A to Z Monday
..the edible edition


Brought to you this week by the letter U


As in UN

click on all pictures to enlarge

 For the UN-Cola....7-UP

Let's start with a bit of trivia about 7-Up.   Notice the eight little bubbles on the bottle on the right?   Yeah, long ago in the 1930's or 1940's someone in the bottling plant probably said something like, shouldn't this stuff  be called Eight-Up?  But, since that would mean  firing the boss and his wife changing all the graphics, business cards and email addresses, the decision was made to just eliminate a bubble.

That doesn't mean that all the bubbles on the buildings and trucks had to be eliminated.

The old metal coolers!   Didn't every family have one and didn't it have some kind of advertising on it?   Ours said Coleman, which must have been an ancient soft drink.

And wasn't Dad a hoot after guzzling a half a dozen 7-Ups?   When he played circus clown, the laughs came fast and furious.

But then maybe Dad was spiking his 7-Up with gin.   Who didn't?   I mean it was the mixer of choice until Canada Dry came up with Collins mix.  Of course some people like their gin on the rocks. 

Now Grandma J would  be amiss if she didn't mention the  nutritional benefits of  weaning baby with 7-Up.  And just in case you couldn't get enough  7-Up as your beverage choice...... 

They created a 7-Up Cook Book filled with a plethora of tasty recipes!!

Now go get yourself a 7-Up, then check out all the other U foods at A to Z Mondays, hosted by Jen at unglazed.

A to Z Monday...
the edible edition

 Brought to you this week by the letter K  


OK, this really isn't a food...but a food supplement.

Grandma J is talking about Vitamin K.  

And to make it officially a food post....

 Kale is loaded with vitamin K.

And, so is Kohlrabi  Ok, so maybe it isn't loaded with Vitamin K, but it starts with the letter K.   Have you ever had Kohlrabi?

Please go check out all the other A to Z Monday  K foods hosted by Jen at Unglazed.  

A to Z Monday
...the edible edition

Brought to you by the letter J for JELL-O. And, don't you just know, there's always room for JELL-O.




Grandma J wants to talk to you about vintage JELL-O. Ok, this isn’t exactly Vintage JELL-O! Because vintage is something she knows all about first hand, and wants to share with you.


Let's get started....

JELL-O was instrumental in spreading gossip across party lines in 1933. Big Brother had nothing on Cora Manning.

               

 

And, of course JELL-O was the hit at all college dorms in 1934. Even today, JELLO is a college staple.....

picture of five zillion jello shots goes here

Fast forward to the dorm refrigerator, 2010......That's right, you can thank great grandma for JELL-O shots.

 

Of course there was nothing like JELL-O to help with the family budget. No stimulus or bailouts needed in the '30. Of course the Great Depression was in full swing, and that meant Grandma J's grandmother was serving up blue potatoes. You've never heard of blue potatoes? Someday Grandma J will share that story if she hasn't already.

Of course, in 1933, the Depression had very little effect on Mrs. Dewey as she introduced a plethora of new JELL-O recipes.

In the 50's Jello was a favorite at Jack's birthday party......poor Jack.

Let's fast forward to the late '60s, early '70s when our nation fell into la-la land, and people walked around with flowers in their hair smoked pot, dropped acid out , and sang Kumbyah....

and women of high fashion with thin hair wore hats that looked like a JELL-O mold.

Yeah, the era had no flies on the JELL-O creative art department.......eating JELL-O could make you wish you were a whale.......

......or a psychedelic zebra........

Have you ever, in your wildest days, wanted to be a Yak?

And, if you actually turned into a human version of a whale....well, JELL-O could fix that too.

Grandma J was a new bride when this recipe came on the scene in the 60's. What a blast from the past because when she made this pie, her young family thought she was the Betty Croker of JELL-O.

 

Now, here is an ad that freaks out Grandma J....without hallucinogens! Brace yourself.....

Is it any wonder why these JELL-O for Salad packs never really became a big hit?


Now you can go make yourself some jello, or you  can read the history of JELL-O at Wiki.




Now, mosey on over to Jen's blog, Unglazed and check out a plethora of J foods. And if you are still in your jammies, then you may as well stay put and join us at A to Z Mondays. I'll even help you.....tell us what you know about JuJu B's, and if Grandma J spelled that wrong then you can always mention that in your post.

If you can't see the pictures, it's because they were just little X's and Grandma J removed them, then tried to put them back.... so use your imagination.   Seriously, trying to fix this  problem (which is probably a Blogger-wide issue) has created bigger ones for Grandma J......some involving a guy named Jack Daniels, which is serious in itself.

 

A to Z Monday
the ingestable edition

Brought to you by the letter i

instant coffee....the latest company to enter the market is Starbucks...Grandma J tried it, because someone bought her some. 

instant coffee isn't for everybody, but Grandma J didn't want to get involved with too much talk about ice cream.  Because....ice cream is really her favorite i food, and her biggest temptation. 

Now,  let's take a walk down my grandmother's memory lane.  Here is a plethora of some vintage instant coffee ads...just for you.

Remember, just click on the ads to enlarge for easy reading.

Who does this?   Anyone hand  feed that special someone in your life their morning Borden's coffee?

George Washington instant coffee was a trailblazer in the instant coffee business....however, it never made it across the Delaware.

But, George Washington was no fool, nor was he a wimp.  Men everywhere were learning how to boil water.  What an epiphany!

Hot or cold, instant coffee was becoming a big hit in the 40's.

Looks like instant Chase & Sanborn finally made it down the Pike in the 50's!

But alas, in the 60's it was Nescafe who introduced the New Jet Process that explodes pure coffee.

Grandma J can tell you, instant coffee had nothing on plain old instant milk......

Betty Crocker introduced her brand in the 40's boasting the fact that it didn't spoil or curdle.  

 Grandma J can't help but wonder how it shrunk that woman on the right to make her short enough to play a child in that ad.   An added bonus is the recipe for swedish meatballs.

Of course  MIL-KO instant milk was compared to water, and  cheaper too, but with only half the calories of whole milk.  All Grandma J can say is no kidding.   Grandma J remembers her mother trying on numerous occasions, to jump on the instant milk bandwagon in the 50's with Carnation instant milk.  She should have stuck with it for baking and cooking only.....it never went over in a big way with her family for drinking or cereal.   It tasted awful and it looked like dirty yellowy water.

Did you grow up with instant milk?   Do you drink instant coffee? 

Now, mosey on over to A to Z Mondays, hosted by Jen at Unglazed, and check out some fascinating i foods.   It's never too late to join in!

A to Z Monday
.....the edible edition

Brought to you this week by the letter H for....

This is the stuff Grandma J's father used to call the Mystery Meat...or maybe that was Spam. Yeah, that's probably it.

That's probably the reason Grandma J makes her Hash by grinding her own meat.  Well, she really doesn't, but her mother, Rita used to grind her own meat to make hash and other yummy dishes that required ground up meat.  

Rita never said anything, but I don't think grinding up meat was her cup of tea because she wasn't a big meat eater, and confessed that she'd probably be a vegetarian if she wasn't married to a son of a farmer who loved meat.  Unfortunately Rita's husband only trusted the content of meat that was ground up at home....by Rita.

click on all pictures to enlarge

Rita could never serve up this delectable dish.  Doesn't Mary Kitchen make canned hash look yummy?

Grandma J is just fine with Mary Kitchen's canned hash....when she eats hash. But, not this tomato bowl.

Not so sure about Burns hash.  Of course it may not be this color in real life.

This isn't hash....but Grandma J loved the saying,  Food For Hollow Legs.  She also loved the little cowboys and indian with their weapons.   Just so you know, Grandma J had weapons as a kid, and she's sad that her grandkids can't get weapons as easily as she could.  Instead they just kick each other play video games.

Grandma J has no idea who this man is, or what kind of hash he's serving up.  She just thought he looked like Kenny Rogers.  So, she's just gonna call this Kenny Roger's Hash.

Please rush on over to Jen's blog, Unglazed and check out the other A to Z Monday entries.   It's never to late to join in.

A to Z Mondays
.....the ingestable stuff


Brought to you by the letter G....

as in Gumdrops.

Once again, Grandma J is getting her entry posted just under the wire.


Today has been a day of thunder, lightning, flooding and tornado warnings here in Central Texas.  None of these things have stopped Grandma J from taking her life in her hands  getting on the internet in the past.....but today Time Warner chickened out and cut service.  OK, they said they weren't responsible for the outage, they said it was Mother Nature....yeah right.

Either way, someone flooded Grandma J's yard!

Now, about those Gumdrops!

Besides the regular ones, there are these that just seem to glow....

Here's a cream cheese Gumdrop cake.  Click on the link for the recipe.   Grandma J might make this one day. 

Now I have to hustle on over to see all the other edible G words at A to Z Mondays, hosted by Jen at Unglazed.   Want to join in?  It's never too late....I'm proof of that.