One of the (few) positive things about gelatin salads is that can be formed into pretty shapes, a glistening centerpiece for a festive table.
Unfortunately, this pastel dessert salad came out a little less pretty and a little more blobby…
- 1 (3-ounce) package favorite fruit-flavored gelatin
- 1 pint small curd cottage cheese
- 1 (No. 2) can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 (4 1/2-ounce) carton frozen whipped topping
- Sprinkle powdered gelatin over cottage cheese. Mix well.
- Drain pineapple thoroughly reserving juice for other desserts or salads. Blend with cottage cheese.
- Add frozen whipped topping and combine gently but completely.
- Cool in refrigerator at least 3 to 4 hours.
Pink gelatin is party-like. The Jell-o flavor we chose was “tropical fusion,” which is both party-like pink and friendly to pineapple.
Ever put your cottage cheese in a blender? Me neither! But it produces an impressively smooth consistency — tastes like cottage cheese, but feels like yogurt.
Mixing the Jell-o straight into something is unusual — typically there’s hot water involved.
After I mixed in the pineapple and Cool Whip and dumped everything in a ring mold, I told Brett to figure out a tropical and/or party outfit.
One cheesy Hawaiian shirt later, we decorated a serving of pink pastel dessert salad with a cheerful paper umbrella and started the tasting.
“Wow, this is great!” The kids immediately picked up their spoons and tasted it too.
“And I remember eating this when I was little!”
“Seriously? Where?”
“No idea, but it’s very familiar…”
Verdict: Sweet, and popular!
The family tasting notes:
It’s pretty good, even though its shape came out gloppy. We all liked it, and the pineapple provides good texture contrast to the rest of the “salad.” The kids were pleased with it at first but got overwhelmed by the sugar eventually — eating too much at once becomes excessively sweet. Small helpings are best. (It would be great at a potluck!)
I make this quite often, but I've never whipped the cottage cheese. I suspect that's why it turned out more blobbish 🙂 Don't whip the cottage cheese, add a couple of hand fulls of mini marshmallows! You will get a lighter, fluffier, and dreamier! Plus, if you don't whip the cottage cheese, that's one less dish to clean! Hope this helps!
I am surprised this version didn’t have marshmallows in it – I always remember marshmallows and pineapple as a kid, maybe some nuts. And it being green. Like
http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Grammys-Green-Jello-and-Marshmallow-Salad-575596
But this one actually looks good
http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Cran_raspberry-Gelatin-Salad-TasteOfHome
I’m pretty sure I’ve had this, and it IS pretty good, considering! 😀
My grandma makes this salad at every family gathering! We call it pink salad (I think she always uses strawberry) and she doesn’t blend anything, so it’s chunky. A family favorite. She serves it in a bowl, doesn’t quite make the best consistency for a jello mould. 🙂
This definitely made the church potluck circuit when I was younger. Now, I would pass it by.
We always make this in our house for summer pot lucks, but we use orange jello and mandarin oranges. I've never blended the cottage cheese before, and I've also never tried to mold it, it never really "sets up," but stays fluffy and creamy. Also, when I make it I mix the jello into the cool whip and then blend in the other ingredients, but I really doubt that changes anything. It really can be adjusted to suit any fruits, I've often thought using pineapple jello, pineapple tidbits and dried coconut would be a nice mix too!
My mom used to make this, and called it fluffy salad.
She’d generally use lime or some sort of berry Jello, mandarin oranges instead of the pineapple, and pecan pieces. She didn’t whip up the cottage cheese either, just left it whole, and she served it in a bowl.
She was diabetic, so she used sugar free Jello and Cool Whip, and it was still pretty tasty.
We have something very similar as a family tradition in my father's side of the family. Dubbed "watergate salad", it's the same thing, only pistachio pudding mix, and we used to chop up some sort of nut (I think pecans?), but dropped that, and no cottage cheese, no mold – very fluffy and light, served in a large bowl and I can't get enough of it! Usually we make a minimum of a double batch for family gatherings, and family reunions – including my cousins, their kids, and aunt and uncles, I usually mulitply the recipe x 4 – that's how much gets eaten. If there's anything leftover, that's more for us to eat at home afterward! We don't use crushed pineapple, we use pineapple chunks. You are right about sweetness overload, though, sometimes, especially using Jell-O pudding mix. Lovely pastel green color as well!
As Tina has said, it sounds very much like watergate salad. It is not intended to be a molded salad. Mom never blended the cottage. It still is a regular for holidays.
This is a standard in my family. It appears at every potluck and reunion, every Thanksgiving and Christmas. My husband has been crowned the best maker of the “Green S*&t” as we call it. His method is to mix the jello into the cottage cheese v-e-r-y slowly, then the pineapple and finally the cool whip. We tend to vary the amounts. I like more cool whip as it makes it almost a mousse. Also better with more pineapple.