Lime Perfection Salad (From Mom's Recipe Card File)

My sister and I went to lunch with one of our cousins a while back, and saw Lime Perfection Salad listed on the menu as one of the choices of side items.  Well, it wasn't what I expected; it was lime Jell-O with pineapple in it, and a dab of mayonnaise on the side.  There were a few things missing from it, as far as I was concerned.

This is another vintage recipe from my mom's recipe card file.  She got it from one of my great aunts, Auntie Ruth.  She married my dad's mother's brother, Raymond, and they treated Dad like their own son, so we visited them quite a bit.  When we ate dinner with them, more often than not, they'd have Lime Perfection Salad, and that's where I first had it.

In their younger days, Auntie Ruth and Uncle Raymond had run a tea room in Boston, and this is something they served there.  If I had known what the ingredients were ahead of time, I probably would have refused to eat it, but it is delicious!  I used to make it and take it to work for lunch.

Just for fun, I Googled "lime perfection salad" and oh, the hits!  But there was only one that was even close to what I'm used to.  Most had lime Jell-O, pineapple, and CABBAGE as ingredients.  Uh, NO.  One was almost the same, except for the addition of sweetened condensed milk.  I think that would be too sweet.  A couple had cream cheese in them.  Hmmmm...

Anyway, here's the version I'M used to, and it's pretty good!

Lime Perfection Salad (8 servings)

1 large package of lime Jell-O (or lemon!)
2 c boiling water (NO COLD WATER)
2 c cottage cheese
1 20-oz can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 c mayonnaise

Dissolve the Jell-O in the boiling water.  Stir in the remaining ingredients.  Pour into a gelatin mold, or divide among 8 small molds or bowls.  Refrigerate until well set.

NOTE:  It's not necessary to stir after first mixing in the cottage cheese, pineapple, and mayonnaise.  The mixture doesn't tend to separate like most gelatin molds do.

My Seventh Communitty Supported Agriculture (CSA) Box - What I Got

I picked up my produce box at Teter Organic Farm, and on the way home, it started to rain - a real frog strangler!  I was glad I got my stuff loaded into the car before all THAT started.  We've had a lot of rain the past few days, and I'm tired of it - UGH.

So this week, we got some mixed salad greens (two bags!), some assorted small sweet peppers, more new potatoes (YAY!), slicer tomatoes, cherry tomatoes (I didn't take any since I'm not a fan), beets (double-YAY!), and some bonus bell peppers.

I'm looking forward to making wilted lettuce again - break out the bacon!!!  And more roasted potatoes.  Or, I have a recipe to try for roasted chicken breasts, potatoes, and carrots that sounds REALLY good.

And the beets - one of my favorites.  I'm afraid that when I cook these, they'll bleed all over the place and look pale and washed out.  To prevent that, you're supposed to leave a couple of inches of the stems on, but alas, there are no stems on these lovelies.  Maybe roasted they won't do that.  I'll need to do some research!

This is also the first week of  EGG SHARES!  For the next eight weeks, I'll pick up a dozen eggs every other week.  The new chickens have finally started to lay, so now we can not only provide eggs to families who attend the free Thursday night dinners at the church and donate eggs to a local food pantry, but we can sell shares.  The idea is for the shares to cover the costs of keeping the chickens, making them a sustainable part of the farm.  Of course, I'm super excited to get my paws on some "fruit of hen" because I help care for the lovely ladies.  Some of their eggs are beyond jumbo, so it will be fun to watch for double yolks!

Caprese Salad - A CSA Box Recipe

Caprese Salad

Tomatoes, sliced
Olive oil
Salt
Fresh mozarella cheese
Fresh basil leaves, chiffonade (about 10-15 leaves)
Balsamic glaze

Arrange tomato slices on a plate or platter.  Drizzle olive oil over the slices.  Lightly salt all the tomatoes.  Arrange the cheese pieces and basil leaves over the tomatoes.  Drizzle balsamic glaze over all.

This is a great way to use up the late summer tomato explosion, and it's quick and easy to make.   

My Fifth CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Box - What I Got

Here's this week's haul from Teter Organic Farm!

Slicing tomatoes, onions, assorted sweet peppers, carrots, cherry tomatoes (traded for an additional slicer), and (wait for it)...NEW POTATOES!

I am SO EXCITED for the potatoes!  I will probably do something wonderful with them tomorrow - maybe roasted...YUM.

I still have so many onions that I'm going to chop them all up and freeze them.  I use a lot of chopped onions when I cook, but right now, I'm not cooking much because it's hot outside, and raw onions and I don't see eye to eye most of the time.  So, they will be chopped up and put in cold storage.  Sounds like Mafia hit to me.

I also have an abundance of tomatoes from my CSA boxes, PLUS my backyard tomato plants are on the verge of ripening.  There are boatloads of huge green tomatoes, but three of them have started to get a little blush to them.

You know what that means.

Soon those plants will bury me in mountains of tomato-ey goodness.  I've already been eating tomato sandwiches and Caprese salads (watch for them to be featured on upcoming Wednesdays), but I won't be able to keep up just by doing that.

Most of them will end up canned.  Tomatoes are easy to can, and they are pretty in the jars - like red jewels on the shelf.  I sometimes have a hard time bringing myself to open them because it seems such a shame to spoil the display, but I manage to overcome my aesthetic sense, raid the larder, and actually USE THEM.

I'll give some away, too.  I've already had a couple of requests, so...!

How do you use up a bumper crop of tomatoes?  Let me know in the Comments!