I was at a used bookstore the other day, when my eye fell upon a book entitled "The New Joys of Jell-O". It was copyrighted in 1973, and I knew right away that I had to have it. And it was only 75 cents! Truly a bargain.

Now, I wasn't buying it because I want to learn about new ways to use Jell-O. No, we all know that Jell-O has pretty much one use: it makes pretty, super sweet, bland desserts. However, I was sure that any new Jell-O ideas suggested by the maker of Jell-O would prove to be spectacularly horrid. I was not dissapointed.

The book goes along fairly innocuously at first. We are treated to a number of recipes, all variations on the "dump some poor, unsuspecting fruit in a bowl of Jell-O, and then throw in some Cool Whip/Cottage Cheese/Sour Cream for good measure" theme. We've all certainly eaten such a concoction at one time or another.

Then, I turned to page 65: "Salads That Help Make the Meal"

The first recipe that would help you make a meal was called "Green Goddess Salad Bowl." We need no more proof that this book is from the 70's than the words "Green Goddess", a type of salad dressing long since out of fashion. This was a new way to use Jell-O! For I have certainly never seen nor heard of taking Lime Jell-O and adding garlic salt, salt, pepper, sour cream, mayonnaise, vinegar and anchovies and then topping it with canned crab and avocados! I don't know why that never occurred to me!

This lovely salad is followed by "Salad Nicoise" (tuna, green beans, olives, lemon Jell-O!), "Antipasto Salad" (why not stir chunks of salami and swiss cheese into Lemon Jell-O?), and "Chicken Mousse" ( what if we use use chicken broth instead of water, stir in Dream Whip and diced chicken and firm it up in a loaf pan until we can slice it?).

Additional chapters outline how to make a "Barbecue" mold (the "secret" is tomato sauce!), and "Jellied Gazpacho". There's also a section for dieters. I can guarantee you will lose weight with these as there is no way you could choke down more than one bite of "Molded Ham and Egg Salad".

Yes, these were indeed new ways to use Jell-O. Remind me some time to tell you about the all Jell-O wedding buffet they suggest.