Tell Me What You Eat...

I got an e-mail today from my friend Betty (an outstanding cook by the way) in Oregon. She had just spent time with ladies of a different generation than she(ahem...older) and was impressed, not favorably, by their recipe exchange. Specifically, she was horrified and amused that people would still be exchanging recipes for such ghastly dishes as green bean casserole and salads with marshmallows.

Betty wonders:
"The question that comes to mind is what is it about the group of people out there who think that recipes [like these] are "normal"? (I'm not sure if normal is the right word to use). Who came up with the delicious dishes like green bean casserole with cream of mushroon soup, covered with crispy fried onions? or putting marshmallows in a salad? or covering a cake with goopy PINK frosting? Is this some kind of long running cosmic joke? "

Betty, I'm sure this is not just a generational thing, and to many folks, especially in the midwest, it's no joke. I believe that recipes like these are ingrained deeply in our culture's psyche. My cousins also serve that green bean casserole every Thanksgiving and the recipe is NOT to be changed.

One year my sister and I tried adding cheese to it...it didn't fly.

In our own home we do a version with roasted root vegetables in a homemade Mornay sauce. But we still put the Durkee fried onions on top and it is a hit like you wouldn't believe. Maybe because it's a variation on that horrid convenience comfort food but with a culinary twist. Honestly, it is delicious and it is those crazy fried onions that drive the guests wild. Betty, I hope you're not too appalled.

Apparently the historic green bean casserole was invented in 1955 by a recipe developer who worked for the Campbell soup company. She developed so many recipes she doesn't even remember inventing that one.

Moving on to pink cake, those same cousins make a gigantic pink monstrosity every Easter. It is made by tearing angel food cake into pieces, packing it back into the cake mold with strawberries, then pouring strawberry Jello over the whole thing and chilling until firm. It is frosted with Cool Whip to which food coloring has been added until it is a bright pink.

One year my cousin's kid made the cake and instead of coloring the Cool Whip she poured pureed berries over the top. It was a masterpiece of mess and looked like an accident victim but it still got devoured.

Neither my sister nor I care much for Cool Whip, it looks too much like Loni Anderson's hair, so one year they relented and frosted with actual whipped cream. You know what? We liked it!


The only problem? We missed the pink.

My bro-un-law took these pics. He says he has hundreds of this cake and all its iterations from over the years. Good on ya Sock Monkey!

green bean casserole, pink cake, retro food, strawberry jello cake, pink food