Family Recipe Friday - Variation on Mama's Cranberry Salad

Mama used to make a very interesting cranberry salad for the holidays. While it tasted okay, I won't even try to describe it to you! At least not what it looked like. A few years after I was on my own, I began to make a variation on Mama's cranberry salad. Whereas Mama put all of her ingredients into a blender, literally pulverizing the contents into a liquid mush, I took the time to chop and dice everything into a much more visually appealing dish.

One winter I came up with an even more interesting idea... how about if I added a little whipped topping and some sour cream? It turned out so good, that the next year I added cream cheese as well!

Today, my family slobbers all over themselves to get a bite of my cranberry salad. And it all began with Mama's version!

So, while I won't give you Mama's... here's my family's cranberry salad:

Cranberry Delight

Ingredients:

1-lb. fresh or frozen whole cranberries, chopped

1 orange, peel and chop, save the rind, remove pith and chop rind into tiny pieces

1- tangerine, peel and chop, save the rind, remove the pith and chop rind into tiny pieces

1 Rome apple, leave peel on and chop into small pieces

1 - cup chopped pecans

2-pkg Jello Strawberry Flavored Gelatin Dessert

1-small tub whipped topping, thawed

1 pkg. [8-oz.] cream cheese, softened

2-Tbsp. sour cream

Mix chopped cranberries, orange and peel, tangerine and peel, apple and pecans together in a large bowl.

Dissolve Jello in 2-cups hot water in a small bowl. Add 1-cup ice-cubes and stir until ice cubes have melted. Pour this liquid over fruit and nut mixture. Stir to make sure everything is covered by the jello.

Refrigerate. After 1-hour stir again. Chill one more hour and stir.

Return to refrigerator and chill until Jello is firm [about an hour].

Remove from refrigerator.

Use a large spoon to break up Jello. Now added thawed whipped topping, cream cheese and sour cream. Mix well.

This can be served immediately, or may be refrigerated up to 24-hours.

The kids absolutely love this!!!

We serve this dish on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. We have made it for Easter as well. If fresh cranberries or frozen cranberries can't be found, we have even used whole berry canned cranberry sauce as a substitute. Just use a little less water in your Jello to help it bind more firmly.

Yum! Yum!