this is what love looks like

About five years ago, my son enjoyed this seven-layer gelatin salad at a dinner party we went to at one of Tom's colleague's homes. Our friend who made it was delighted at how much Matt loved it because she said it took a long time to make. I made a mental note of this, because it is not an understatement to say I have never aspired to be a domestic goddess.

Every so often over the past five years, Matt will say, "hey, remember that great seven-layer jello?" and then of course, "you should make that some time!" I have tried a technique that was pretty effective in avoiding the NYS Fair with this same kid... just agree, and move on, and hope that avoidance means waning interest. Whipping up a bowl of jello or some jigglers has usually side-stepped the issue. But he hasn't forgotten this dessert. And when the subject was brought up again this week, I decided that one of the things that makes me happiest is making this kid happy -- so I went online and found a recipe, picked up the many colored and plain gelatin mixes, and the (low fat) sour cream, and waited for a day when I had several extra hours to layer and set gelatin mixtures.

Today was the day! I had to laugh when the recipe read prep time = 20 minutes and cook time = 10 minutes and chilling. Lies! It does only take 10 minutes to make up each layer of jello, about 30 minutes to cool each layer in the refrigerator, and about 30 minutes to cook and prepare the white mixture of milk, sugar, sour cream, plain gelatin, and vanilla. If you do the math with the layers you see pictured above, trust me, that is 4 hours of prep on and off.  Oh, and then you have to refrigerate the whole thing overnight (which I calculated as 7 or 8 hours). Luckily for us, I started this project at about 9:30 a.m., finished up about 1:30 p.m. and chilled it for about 7 hours . . . and we had it for dessert at about 9 p.m.

I have to say, it was really good. And fun to eat. And it made a LOT -- so we can enjoy it again tomorrow.  (Rather than type up the recipe here, just hit the hyperlink on the word "recipe," and you will find the one I used (there are several other types, but this is very close to what our friend made.) Also, I used strawberry jello instead of cherry, because I don't really like cherry jello. You know what? I might even do it again.