Ellen Rogers of Granger, Ind., was in search of the recipe for a dish that her mother used to make with orange Jell-O, shredded carrots and small pineapple bits. She cannot locate the recipe and she has been unable to re-create the same taste.
Patricia Walter of Kingsville saw Rogers' request and thought she knew exactly the recipe Rogers' was looking for. It is called "Sunset Salad" and comes from a recipe booklet, "Joys of Jell-O," published by the General Foods Corp. Walter said when she was first married in the early 1960s, these free recipe booklets were commonly produced by many of the larger food companies, and one could collect and send in labels to get one. People obviously liked and held on to these booklets — popular in the '50s, '60s and '70s — as several other readers shared the very same recipe for the Sunset Salad.
It is highly likely that the recipe from "Joys of Jell-O" is the one Rogers is looking for. But I also received a recipe from Susan Knorr of Towson for a version of the dish, called "Sunshine Salad," that comes from "Whole Foods for the Whole Family," a cookbook published by the La Leche League International in the 1980s. The ingredients are very similar to the Sunset Salad, but real orange juice is substituted for the artificial orange color and flavor of the Jell-O in the original recipe. I decided to go ahead and publish both recipes. Either version makes a pretty and tasty summer side dish.
Requests
Lola May Hill of Bel Air would like to have the recipe from The Peppermill restaurant in Lutherville for something called chicken Alexander. It is served as a special at lunch and she said it is "delicious," but the restaurant doesn't have it every day.