50s ate these foods, therefore, I did not grow up eating these types of things.  I won't touch mayonnaise - yikes.  I've tried - just don't feel the love. 


Andrew Henry grew up in the midwest to parents who also grew up in the midwest.  He grew up eating all of these mixed up collaborations.  I consider (rightly or wrongly) the food his family serves at get togethers and holidays, very midwestern.  For years, YEARS, my daughter and I would not eat most of it.  Picnics and holiday buffets were a bevy of casseroles.  We would usually end up with a roll, some salad and an occasional vegetable.  Unless of course, they were serving the green bean CASSEROLE - see everything was a casserole.     

Now, one year we arrived at Easter dinner, starving.  Seriously, starving.  There was ham (won't eat it), mashed potatoes (they put mayonnaise in them - I have no idea why), the green bean mixture and the..........pretzel jello.  The green bean mixture looked the least weird to us so we ate it.  It was simply delicious.  We ate mounds. 


Still hungry but couldn't bring ourselves to eat the ham or mayonnaise mashed potatoes.   We stood there and my daughter very quietly said to me "we're gonna have to eat that weird jello".  Yes, we would.  We surely would.

As with anything in life, you just never know until you try.  I am fairly adventurous in life, not so much with food.  Daughter has grown to be quite an adventurous eater.  She's kind of a foodie.  I have improved.  Still a vegetarian and do not ask me to eat mayonnaise, ketchup, pickles, mustard or the like, but you can serve me PRETZEL FLIPPIN' JELLO anytime your heart desires.  It was so good.  Like candy.  Each bite I put in my mouth made me scold myself  "I could have been eating this all these years"! 


It's not an elegant dish and is about as far away as you can get from healthy (TONS of butter and sugar), but it's a great thing to serve once in a while during the summer.  I made it last week for the first time (don't know why it took me so long) and took it to our friends house for a night of cards.  She asked for the recipe pronto and that's all I have to say about that.  Except, I will be cutting the butter WAY down and cutting out the sugar almost entirely (will probably try agave next time).  Seriously, look at the crust when you take it out of the oven!  Can you feel your arteries clogging?


Was going to type the recipe out for you but it's all over the web.  I foolishly thought it was just Andrew Henry's family.  There is so very much I do not know.  Found the same recipe on Pioneer Woman's blog, of course, so I'm just linking you up to that one.  We used strawberries instead of the raspberries - it's all good.  I might go for dark cherry next time. 


 Have you ever eaten this magical dish?

13 comments:

Sarah Ann said...

I don't like jello but I know others love it. I live in the south and we love our casseroles and fatty foods. It's terrible, I know. And green bean casserole is the bomb.

KR said...

Never tried the Jello concoction. I am not a fan of Jello alone, I might try the 'pretzel' Jello. I believe there is no calorie difference between natural sugar and Agave. One difference between the two is the slow carb factor.

MJM said...

I don't like plain Jello, but I LOVE pretzel jello. And yes, the first time it looks and sounds freaky, but I don't know anyway who doesn't love it once they try.

Maria said...

Nope, never even heard of it until now. But, if ever presented with the chance - I think I might, now. :-D

Claire Kiefer said...

Oh my gosh . . . I've been a vegetarian for almost fifteen years now, but my true worst nightmare is mayonnaise! Totally with you on that one! If someone were torturing me and forced me to eat either a bite of chicken or a spoonful of mayonnaise, I'd totally eat the chicken. Mayonnaise is the single grossest thing in the entire world--YUCK!!!

Not sure about the pretzel jello. It would take some workin' up to for me. ;)

jeanette from everton terrace said...

As one mayo hating vegetarian to another - try the jello. I would also eat the chicken over the mayo.

Beatnheart said...

SOUNDS WAY TO WEIRD...ENGLISH HUSBAND ALSO HATES CASSOROLES OR PICNIC FOOD AS HE CALLS IT..ALSO MAYO...SO IT MUST BE A BRITISH THING. IN THE MIDWEST EVERYTHING IS A CASSOROLE.

MaiPie said...

Sounds and looks interesting...but I believe you if you say it's tasty. I can only imagine the nice crunch the pretzel adds!

Unknown said...

I also grew up in the midwest (WI to be exact) and I cannot stand mayo, brats, or cheese, and I can take or leave beer (people say I was kicked out of WI!). AND my mom NEVER made casseroles so I don't either except at Thanksgiving - I make the green bean casserole -its a fav! I'm going to try your jello - currently the fav jello in our house is a family recipe that the spouse brought to our marriage: 1 package orange jello, one container of sour cream, one large container of Cool Whip, and a can of mandarin oranges. Mix it all together (yes, keep the Jello dry), refrigerate and eat. Oh, and yes, that is the EXACT recipe - every Thanksgiving I have to guess at what size box of jello to use, how much sour cream, what size can of oranges - somehow it turns out every year and the spouse LOVES it! Oh, and he's from Montana - I think every state has their own unique food items!

Brandywine said...

Oh Yes - we do love our pretzel jello here in the midwest! But I'm not a fan of mayo and certainly not in any mashed potatoes.

Silver Strands said...

I'm definitely not a jello person, but this does actually sound good.

I completely agree about mayonnaise... yuck!

me as i am said...

thanks for visiting my blog, jeanette. i loved reading this post. you are so funny :) and you take really nice photos. thank you for sharing this funny and endearing story!

Aron said...

Never has, but I have to say, it sounds delicious!