Potlucky

Perhaps 360 days out of the year I consider Jello to be a faux food, a hideous abomination with no place in my pantry.  When spring rolls around, however, I occasionally crave one of the Jello salads my mother served when we were children.  (I know, some of you probably still have snow on the ground, but the temps have been in the 80's and 90's here.  Arizona blasted right past spring into summer.)

Recently I had to take something to a potluck dinner, so I made this salad, hoping I would have leftovers enough for at least a couple of al fresco meals on my screened porch.  I wasn't quite that lucky, but by serving the remains on a plate of mixed greens I did manage one yummy lunch.

I don't know where Mom originally got this recipe, but I'm guessing a women's magazine in the 1960's.

TUNA JELLO SALAD

1 package lemon or lime Jello (I prefer lemon)
1 cup boiling water
3 hard-boiled eggs, sliced horizontally
6 pimiento-stuffed green olives, sliced
1 cup diced celery
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup canned tuna (drained)

Dissolve the Jello in the boiling water and pour half of it into a 9"x9" glass pan.  Arrange the egg and olive slices in the pan with the Jello.  Set aside. Mix the other half of the Jello with the celery, mayo, and tuna.  Refrigerate both mixtures until the Jello with eggs and olives is stiff; then pour the tuna mixture on top of it.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve, cut into squares and carefully place them upside down on salad plates (with or without a bed of lettuce).  The Jello with eggs and olives should end up on top. 

Note: To make this marginally more healthy, use sugar-free Jello, water-packed tuna, and light mayonnaise or a mixture of light mayo and low-fat plain yogurt.

“It's as if we spend our entire lives avoiding Jell-O but it is always there at the end, waiting.”
~ John Grisham, Ford County