Copper Pennies

We finally made it though the pear salad. It was not our favorite. So the next one on the list was Melon salad. Another that is not our favorite. The watermelon jello jolly rancher taste is even almost to much for Chloe. I mix mine with whip cream and it hides the jolly rancher flavor somewhat.

Melon Salad

2½ cups boiling apple juice

1 package (8 serving size) or 2 packages (4 serving size each) watermelon flavor gelatin

1½ cups cold seltzer or club soda

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 cups cantaloupe and honeydew melon cubes

Stir boiling juice into gelatin in large bowl at least 2 minutes until completely dissolved. Stir in cold seltzer and lemon juice. Refrigerate about 1½ hours until thickened (spoon drawn through leaves definite impression). Stir in melon cubes. Spoon into 6-cup mold.

Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm. Unmold. Garnish as desired.

Notice the heart on the top of the jello this time. That was my other huge garage sale find. Sitting on a lonely shelf were round disks with shapes,  no sane person would know what they were. I knew. I knew they were the top of my jello mold and all I had was the tulip, and now I have the other 3 for .25 cents each. A heart, a Christmas tree, and a star. Who has these things just laying around without the jello mold and why do you keep them? I guess to sell them in garage sales to crazy jello ladies. I feel like I should have blue hair right now. :)

Seriously this is how they were setting on the shelf. What sane person knows what these are.

To just go with the flow of being all blue haired old lady like today I have a new salad recipe for you. Except that it's actually a very old recipe that doesn't get around the way it used to. It apparently used to be big in picnics and pot lucks in the 60's but sort of fizzled out for more modern dishes. We were getting sick of pasta here and I was looking for a change and found this little gem in one of my .25 cent garage sale recipe books. (Yes, I have a cookbook addiction, but I do try not to buy more then one a week)

In the cookbook simply called 'Salads' they call it Heavenly Carrots, but I like the old name better, which is 'Copper Pennies'

Copper Pennies

2 pounds carrots

1 small green bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1 can (10½ ounces) tomato soup, undiluted

½ cup vegetable;e oil

1 cup granulated sugar

¾ cup white vinegar

1teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Salt, to taste

Peal carrots; cut into rounds or on the diagonal. Boil carrots in salted water just until tender-crisp. Drain. Toss carrots, green pepper, and onion into a bowl.

In a small mixing bowl, combine tomato soup, oil, sugar, vinegar, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well. Season to taste with salt. Pour sauce over vegetables. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

NOTE: This salad keeps for three to four days in the refrigerator.

It is surprisingly good. So good that Kurt did not wait for it to set overnight, he actually started in on it last night after I went to bed. Then he took a big helping of it for lunch today, so I think he liked the change up from the pastas, and this is like nothing we have ever had before.

On my health front. When you feel like poo all the time you forget to do things. Like take your temperature when you don't feel good. I didn't even think about it, until last night, and I'm running a constant low fever. That combined with the night sweats scare me, because in my mind night sweats and fevers will always be histoplasmosis. I do know it can be any type of infection that got into the gut, but I'm guessing the Dr runs a histo panel today just to be on the safe side. Then probably more bloods and one of those fun stool checks.