Solid Salad, Jack

At some point in your life you will do something that will shame you. You won't want to tell anyone about it, because it makes you look really weird and creepy. Or stupid. But, for some reason, you'll tell one person. Then that person will forever know that thing about you and there will always be an awkwardness between you. Forever.

Welcome to my circle of shame.

Last Thursday night, I was up late feeling really guilty about my Thanksgiving gluttony. I woke up early on Black Friday and went directly to the grocery store to stock up on lots of fruits, veggies and various salad fixins. My goal was to eat clean for the remainder of the holiday weekend. Really clean.

Here's where things get weird.

While flipping through my 1977 Weight Watchers Recipe Booklet, I noticed I had all of the necessary ingredients to make myself something called a Solid Salad. That's right...

Solid Salad

2 cups cooked green beans
4 ounces artichoke hearts
4 ounces chopped green onions
1 medium cucumber, peeled and cubed
1 medium tomato, cubed
salt & pepper to taste
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Combine first 6 ingredients. Set aside. Mix mayo, lime juice and garlic salt. Blend all ingredients thoroughly. Chill several hours. Serves 4.

I chopped. I peeled. I mixed. And then I put it all in the blender. Looking back, I'm not even sure if that was really what I was supposed to do. But I did it anyway. In the world of Retro WW cooking, you just can't know for sure.


I put the pureed baby-food-like substance in a dish and stuck it in the fridge for about 15 minutes. Then I broke down and had to sneak a spoonful. It was tasty.

Five minutes later, I snuck another taste. It was still pretty tasty.

Within 15 more minutes I had eaten the entire Solid Salad. It stopped being tasty after the 4th or 5th bite. But I kept going.

In summation, I ate a giant bowl of lukewarm pureed vegetables and mayo. And I liked it.

By the way--if you Google the term "Solid Salad" here is the first thing that you'll find. Its a great video from 1944 with a trio of gals singing and dancing about a salad. Watch closely, and maybe you'll pick up some of the dance moves. They're fairly simple. Especially once you get past the one minute mark. Solid Salad, indeed!