The Origins of Grandma Salad

I mentioned today that I wanted to make some Grandma Salad, and had someone asked me if it was made with kleenex, peppermints and overpowering perfume.  I laughed.  Then I realized that Grandma Salad needs a little explaining.  Since getting too long winded on Facebook is frowned upon I figured I would use this handy dandy blog here to share my thoughts on Grandma Salad.

First of all let it be known that I am opposed to almost all forms of what I consider "midwestern jellowy-ish salads".  You know the type; the ones that use various combinations of jello, pudding, cool whip, cottage cheese, nuts, and various fruits and vegetables.  Oh and don't forget the marshmallows!  For all my midwestern friends who make or like these particular concoctions, and for those from anywhere else who also like these I know you are not alone.  I'm often in the minority when it comes to my opposition to such foods, although I honestly can't understand it.  FYI I have tried many of these salads over the years just to make sure I still don't like them...I don't.  But I don't want it to be said that I'm not giving food a chance.  Just for fun I looked up some jello salad recipes online and came up with such fabulous ones as these..."Cucumber Lime Salad" in which lime jello, mayonaise, and cucumbers are combined (gag!), or how about this delicious little number..."Green Olive and Lemon Jello Salad" where you put lemon jello, onions, green olives, mayo, and the all important cottage cheese all in the same bowl!! (seriously disgusting!)  These are the actual names of the recipes by the way...who would read those titles and think,  hmm that sounds good?  And what's with mixing mayonaise into everything?  I just don't get it.  I thought I should also add that I found these recipes under the title "POTLUCK FAVORITES".  What does that say about the other food being served at these potlucks if these things are favorite items?

But moving on to more important things like Grandma Salad.  Grandma Salad is one of those things that if I saw it at a potluck before I had tried it I wouldn't have touched it.  It looks like one of "those" salads, a salad a grandma would make.  Not my grandma of course, my grandma's culunary delights included Little Debbie's oatmeal cream pies and microwave mac 'n cheese.  My grandma wasn't a cook, but she was amazingly wonderful in many other ways.  Anyway, Grandma Salad as I began calling it, is actually a recipe from the old Church of Christ cookbook that my mom decided to try.  Which is surprising since I grew up in a house that remained mostly unscathed by such types of foods.  Anyway, she made it and I immediately told her something along the lines of..."Ick why did you make that?"  or something equally as kind.  She told me just to try it because it was really good.  After doing a thorough check to make sure no cottage cheese or vegetables were hiding anywhere (I draw the line and those two items mixed with pudding or jello) I decided to try it.  And to my surprise my mother was right.  Who knew that when you take vanilla pudding, cool whip, pineapple, fruit cocktail, mandarin oranges, buttermilk, and fudge stripe cookies and mix them together the result would be such deliciousness?!  I for one did not, but after one bite I was hooked.  And now it has become one of my "potluck favorites".  So now you know everything you ever wanted to know (and so much more!) about Grandma Salad.  Which I think is actually called Fudge Cookie Salad and was a recipe by Dianne Brockman.  I want to give credit where credit is due because it is seriously yummy and it's always gone at any of our church potlucks before the last person in line goes through!