So last night, I couldn't sleep. I thought of maybe making cupcakes or bread, or something that required the use of the oven, because really, it cools off quite a bit at night, and the heat would have just blended in with the daytime temperature.

I sat down by my cookbook shelf, and looked through all my neglected cookbooks. So many neglected cookbooks. I'll fully admit, I'm a compulsive cookbook purchaser. I'm mostly attracted to niche cookbooks- cookbooks that have some sort of hook, or theme- Something different than the typical betty crocker bible. Also, I LOVE the kind that have a photo for every recipe. Then there are the kind that I rarely open, but have plenty of. Brand cookbooks.  I don't usually buy them, but my mom does. Then she passes them on to me, and being the kind of girl who can't let a cookbook go without a home, I take them in and let them live amongst the rest of my cookbooks.

Some of them are so simple, they're not even recipes. Putting coolwhip and chocolate pudding together in a pre-made graham cracker crust (thank you- keebler) isn't a recipe. Its assembly.

But some of them are pretty darn cool. Like this Jello recipe book that I've been harboring for the past few years.



Its as old as I am, having been printed in 1981, so I feel a sort of kinship with it.

also, I happen to think the price tag on the front is HILARious..


You know, because.. well, we all know what gelatin is made of, right?

Anyways, so this book has some pretty nifty recipes in it. Sure, It was made in the 80's, so as expected, there are more Jello salad recipes than you could expect to see at a church potluck in Utah, but still, if you think of it as more of an idea book, its very helpful. I mean, everything you could ever hope to learn about jello, can be found within its pages. I never thought about making Jello marshamallows, but really, marshamallows are made with gelatin, so it makes sense! It tells about making moist cakes with it, how to add fruit to it, how to make different textures (whipped, flaked, cubed, cutout, tilted, layered) and a lot more.

My favourite thing about it, is that while most of the "recipes" are more like the assembly directions you'd find in most brand cookbooks, These are way more creative.

Like the "recipe" I used to make Lime Jello Sherbet-







A few ingredients that most people have around their house, no fancy equipment, and best of all, It only takes a few hours to make it, and then overnight in the fridge for it to be finished!  I should know, I made mine between Midnight and 4:30AM this morning.

Needless to say, I'm pretty impressed with this simple recipe. I'm pretty impressed with my Jello cookbooks too. I've got two different ones, "The joys of Jello", and "Easy homemade desserts with Jello pudding", Which, obviously, focuses on Jello pudding, rather than Jello Gelatin. (It also is three years older, and has more real recipes, AND it holds the coveted Jello Pudding pop recipe from my childhood)

I'm thinking I'll be doing more Jello recipes this summer. There is very little heat involved with most of them, and the bright colours really make it feel like summer.

-A.