“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It Goes On.”
Robert Frost
Showing posts with label throwback. Show all posts
Showing posts with label throwback. Show all posts

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Throwback Thursday - 50 years of Cool Whip


Happy Birthday Cool Whip, you're 50 years old this year!

source

Most of you are familiar with "Cool Whip".  It's one of those items that Martha Stewart has probably never eaten.  But back when I was growing up it was a staple in our household, it replaced another 'almost food' item called Dream Whip.  Don't get me started on that foul concoction. I'm not sure if they even make it anymore....

Anyway, we're here today to talk Cool Whip which was brought to a supermarket near you back in 1966.  Do you remember that catchy phrase and commercial jingle in the late 80's, called Cool Whip's the One?
If not let me refresh your memory....






The lyrics as far as I could make out are something like....

"What makes everything so whip smackin',
lip smackin'... a-aah good... mm-mm
Cool Whip's the one, that whipped creamy taste.

Cool Whip's the One,
That makes it whip smackin',
lip smackin'... a-aah good, yeah!
Cool Whip's the one,
That whipped creamy taste,
Cool Whip's the One!"

OK so wasn't that fun! Never mind that the debate still rages as far as whether Cool Whip is a food or not... Health nuts, don't lecture me... it's not as though we eat this stuff everyday. Besides, if you've ever eaten a prepared salad dressing or pretty much any processed food you've eaten the ingredients that are in Cool Whip!

Now back to my story,.... so my Mom loved to make Jell-O Salads and they almost always had a Cool Whip addition to them.  By the way Jello-O is twice as old as Cool Whip!  Sometimes the Cool Whip was incorporated into the salad or it was just a festive dollop on top. I remember how a plain old cherry Jell-O with sliced bananas suspended inside was transformed into a work of art when Cool Whip was slathered on top and sprinkled with chopped walnuts! My mom served it in a clear glass salad bowl and to a ten year old kid it looked like a sparkling jewel!

One reason cooks love Cool Whip is because it holds it's shape for a long time.  Regular whipped cream will start to melt and break down, especially in warm conditions.  That's why Cool Whip was a popular item for all those pot-lucks and church dinners!

So I can't leave you without sharing a simple recipe that has tons of variations all over the internet. Is it a dessert, is it a salad?  Who cares, it is delicious!  Here's my favorite...




Fruit Cocktail Cottage Cheese Salad
1 box Lemon or Lime Jell-O (3 oz.)
1 can crushed pineapple (8 oz.)
1 can fruit cocktail (14 oz.)
1 small container Cool Whip (10 oz.)  UPDATE: I now use Truwhip instead.
1 container small curd cottage cheese (16 oz.)

Drain the fruit cocktail juice into a glass measuring cup and heat in microwave until hot (about 30 seconds) or heat in a small pan on your stove. Remove from heat and stir in the Jell-O and mix until it's dissolved. Set aside to cool to room temperature while you prepare the other ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the pineapple, cottage cheese and the fruit cocktail. HINT- To help this set faster, I refrigerate the canned fruit ahead of time so that it is cold.

Add your dissolved Jell-O and stir to combine.  Fold in the Cool Whip and transfer to a large serving bowl or container and refrigerate for several hours. It will have a somewhat soft consistency.

More HINTS-- Use any flavor Jell-O you like. If you like less sweet and more like a salad, add 1/2 cup sour cream or 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt in addition to the cottage cheese. If you want it more like a dessert, add marshmallows.  Want nuts, add some. You can do pretty much anything to this salad/dessert and it will turn out yummy!








Want this salad but without the Cool Whip? Here's a recipe for whipped cream, try substituting it for the Cool Whip. Best if eaten the same day, remember the real whipped cream might not hold up as long as Cool Whip.

UPDATE: I no longer use Cool Whip as they have been using High Fructose Corn Syrup and other questionable ingredients in this product. I use a product called Truwhip instead.

Homemade Whipped Cream
1 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt

Pour the heavy cream into a large metal bowl with crushed ice under the bowl.

Add about a 1/3 cup of sugar and a tiny pinch of salt.
Whip for approximately 5 minutes until it forms soft peaks. Must be  keep refrigerated for best results.

Disclaimer.... These are my personal opinions, I'm not being reimbursed for anything I say or do on my blog!

Hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane! 
So the burning question... Is Cool Whip a Food? 

Thanks for joining me on Throwback Thursday!
~~~ Diane ~~~



Thursday, April 3, 2014

April Showers


April Showers Bring May Flowers.... I'm sure you've all heard this common phrase, but do you remember the old song by the same name?







April Showers

Life is not a highway strewn with flowers,
Still it holds a goodly share of bliss,
When the sun gives way to April showers,
Here is the point you should never miss.

When April showers may come your way
They bring the flowers that bloom in May
So when it's raining have no regrets
Because it isn't raining rain you know
It's raining violets

And when you see clouds up on a hill
You know they'll bring crowds of daffodils
So just keep looking for a bluebird
And listening for his song

Whenever April showers come along
And when you see clouds up on the hill
You know there'll be crowds of daffodils
So just keep looking for a bluebird
And listening for his song
Whenever April showers come along....

Lyrics by B.G. De Sylva, published in 1921






This was the finale of the show GE Theatre 1956. Garland had just finished performing on live TV in front of millions of viewers and then exits up the stairs. I've read that messing up her hair was a nervous habit throughout her entire career, especially on her TV series in 1960's.  While this may not be her best performance, I still prefer her take on this song better than any other I have come across.
I really wish someone would record this song in a fresh new way.
Judy Garland was born June 10, 1922, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

Does anyone know the name of another famous song that Judy sang that included bluebirds?

Have a great weekend everyone!
~ Diane ~




Thursday, July 25, 2013

Down Memory Lane




One of my brother's recently turned 60 years old.  As we reminisced about the good old days we also came to the harsh realization that we are getting old! How this happened we could not determine, but sure enough, when you look at the calendar and figure up the years, we are indeed old.

During our conversation my brother requested some of the old photos I had stored away.  He wanted to get some copies so he could quiz my Uncle about some of the relatives in the really ancient pictures. 






Year after year, the relatives start to slip away.....the ones who still remember all the names in the old photos.  My gift to my brother was a promise that by next summer I would have all the pictures copied on a disk for him.  As I started paging through my Mom's old photo albums, I noticed a theme with my pictures, I seemed to always have a cat as a prop!  Or maybe, I just always had a cat in my arms. I know they were my constant companions, so it is no surprise to see my image grasping a cat.







My brothers were several years older and I was almost like an only child at times.  There were no kids that lived close by, so many days I would play alone.  My bond with felines was obviously established at a young age and will continue all my life. My introverted nature helped me cope with being alone so much.  I actually preferred spending time with  adults or much older children than myself. That is probably where I honed my listening and observational skills!

Some day I will get all of these photos copied and I hope to share more of them with you.  I have sworn to my brothers to never put pictures of them beyond age ten anywhere on the internet, but they never read this, so I might sneak one in sometime down the road.





What kind of things start you down the path of memory lane!





Thursday, May 30, 2013

Rocky and Bullwinkle




Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel


It's Throwback Thursday!
Let's go back in time in the WABAC machine and visit The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.




Mr. Peabody and Sherman in front of the WABAC machine
 (pronounced Way Back for you youngsters out there).


The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show was produced from 1959-1961 and later went into syndication and appeared until 1973.  The series was the result of the collaboration of Jay Ward and Alex Anderson.  The show was for children, but had plenty of clever puns and topical references that also appealed to adults. There were lots of outrageous characters and goofy plots that kept everyone entertained. The name of Bullwinkle came from a car dealership in Berkeley, California that was called Bullwinkel Motors.





              Three versions of the Fractured Fairy Tales Intro Theme music.


The fictional town where Bullwinkle lived was called Frostbite Falls Minnesota. Much debate ensued over which real town this was based on. In Minnesota one candidate was the town of International Falls.  The Canadians were also included in the show, who could forget Dudley Do-right the love-struck Canadian Mountie! Other favorite skits within the show were Fractured Fairy Tales, Peabody's Improbable History, Mr. Know-It-All and Aesop and Son.





This zany show was created during the cold war and the satirical look at politics was evident in the characters of the no-good-nicks Boris and Natasha. Fortunately for Rocky and Bullwinkle, these spies were incompetent and ended up the victims of there own devilish ways.  I still find the show to be quite funny and now as an adult it has a whole new meaning. It was very cleverly written with lots of innuendos thrown in.



This is just a peek into the past, if you would like to know more about the show or just want to refresh your vintage memory, check out this link at FunTrivia.



Next to Rocky and Bullwinkle the Fractured Fairy Tales were my favorite feature.

The two most memorable lines from the show are....

 "And now, here's something we hope you'll really like!" -- Rocky.
 "Hey Rocky, watch, me pull a rabbit out of my hat." ---Bullwinkle

The joke with Bullwinkle was that he usually pulled a lion or Rocky out of the hat, but never a rabbit!


Here is a trivia question for you.  In the 'Dudley Do-Right' features, Dudley was always trying to gain the affections of the beautiful Nell. She was in love with another. Does anyone remember towards who were Nell's affections directed? 




Thursday, April 25, 2013

Please Invent a New Cone of Silence

"throwback -- A sudden reminder of the past. This can be brought about by hearing a song from high school, seeing an ex..... Similar to a flashback." source
I've decided to start a new periodic Thursday theme called "Throwback Thursday"; it may or may not occur again, just depends if anyone else finds it amusing. Because after all this blog is all about you the reader. Well OK not all about you, it's mostly about me and my weird thoughts about stuff.  But well I guess I am getting to that age when I start to sound like my parents, when they said things like "Do you remember back when ...blah, blah?" I unfortunately usually stopped listening about then.

Anyway this whole idea about the cone of silence came about when my husband and I were trying to have a quiet lunch out the other day.  We ended up sitting across from an obnoxious cell phone user and thus my husband reminded me about the cone of silence. No idea what I am talking about??? Then you are a mere child and let me educate you.

This gadget was used on the old Get Smart show (1965-1970)  on NBC.  The gag was that it didn't actually work and they could never hear each other but everyone else could hear them. Still no idea what I am talking about, here is a classic bit from the show.




Well I would like a cone of silence that really does work in a slightly different way!  Ideally  with the press of a button the cone of silence would envelope me in a euphoric force field type bubble that sound waves could not penetrate or at the least would be diminished to a whisper.  I  can think of several times this would come in handy.

For example the other day while shopping a mother and her sweet toddler were discussing whether said child should be hanging on the side of the cart.  A disagreement ensued and said child started shrieking so loud I thought me ear drums would burst!  Or how about those pesky cellphone users like the one we encountered in  the restaurant that answer the phone at the table and proceed to get louder as the call progresses.  Then there are the people who turn their car stereos up loud enough to make  my car windows vibrate. Feel free to comment with your own examples!

I want some high-tech company to come up with a new cone of silence, please!


 What was one of the favorite catch phrases of Maxwell Smart?

Friday I will return to my cute posts and the announcement of the winner of the May towel and a NEW Giveaway item! So please come back and enter!