Cranberry Salad

If you read the post about my cousin, Julie Martin, you will know that she sent me a surprise Christmas present last year – a box of canned Bing Cherries. This is my husband, Bob’s, favorite dessert. If I don’t have or can’t find Bing Cherries I will make the Cranberry Salad shown below. I think it is just as good. Maybe you will try them both and you decide!

I usually make this version of Cranberry Salad at Christmas because I can rarely find the sweet Bing cherries called for in the Coca Cola salad. This makes a FULL LARGE rectangular Pyrex dish 9 x 14 or something like that.

Ingredients:
3 regular packages cherry or strawberry Jell-O
3 cans whole berry cranberry sauce
1 #2 can crushed pineapple and juice

Dissolve Jell-O with 3 cups boiling water. Let cool. Do not let it get firm. Add cranberry sauce and drained pineapple. Divide mixture in 2 parts. Put half in large oblong Pyrex dish and congeal. After it has congealed, spread with mixture of the following:

12 ounces cream cheese
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
½ cup pineapple juice

Add ½ cup chopped nuts to remaining half of cranberry mixture. Pour over cream cheese and place in refrigerator again to congeal.

Pretty and good!

Photo accessed from free images at http://www.sciencedaily.com/

Coca-Cola Salad

Here is the Coca Cola salad Bob's mother used to make - very sketchy directions but you get the idea. This is also the recipe that uses the Bing Cherries that my cousin, Julie Martin, mailed to me at Christmas.

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Raspberry Jell-O

1 pkg. Cherry Jell-O

2 cans Bing cherries, sweet (drained)

1 small can crushed pineapple (drained, saving some for cream cheese topping)

1 cup nuts

2 bottles coca cola (cold)
She used coke that was sold in individual glass bottles. I imagine they held about same amount as our canned drinks of today.

Congeal

Then mix one 4 oz. pkg. cream cheese with a small amount of pineapple juice.

Sprinkle walnut or pecan pieces to top.

Tastes great!

Enjoy!

Copyright 2008 Photo taken by Judy Shubert

at The Daily Grind Museum, Mineral Wells, Texas May 20, 2008