Back in the 1950's my grandmother made a frozen fruit cocktail salad. I'd like to find the recipe but everything I see calls for cream cheese or minature marshmallows in the mixture - neither of which were in her's. I'm wondering if these recipe ingredients are a regional thing. She lived in San Francisco if that makes a difference. Anyone from the bay area remember this salad as a child of the fifties?

dcarch- You are the epitome of frugal, and much admired :-). I've never been competitive - it just doesn't make sense to me. I have a hard enough time keeping up with my own "craziness" at times..... tricia\- I wouldn't have thought there was that much difference between the Ninja and the Vitamix (especially compared to the blender I bought in 1970 at a garage sale when I was 17 and just out of high school and used for decades \- anything would have been better \- hahaha), but there sure is a difference. The pulp from making almond milk is much finer in the Vitamix. I had trouble getting the Ninja to make canary seed milk (it left more seed than milk and took much longer to blend), but the Vitamix did an excellent job of it in just a few minutes of blending. With fresh Colorado peaches available, we've been gobbling down a lot of Peach Soy Sherbet (except I use almond or coconut milk instead of soy) \- which takes about 40\-60 seconds to make. \-Grainlady

We normally drink a local brand, Peet's, selecting the Italian Roast (a lot stronger and more bitter than French Roast) and have it preground in a #2 grind, which is one small step above powder (Turkish). A standard drip grind is #6 and espresso is #4, for comparison. We do a Melitta drip with Melitta woven filters, which make a much better brew than standard paper filters. For iced coffee, we do a double-strength brew: make our usual coffee, then immediately use it to pour through a fresh batch of grounds. DH grew up in Hong Kong so he prefers the taste of sweetened condensed milk in iced tea and coffee drinks. If we make a large batch, we chill it in the frig for a few hours so that no ice cubes dilute it. But if we're desperate, a few ice cubes in a glass chill it quickly, and this brew is so strong, a 1/4 cup of water is barely noticeable in a tall glass. Chocolate syrup is a nice addition, except you have to add extra for it to make any impact on what is basically a triple-strength espresso drink. Unbelievably, my DH can drink this right before going to bed and drop off to sleep like a baby....yeah, I'm jealous of that!

I just made a very simple "iced" coffee recipe to go with breakfast this morning...You could certainly pour it over ice in the blender and make a frozen coffee. 8-10 cups of strong fresh brewed coffee 1 can of sweetened condensed milk (low fat, fat free..whatever) Blend, chill..pour over ice... I will definately make it again, and again..and again... I will say that some coffee stands, use a mix and ice in a special machine..(think slurpee/icee) others do do it with a shot or two of espresso, milk, flavor syrup, chocolate syrup and ice with each one blended in the blender.