concerning kitchen snobbery - recipe #1

So, Cranberry banana salad with mayonnaise and nuts. Yeah, what do you say about something like that? I mean, something nice to say. I can't think of anything off the top of my head so instead, here's the recipe.

3oz. lemon flavored gelatin powder

1.25 cups boiling water

14oz. whole cranberry sauce

2 medium bananas, sliced

1/3 cup finely chopped nuts

mayo and nuts for garnish.

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir in cranberry sauce. Chill until syrupy. Fold bananas and nuts into thickened jelly. Pour into 4 cup mold or serving bowl. Chill. Garnish with small dollops of mayonnaise sprinkled with nuts. Also may be chilled in an 8x8 inch pan for serving in squares on a bed of lettuce. Cuts into 9 squares.

So there you have it, recipe #1. I went shopping for the ingedients and this is what it cost to make:

lemon jello - .59

whole cranberry sauce - 2.49

bananas - .56

nuts - 4.99 ( type wasn't specified so I bought peanuts)

I have already run into my first experiment glitch. Do I list the amount the ingredient actually cost me to purchase, or do I figure out how much of the ingredient I used and use that price in the total? The peanuts cost me 4.99 but I won't use all of them, ditto for things like mayonnaise. My executive decision is to list the actual cost, but then mention how much of that ingredient I actually used. A rough estimate should be all we need.

Tell me you aren't hungry when you see this:

It takes a little over an hour to become 'syrupy', although I let my salad sit a bit too long and it really starts to gel. In go the chopped banana and the chopped peanuts. It looks, well, what can I say...I'm having second thoughts. Let's just say this is the first time the phrase "maybe it will look better once I decorate it with mayonnaise" has gone through my mind.

And here is the finished product, in all its, um, glory. Glory is a strong word. I had trouble deciding how to serve it, exactly. Eventually I decided that since it was in the salad section it should be served as one, and I think it added a little 1950s crazy to my sausages and potatos.

So, the verdict. Well, on the plus side it was quick to make. Perhaps 5 minutes of actual chopping, stirring, grinding the nuts and so forth. It set in a few hours and I suppose that makes the recipe a good one for very busy people who don't have time to prepare food. On the negative end, however, it was pretty awful. I mean, I wouldn't say it was revolting, certainly I could swallow it, but it didn't inspire you to take another bite. It was quite sweet and tasted of peanut butter, jelly and banana sandwiches. Also it looked terrible, as you can see. I couldn't bring myself to add the mayonnaise because frankly it was awful enough as it was.

Well, at least I can say I tried it.