{Easy Pina-Colada Fluff}

I've tried to reconcile with the fact that, coming from a large family, not everyone is always going to like everything...and that is O.K.

This is one of those recipes! My mom, one sister and I love coconut, but we are among precious few in our house! So therefore, we got to eat the majority of this salad, and we were totally fine with that!

It's so fast and easy to throw together, and it was just such a yummy, refreshing salad! Not too sweet, but just right! It will definitely be awesome during the summer, but it's great any other time of year as well!!

I hope you try it out!

1 (3.4 oz.) package Instant pudding mix, see note

1 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple, do not drain

2 cups mini-marshmallows

1 cup sweetened coconut, shredded or flaked

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip

In a large bowl, mix together pudding mix and pineapple.

Stir in marshmallows, coconut and pecans.

Add Cool Whip, and gently mix until well combined.

Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Enjoy!

Note:

-You can use so many different kinds of pudding here - Coconut Cream, Vanilla, French Vanilla, Banana Cream, White Chocolate or Cheesecake. Some of them may add a tiny bit of a yellow tint to the finished dish, but any of them would taste fantastic in this recipe!

4th of July Layered Jello Salad:

Someday, I will be ahead of the game, and post a holiday recipe BEFORE the holiday is over.

Maybe.

In the meantime, though, here's a great recipe to add to your collection for next year!!

I love Jello salads, as I've stated many times before, and I also LOVE the 4th of July!!

So when I see a red, white and blue jello recipe, I'm all over it!!

This was super simply to make, and really yummy!

The yogurt in the middle layer may seem strange, but you can't really taste it. It just helps to make a really nice, creamy layer, which compliments the jello layers perfectly!

I hope you try it out!!

(Sorry, not the best picture, but the bowl was cold, so it just kept fogging!)

1 (3 oz.) pkg. blue Jello

1 (3 oz.) pkg. red Jello

1 envelope Knox gelatin

1 cup vanilla Greek Yogurt

Important Notes:

-Make sure to allow the white layer, and red layer to come to room temperature before adding them to the other layers. Otherwise they could melt through the previous layer, which is not beautiful!

-When pouring the white layer onto the blue layer, or the red layer onto the white layer, be careful to pour slowly, so that you don't make a whole into the next layer. Again, not pretty!

Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix blue jello with 1 cup boiling water. Stir until gelatin is dissolved. Add 1/2 cup ice and stir until melted. Pour into serving dish. Chill until completely set.

Place Knox gelatin in a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup cold water, and stir lightly; set aside.

Place yogurt in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup boiling water and mix with a hand mixer until well combined. Add Know gelatin mixture and mix well. Let stand until mixture reaches room temperature, stirring occasionally. Pour slowly and gently over blue layer in serving bowl. Chill until completely set.

In a medium bowl, mix red jello with 1 cup boiling water. Stir until gelatin is dissolved. Add 1/2 cup ice and stir until melted. Let stand until mixture reaches room temperature, stirring occasionally. Pour slowly and gently over white layer in serving bowl. Chill until completely set, preferably over night.

Serve!!

Note:

-You could definitely use other colors of jello and make it for different holidays and occasions, as well.

Fruit and Nut Chicken Salad:

I love Chicken Salad! Pretty much any way it's fixed, but this is possibly my very favorite way!
Eat it with a fork, on a sandwich, with some crackers, tortilla chips...however you would like it!
A lot of people turn their nose up when they find out that there are grapes in the salad, but don't knock it 'till you've tried it, because I promise it's good!!!

3-4 cooked chicken breasts, diced or lightly ground in a food processor (about 4 cups cooked chicken)

1 cup finely chopped celery

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 cup red or green grapes, halved

1/2 cup finely chopped almonds, walnuts or pecans

3/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tblsp. honey

2 tblsp. mustard

dash or two of pepper

In a large bowl, combine the chicken, celery, onion, grapes and nuts and mix until combined. In a small bowl, mix together the mayo, honey, mustard and pepper. Add to chicken mixture and mix until everything is well combined. Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve!

Note:

-I have made this with or without grapes and both ways are delicious.

-This is great way to use Rotisserie chicken, if you find it on sale (click HERE for a post on Rotisserie Chicken)

Chicken-Bird Salad:

I love this card!
Every time I see it, I just have to laugh!
I couldn't figure out what to name this recipe, until I saw this!


Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, on a night that we really didn't feel like cooking anything, we had some leftover shredded chicken in the fridge. We mixed together this quick chicken salad and it was SO, SO good! My mom and brother didn't really care for it, because they don't like relish, but me and my sisters LOVED it!!
We had it with plain potato chips, but you could certainly eat on a sandwich or however you like.
I hope you try it out!

{Sorry for the terrible picture! It tasted great, though!}

2 cups shredded, cooked chicken

1/3 cup mayonnaise (we use miracle whip)

1 tblsp. zucchini relish

Mix altogether and chill until ready to serve!

Note:

-You may want more or less mayo, depending on your preference.

-This would be a great use of a rotisserie chicken. I also like to just cook some chicken breasts in a crock-pot on high for a few hours, and then shred it up once it's cooked. You don't need to add any water to the crock pot while the chicken cooks. There's enough juices in the chicken and it makes it taste roasted instead of boiled.

Green Stuff:

This is one dish I have grown up on my whole life and I don't think I'll ever get tired it!
My mom and grandma used to make this salad all the time! Pappy always called it "rainbow stew"!!! I have no idea why! I've also heard some people call it Watergate Salad........we always call it Green Stuff.  It's so easy to make, and I think we make it for just about every occasion - Christmas, 4th of July, family reunions, whatever!! We've tried different Jello Salads and things instead of this salad, and people have said "it's good, but just doesn't take the place of Green Stuff"!
If you're not a huge fan of pistachios, don't worry! It only has a very slight pistachio flavor that you hardly notice! It's such a great dish for the summer, and I hope you'll give it a try!



2 (3.4 oz.) boxes instant pistachio pudding mix

1 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple, do not drain

2+ cups mini marshmallows
1 (16 oz.) container Cool Whip

In a large bowl, mix together pudding and pineapple until well combined. Stir in marshmallows - start with 2 cups and add more if you want! Fold in the Cool Whip. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve!

Tapioca Jello Salad:

I am all about the Jello salads! I may have to make a "Jello Salad" section in my Recipe Index! I just love them! I think I got it from one of my grandma's, because I can remember her making them all the time! I don't think I've ever tasted one I didn't like, and there's probably a million more recipes out there that I haven't even tried!

Well, as usual, I needed something fast and only had a few weird ingredients, so I looked through a few recipes and found this one! I made a couple of changes to suit what I had on hand, and wow! It was super fast and easy, plus delicious! Everything a Jello Salad should be! 

If you're not a fan of Tapioca Pudding, I highly recommend you try this anyway! My Dad LOVES Tapioca, and I mean, it's okay, but I wouldn't call it my favorite food or anything. But the "balls" of the tapioca add a really fun texture to this dish, and since it's a pudding, it's also super creamy. I really enjoyed it! 

Hope you try it out!

1 (3 oz) package orange Jello mix

2 (3 oz) packages Cook & Serve Tapioca Pudding mix  

3 cups water

1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip

Optional:

1-2 small cans mandarin oranges, drained

In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add jello and pudding mixes, and whisk together. Return to a boil and cook and stir for 2-3 minutes.
Remove from heat and pour into a medium size bowl. Let stand to cool.
Once completely cooled, fold in Cool Whip and oranges, if desired.
Chill for 3-4 hours or overnight.

Note:
-I didn't have any oranges, and some in my family don't like them, so I left them out.
-You could use any flavor Jello that you like and maybe try substituting fruit cocktail for the oranges!

Orange Carrot Jello Salad:

My Grandma used to make this salad and I always loved it!!!

If you have never tired it or heard of it, it may sound weird having carrots in your Jello, but trust me, it's really good!!! It couldn't be any easier to make, and it's super yummy!

I couldn't find grandma's recipe in our recipe boxes anywhere, so I'm not sure if this is the exact recipe she used, but it tastes identical to me and reminds me so much of her, with every bite I take!

I hope you'll give it a try!!

 

 

2 (3 oz.) packages Orange Gelatin

2 cups boiling water

1 (20 oz.) can Crushed Pineapple

2 tblsp. lemon juice

Cold Water

1/4 tsp. salt, optional

1 & 1/2 cups finely shredded or grated carrots

 

In a medium bowl, gently stir gelatin and boiling water until gelatin is dissolved. Drain the pineapple, reserving the juice; set the pineapple aside. Combine lemon juice and pineapple juice. Add enough cold water to equal 2 cups. Stir in salt, if desired. Stir into gelatin mixture. Chill until slightly set (1-2 hours). Stir in pineapple and carrots. Mix well. Pour into serving bowl and chill until set. Serve!

 

 

 

 

 

 



Macaroni Salad:

 

My mom was, well actually still is, famous for her macaroni salad! And my little brother (who is now bigger than me) used to live off of it! My grandfather was in the hospital for 9 weeks when Kaleb was 2. We stayed at a lot of different people's houses during that time, since mom was usually at the hospital, and it was a long 9 weeks for us. It happened all of the sudden, and they wouldn't let us in the hospital to see Pappy, and it seemed like we were tossed back and forth from one family to another. For being so young, Kaleb did pretty good, though, as long as we brought plenty of macaroni salad for him! That was 14 years ago, and he can't stand it now!! But the rest of us still enjoy it! It's one of those things that didn't really have a recipe, so it took several tries before I could really get exact measurements! I think I have it now, though, and I hope you try it out and enjoy it as much as we do! And as much as Kaleb used to!!!

 

 

4 cups uncooked macaroni noodles (about a 16 oz. pkg.)
10 hard-boiled eggs

1 small onion

4 stalks celery
2 cups mayonnaise (we use miracle whip)
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

 

Cook the noodles according to the package directions, just until done. Drain and set aside to cool. Use an egg slicer, and slice the eggs; add to the noodles. Place onions and celery in a food processor, and finely chop; add to noodles and eggs. In a small bowl, combine mayo, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir into noodles until evenly coated. Serve or chill until ready to serve!

Note:
-If you are making this the day before you need it, then you will probably need to add more dressing before you serve it, as the noodles soak up a good bit of what you put on earlier.
-This makes a HUGE amount!! If I was making this for my family for a single meal, I would probably only make a fourth of this! (although you have to take into account, I also only cook 4 chicken breasts for my entire family as well! What's wrong with us?)

Lots of Layers Green Salad:

A lady at our church (Mrs. Helmick) has brought a 7-layer-salad to a few potlucks, and we always LOVE when she does! It's so, so good! We had never tried a recipe for it before and Mrs. Helmick doesn't really have a recipe, so when I saw this salad, I knew we had to make it!

It turned out amazing and we absolutely loved it!! It was super easy and goes together very fast! It makes a lot, so it's perfect for a big party or get-together!

Don't be afraid of the peas or the dressing!!! It all goes together so well, and totally makes the salad!

Please excuse the pictures! The dish I put it in, was a little dark, so you can't see the layers quite as well! But trust me, it's super yummy, and I hope you give it a try!!

 

1 & 1/2 hearts romaine lettuce, chopped

2 cups baby spinach

Salt and pepper, to taste

10 whole hard boiled eggs, chopped

1 (12 ounce) package bacon, cooked and chopped

4 tomatoes, chopped (1 carton cherry tomatoes)

1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 (10 ounce) bag frozen peas

 

1/2 cup real mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

2 Tablespoons sugar

 

In a large glass bowl, layer salad ingredients in order listed above.  Combine dressing ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk together until combined.  Pour over the top of the peas and spread to cover.  Cover and refrigerate for up to 8 hours.

Note:
-This looks SO, SO pretty in a big, clear punch bowl or trifle bowl, but it makes it hard to get all of the layers! That's why I like to put it in a 9x13 pan, or some other big, shallow dish. You can do whatever you want, though, and it will still be great!
-My family doesn't really care for Iceberg lettuce at all, but if you like it, you can use 1 head of Iceberg instead of romaine if you prefer.
-I LOVE onions (a lot), but not a lot of people do, so sometimes I leave the onions out and just serve them separately for anyone that wants them!
-Tomatoes are the same way as the onions; I love them, but only a couple other people in my family like them as well. It makes the salad look so pretty, though, I hate to leave them out! So, I prefer to use cherry tomatoes, that way if anyone doesn't like them, they can pick them out easily!!   

 

Cranberry Jello Salad:

With Thanksgiving coming up this week, I wanted to share a "festive" recipe with you!

One of my #1 favorite foods is cranberries - particularly cranberry sauce! I could easily eat a whole can by myself and be perfectly fine with that. And pretty much the rest of my family is fine with that too, because there's only a couple of us who like cranberry things. A friend gave me this recipe a few years ago and I just loved it! I couldn't believe how easy it was and how pretty it looked! I hope you give it a try! Even if you don't like cranberries, because the people in my family who HATE cranberries, love this dish!!!

1 can cranberry sauce, can be smooth or whole berry sauce

2 pks. strawberry gelatin

2 cups boiling water

In a blender or with an emersion blender, dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Add cranberry sauce and blend until smooth. Pour into a serving dish or bowl. Chill for at least 8 hours - the longer the better. There will be a foamy pink layer on top of the gelatin, as you can tell from the picture; it just does this on it's own some how, but it's very yummy and it looks pretty!!

Note:

-You could use raspberry or cranberry gelatin, if you prefer....they are just harder to find sometimes!
-This bad part about this, is it really does take forever to chill. I try to allow 8 hours at the very least.  

Apple Spinach Salad:

I love fresh spinach, especially in the summer! This salad takes only a few ingredients, and is super fast to put together. My family really enjoyed it and I hope you do too!!

8 ounces fresh spinach

4 slices bacon, fried crisp and crumbled

2 red apples, diced

1/3 cup mayonnaise

3 tblsp. frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

In a medium bowl, toss together the spinach, bacon and apple. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayo and juice concentrate until smooth. Pour half the dressing over the spinach and toss to coat. Add more dressing, a little at a time, until you have as much as you like. I did not use all the dressing, because we don't like a lot of dressing on our salads, but you can use as much or as little as you like. 

Note:

-I did not have any bacon, so I used 4 tblsp. bacon bits and it worked out fine. 

-This is definitely not something you can make ahead. You will want to put it all together and serve immediately. 

I served this with:

-Grilled Speedy Chicken Marinade-

-Becky's Potato Salad-

Ham Salad:

Here's yet another recipe to use up some of that leftover ham from Easter!
Super fast and easy to make, you can serve this with crackers or on some sandwich buns. Look past the picture! I promise it's much better than it looks!!!

I hope you give it a try!

3-4 cups cubed, fully cooked ham

1 & 1/2 cups mayonnaise

1 tblsp. relish

In a food processor, grind the ham into very small pieces. Place in a bowl and stir in the mayonnaise and relish. Add more mayo and/or relish to your taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve!

Note:

-Check out this post and find out where you can get some AWESOME gluten-free sandwich buns!

Cucumber Salad:

I love this stuff and it's a fabulous side dish during the summer...

especially when you are over flowing in cucumbers like we are!!!

6 cups cucumbers, peeled or unpeeled, and sliced however you like
1 small onion, chopped or sliced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sugar
dash of salt and pepper

Toss together cucumbers and onions in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, sugar, salt and pepper. Pour over cucumbers and stir until well coated. Serve!

Note:
-Some of the cucumbers we had, had a LOT of seeds in them, so I actually scooped them out before I cut them up. It helps to not make the salad watery.
-This is not something you really want to do ahead. You could have everything cut up and in a bowl, but for best results, wait until the last minute to add the dressing.

Jello Yogurt Fruit Salad:

I hope everyone is having a great summer!

We are so far. The only bad thing is, it's been WAY busier and WAY hotter than we expected! 

But at least that gave me two very good reasons for trying out this super yummy salad! It was very quick to make and was so cool and refreshing! The perfect summer salad or dessert. Plus, it's not all that sweet or bad for you. I hope you try this recipe out and enjoy it as much as we did!!!

1-1/2 cups boiling water

1 package strawberry gelatin

2 (6 oz.) containers Strawberry yogurt

1 cup strawberries, diced (fresh or frozen, but if they're frozen, they need to be thawed and well drained)

2 small bananas, diced

In a bowl, whisk together boiling water and gelatin until gelatin is completely dissolved. Stir in yogurt. Fold in fruit. Pour into 6 (8 oz) custard cups. Chill for at least 2 hours or until set (the longer they sit, the better). Serve!

Note:

-Obviously from the picture, you can tell that the original recipe called for raspberries, but I didn't have any, so I used strawberries instead! But, that's the great thing about this kind of recipe. You can change it up however you want! For instance, I think the next I make it, I will try it with blue gelatin, blueberry yogurt and blueberries! There are several other options out there too, and I'm sure they would all be good! Let me know what you try! 

-You could probably make this in just one large serving dish, if you wanted. 

-This recipe could easily be halved, doubled or tripled, depending on the amount of people you are feeding.  

4th of July Menu:

Here is what we're serving for our 4th of July celebration:

-Grilled BBQ Chicken Legs
-Baked Beans
-Deviled Eggs
-Fresh veggies with Ranch dip
-Watermelon
-Knox Blox
-Green Stuff
-Chips/Cheese curls
-Strawberry Pretzel Salad (Click here for the recipe)

 I hope everyone has a wonderful day! I'm SO blessed to be living in America today!

Salads:

Strawberries were majorly on sale this week at our grocery store and we took full advantage of that! We ate them plain, made Angel Food cake to eat with our strawberries, ate them plain, had them in cereal, ate them plain!!! But I wanted to try something more main dish with them. At a restaurant once, I had a Strawberry Pecan salad. It didn't sound very good, but it looked good, so I gave it a try! It was delicious!!! So since we had some extra berries, I decided to try a homemade salad. It turned out really yuumy, and I thought I would just share with you what I did.

Photo Credit: google search

This is what I had on my salad (amounts of each are according to your tastes):
-Lettuce
-Carrots
-Broccoli
-Yellow Squash, thinly sliced
-Cucumber
-Chopped Pecans
-Chopped Strawberries (We sliced out strawberries and sprinkled them with a little sugar. Then we let them chill in the refrigerator over night. That made them nice and sweet, and also gave them a little broth which was very good on the salad.)
-Dressing (Once I had it with Honey Mustard dressing and I've also had it with Ranch...both are equally good. Just make sure to check the labels!)

Feel free to add or leave out anything you prefer! I'm sure it would be great with some cooked or grilled chicken pieces.
So I hope you give my Strawberry Salad a try and enjoy it as much as I have!!!

Strawberry Mousse:

My Aunt was here last weekend from the south and she brought us some AMAZING strawberries! They were so good! But there was also A LOT them, so by today, I cut up all that we hadn't eaten over the weekend and was searching the Internet for creative, yummy ways to use strawberries. This recipe was one that really stood out and it looked so good! Plus, it was super fast AND I had all of the ingredients on hand! So we gave it a try. WOW! Talk about good! This is so great for the summer and it's one I will definitely be making again! I hope you give it a try and love it as much as we did!



4 cups sliced, strawberries, fresh or frozen (if using frozen, they need to be thawed)
1/2 cup sugar
1 pkg. Instant Vanilla pudding mix
1 (8 oz.) container whipped topping, thawed

In a food processor, process the strawberries and sugar until smooth. Add pudding mix and process until well combined. Place whipped topping in a large bowl. Add strawberry mixture and fold into whipped cream. Place in serving dish or individual serving dishes. Refrigerate until ready to serve! Garnish with additional strawberry slices and a dollop of whipped cream, if desired.

Note:
-Although it wasn't TOO bad, I thought this dish was pretty sweet. If you are cutting back on sugar, I would recommend cutting the sugar in half. With the sugar in the pudding mix, it's plenty sweet. If you don't mind a slight tartness from the strawberries, you could probably leave the sugar completely out. It's up to you!
-The original recipe said to process the strawberries and sugar and then strain it and discard the seeds. I don't have a mesh strainer like that, plus we don't mind the seeds at all, but if you prefer no seeds, just strain it!

Fruit Pudding:

I love this stuff!!! It's so quick and easy, but so great for a cool, summer salad! Feel free to add any fruit you want, leave out what you don't - experiment!!! Let me know if you give it a try and what changes you made! I love to hear other variations to simple recipes like this!!



1 box instant vanilla pudding mix
2 small cans Fruit Cocktail, drained with juices reserved
1 small can mandarin oranges, optional, drain and discard juice
1 banana, optional, sliced
1 cup mini marshmallows

Drain the fruit cocktail and reserve the juices. In a small bowl, whisk together the juice from the fruit with the pudding mix, until smooth. Chill for at least 5 minutes, or until slightly set. Stir in fruit cocktail and mandarin oranges, if desired. Chill until ready to serve. Just before serving, stir in banana, if desired, and marshmallows. Serve!

Note:
-Other variations: Add chopped nuts, maraschino cherries, pineapple tidbits, chopped apples.

Becky's Potato Salad:

I love potato salad! This one is a little more time consuming to make, but it's really not hard and it's definitely worth it. I hope you will give it a try! Thank you for the recipe, Becky!

 

2 quarts cubed white or red potatoes (you can peel them if you want)
1 small onion, chopped
4 hard cooked eggs, chopped

1 egg
1 tblsp. cornstarch
Milk

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. yellow mustard

1-1/2 tsp. celery seed
salt and pepper to taste

Place potatoes in a large pan - cover with cold water. Cook just until fork tender. Right before the potatoes are done, add the onion. Drain potatoes and onions in a strainer; let stand.

In a 2 cup measuring cup, beat egg and cornstarch. Add enough milk to equal 1 cup; mix well and set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine water, vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil and boil 90 seconds. Add egg mixture stirring constantly (mixture usually will curdle...this is fine). Bring to a boil and boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and add mayonnaise and mustard. Stir until smooth and well combined. Chill for 10 minutes.

Place potatoes, onions and hard cooked eggs in a large bowl. Add celery seed, salt and pepper. Pour sauce over potatoes and mix until everything is well coated. Chill until ready to serve!

Jell-O Magic Mousse

I just tried this today and we all really enjoyed it! It's really fast and easy (just allow time to chill). I hope you give it a try and like it as much as we did!!! Let me know what you think!!



3 cups boiling water
2 (3 oz) packages gelatin, any flavor
1 (16 oz) container Whipped Topping

In a large bowl, dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water (do this with a whisk...makes the gelatin dissolve really fast). Add whipped topping and stir until everything is melted together. Pour into a serving dish. Chill for at least 8 hours before serving!

Note:
-Use any flavor gelatin you want! If you can't decide, think about what color you want it to be!
-Forgot to allow time for your whipped topping to thaw? Not a problem. Go ahead and put the frozen whipped topping in the hot, gelatin water. Stir with a whisk until it's melted! It'll work just fine. How convenient!!
-Pour into a large serving dish, or individual dessert cups for a really nice presentation.
-As you can see in the picture, this dessert is layered; it will do it that on it's own, so there's nothing you have to do to make it look like that.