Friday Friend Recipe #110--Grandma's Orange Salad

My Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown #110!

(#willreallyfinishthissomeday)

Tomi's Grandma's Orange Salad

and you know all the whys and wherefores of this countdown, right? Homemade cookbook, friends contributed, Handyman said I couldn't/wouldn't do it, I'll show him, yadda yadda yadda....

Grandma's Orange Salad

Tomi Pingree

Kaysville, UT

1 11oz can mandarin oranges

1 8oz can crushed pineapple

water

1 6oz pkg orange jello

1 pint softened orange sherbet

2 med. firm bananas sliced

Drain fruit, reserving juices. Set fruit aside. Add water to juices to measure 2 cups. Bring to a boil in saucepan; pour over jello in large bowl.  Stir until dissolved. Stir in sherbet till smooth. Chill until partially set. Fold in 3 fruits.  Pour into a 6 cup mold coated with non-stick cooking spray. Chill till firm.

(Tomi usually just puts it into a pretty bowl rather than using a mold)

**And I added cool whip into the mixture

And now to my Tomi story.  This is her 4th appearance in the Friday Friend Cookbook (you can see all her recipes here)

As I've mentioned before, Tomi and I would spend endless hours, first, exercising to Richard Simmons (remember the days of Richard Simmons Never say Diet?) and then talk about food and what we were cooking, while our 6 kids ran amuck.   They didn't really run amuck, and a couple of them were in school, so we probably only had 4 kids running amuck at the time.

We were able to catch up and have lunch this summer.   A 3-hour lunch was NOT ENOUGH TIME!

When I look thru the Friday Friend Notebooks, I find that Tomi  didn't answer a lot -- she said she always answered in her head, but when it came to putting it to paper, she thought it sounded weird.

For the record--it didn't.  But she is a thinker, unlike me, who is a bluter-outer and just write down whatever comes out of my mouth!

Like this:

One time, a long time ago, about 29 years ago to be exact, the Handyman and I decided to go camping for a few days with our boys, and to do a bit of hiking.

Lamoille Canyon, a beautiful place in Northern Nevada, was only about 30 miles from our home, and they have some really nice high lakes and we thought we would hike a couple of those and just sit around a campfire in the evenings (at our basecamp--these are day hikes for us) and relax,  and you know, get away from people.

So one evening we are sitting in our campground and we see a car driving up the road.  Now there are tons of empty camping/picnicking spots around--TONS.  But this car pulls up right to the one next to us.

This was me:

Seriously?

I can't believe it?

Really?  Right next to us?

I don't want to have to make nice chit-chat with some weirdos.  Don't they know? You don't crowd people!!

What the hell?!

The car pulls up, the people start pulling a cooler and camp chairs out of their trunk, they don't really notice us-- I mean, of course publicly recognize and give greeting to-- and all of the sudden I notice it's Tomi and Stuart and their kids.

I shout:

What are you doing? Following us?

Then of course, there was laughter all around (thank God, she hadn't heard me complain about them, before I knew who they were!) and she said,  "We just wanted to get up in the trees where it's cooler, for a little cookout.  It's been so hot in town!!"

They didn't know we were up there camping! And she just wanted her favorite spot--weird people (us) be damned!

So, we ended up having a cookout together!

Now, let me ask you something.

When you go to a campground and use the public grill, so you cover it with foil before grilling your food, OR do you light a big fire and think/pray that the fire kills all the 'stuff' on the grill?

To be honest, I was young and had never really thought about it, AND the Handyman does all grilling--he never covers the grill just burns it all off (and home he brushes and cleans it of course, but out in the wild, naw,  he just burns the crap out of the grill).

Tomi had her foil and covered the grill.

A lesson learned Handyman!

Remember, the camera adds 10 lbs! 

Although Tomi looks great!

Photos courtesy of my granddaughter Cassandra!

After a pizza lunch we went to the park so my grandkids could run amuck just like our kids used to do.

(this lunch took place during the infamous July 2016, when I had grandkids for on solid month)