Eating Lime Jello

Greg took off this afternoon to go ride the Dixie 311 course in Utah with Mike and some other boys. With 50-plus backcountry miles per day and five ridiculously steep mountain climbs in a week, it's just a tad much for me, so I'm staying home where I'll spend the week sitting around eating bon-bons. And whatever other naughty things I think I can't get away with eating while Greg is here.

I feel like a bit of a food-schizo, being of rural southern roots, with some of my favorite old comfort foods being Grandma recipes and Mom recipes that include a can of cream of chicken soup, but having been raised in the San Francisco Bay Area with its amazing, cutting edge, innovative, world class food, which I also really love.

Eating well most of the time is important to me, especially when the garden is burgeoning with lovely organic veggies and greens to saute and have with some brown rice -- one of the easiest and yummiest meals ever! The red stuff is beet chutney, also from the garden, that we canned last fall.

From dirt & dogs

Still, I sometimes yearn for the less-than-healthy foods of my childhood. Knowing that non-southern-roots-ers would likely not appreciate them, I don't usually subject friends or Greg to these foods. I save them for times like this when I have the week to myself and no witnesses. My baby brother will come revel in these meals with me, but he's sworn to secrecy.

First on the week's list of guilty pleasure foods is a lime Jello salad that one of my grandmothers used to make for holiday dinners. It's not as bad as the Jello monstrosities that have marshmallows, mayonnaise and maraschino cherries in them, but, alas, it is Jello. It is, however, I tell myself, sort of a healthy-ish version of jello salad: chopped pecans, celery, cottage cheese, a couple of other less mentionable ingredients. I love it.

When I asked Greg what he'd think about eating it he said, "Mm, yes, I can see that. I mean, after all, it is made from delicious, refreshing horse hooves." Well, I guess we know who won't be getting any -- not that there will be any left by the time he returns.

~ trina