Barbara's Fancy Green Jello Salad

My mother-in-law is a wonderful cook who can organize a great meal even for a very large crowd. But she especially likes this recipe for book clubs, Relief Society meetings and other less-massive groups. She likes to add a special touch by piping some cream cheese topping onto each serving. The topping is similar to, but less sweet than the filling for these.

David loves his Mom's fancy salad. I have modified it (recipes here) so he can eat something similar on a more regular basis.

Barbara's Fancy Pineapple and Cottage Cheese Green Jello Salad

1 package each (2 cup size) lemon and lime Jello gelatin
Regular or sugar-free
20-oz. can crushed pineapple in juice
Juice drained from pineapple plus water to make 2 cups
or try the instructions below for sugar-free Jello*
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions: Drain pineapple well in a sieve or colander, reserving juice. Chill the pineapple and evaporated milk while preparing the Jello mixture. Also chill the 9 x 13 inch baking dish in which you will chill the salad.

Add water to the pineapple juice to make 2 cups. Bring the juice and water to a boil, pour into a stainless steel bowl large enough to contain all ingredients of the salad, and sprinkle the lemon and lime Jello powders into the water. Stir to dissolve the gelatin completely. Place the bottom of the bowl in a larger bowl or pan of ice water to cool gelatin. Or place the bowl in the freezer or refrigerator to cool. Stir occasionally while gelatin cools, as thickening will start around the edges. When the gelatin is thickened but not set, beat in the evaporated milk, cottage cheese and mayonnaise. Fold in the nuts.

Pour into a chilled 9x13 inch glass baking dish. Cover and chill until salad is set. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. To serve, cut into squares and garnish as desired.

For parties, garnish this salad with a mixture of cream cheese or reduced-fat cream cheese beaten with a little lemon juice, slightly sweetened with powdered sugar. This mixture should have the consistency of a thick frosting. Pipe a little of this mixture onto each serving of salad. Use a little less sugar than the piped cream cheese filling for strawberry flowers.

* Because Aspartame, a sweetener in sugar-free Jello, is degraded by heat, I like to sprinkle the sugar-free Jello powder evenly over 1/2 cup cold water before adding boiling water. Tilt bowl to wet any dry powder near the edges of the water and allow to stand for at least 5 minutes before adding 1 cup boiling water and/or (canned or bottled) fruit juice. The gelatin dissolves very quickly even if you use only one cup of boiling juice and water. You can then add 1/2 cup of cold water including a little ice to speed up cooling of the gelatin. You could also add a touch of fresh citrus juice to the cold water for zippy flavor.

Allergy information: Contains fermented milk products, pineapple and citrus. Mayonnaise contains eggs. The cream cheese garnish contains cornstarch from the powdered sugar.