Fluffy Green Salad

Having red hair, I've always had a fondness for St. Patrick's Day.  We never really celebrated it when I was a kid other than wearing green to school.  But as a mom over the years, we've done some fun St. Patrick's Day activities.  Green food has always been a part of our festvities.  It's amazing what you can do with a bottle of green food coloring and some inspiration from the Internet!

This Fluffy Green Salad was the perfect accompaniment to our Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner this past week.  Because I had worked a full day at the gym meet last Saturday, we did not enjoy our Irish dinner until Monday, our typical Crock Pot Meal Day. Nonetheless, we devoured the tender meat and savory vegetables just as easily on March 19!  This sweet and tart Fluffy Green Salad comlimented the salty dinner very nicely.  The green coloring made it festive!

This Fluffy Green Salad is kind of a cross between a fruit salad and a dessert.  It was a recipe popular in the 1970's.  Maybe you remember eating it as a kid.  Most moms would add chopped nuts as the recipe suggested.  I don't like chopped nuts in my cool whippy type fruit salads, so we eat it without.  The few chopped nuts in the pistachio pudding are so fine that they don't seem to bother me.  We enjoyed bowls of the Fluffy Green Salad accompanied by a green shortbread cookie for our dessert.  It makes a great potluck dish and is loved by adults and kids alike.  When I have brought this dish to a gathering, I have caught guests scraping the bowl clean.  I have made this dish with fat free cool whip and sugar free pudding, and I can't tell a big difference from using the full fat and full sugar versions. 

Here's the recipe:

Fluffy Green Salad
1 lg can of pineapple tidbits or crushed pineapple (whatever is your texture preference)
1 sm box of pistachio pudding (sugar free/fat free work fine)
1 cup mini marshmallows (white or the pastel colored ones)
1 8 oz tub of Cool Whip (fat free, low fat, or regular)
a few drops of green food coloring, optional.

1.  In a medium bowl, combine the undrained pineapple and the pistachio pudding.
2.  Mix in the mini marshmallows.
3.  Fold in the Cool Whip.
4.  Add a few drops of green food coloring if you want to accent the green color.
4.  Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.

So what do you think. . .fruit salad or dessert?



I linked up this recipe over at Eat At Home's Spotlight Ingredient: Pineapple.  Check out some of the other great recipes that involve pineapple.