Ruth Ann's Strawberry Salad

 My mother hated to cook. HATED it. In a later era, and with some investment and encouragement (which she never got), she might have been either a concert pianist or a college professor.  Instead, she was a secretary, and retired to be a housewife. I may be biased, and my own preferences may be showing (whoops!), but I don't think she was ever very happy.

So, not liking her role, she read a lot and cut corners. She was the 1950s queen of frozen food. Canned foods were also high on the list -- green beans, for example, which were boiled until they were a sodden mess. 

It didn't help that Dad was a picky eater, and wanted nothing more than, as the Brits say, "meat and two veg."  Though I do have a suspicion that the Brits ate much better than we did, most nights. Much better.

Meat was always, always well done, if you consider that flaky brown stuff we had meat. I never knew meat had any taste, and to this day I lean vegetarian -- although veggies didn't have much taste, either.

There were no salads. I lived at home till I was 20 years old, and never had a homemade salad. Dad wouldn't eat them. 

What a miracle it is, then, that I do have a few recipes from my mom that I treasure. I'll post one now and then. You'll notice, with a smile, that they involve little actual cooking. Because ... Mom. 

RUTH ANN'S STRAWBERRY SALAD

This was as close as we got to a real salad. Note that it calls for frozen strawberries and canned pineapple. It also calls for bananas, but Dad wouldn't eat those. I do use them when I make this.

You may, of course, make this with fresh strawberries and pineapple. I don't, simply because I'm afraid the liquid proportions would be off. I do use sugar-free jello and light sour cream, because when I make this I tend to gobble some at every meal until it's gone. 

2 small packages strawberry jello, regular or sugar-free

2 cups frozen strawberries

1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple (not sliced. Why? Beats me.)

3 mashed bananas (the hand-written recipe says "peeled, mashed bananas," because ... Mom)

1 pint sour cream, regular or light

Dissolve jello in 1.5 cups boiling water, in a heat-proof dish. Slice frozen berries into jello, then mix in mashed bananas.  Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Add in pineapple and add no more than 1/2 cup of reserved juice to jello mixture. Mix, cover and refrigerate. 

When jello is firm, spread sour cream on top. Use as little as you like, or the whole pint. Go for it. Think of it as thick frosting.  I do! Then refrigerate till mealtime.

Mom made this recipe often. I think she got away with it because Dad thought it was dessert. Just saying.