Pineapple Cheesecake Apple Salad (Dessert)

I'm not really sure if this delicious dish qualifies as a salad or dessert!  I suppose it might depend on at what point of the meal you enjoy eating it. If you take a few bites of this sweet, tart dish between bites of your savory main dish, I suppose it's a salad. If you save all the bites of crunchy apple wrapped in cheesecake flavored fluff, it's more like a dessert. Any time you decide to dig in, it's delicious.

I first had this dish at a family potluck at the lake several summers ago. I took a bite expecting something like a waldorf salad.  My taste buds detected the crunchy, tart apple pieces and the sweetness of the pineapple, but it took a few more bites to put my tongue on just what made this dish so incredibly dessert-like. The secret ingredient? Cheesecake flavored pudding mix. The best part? This pudding flavor from Jell-o comes only in a sugar free, fat free version. Mixed with fruit and some fat free (or low fat cool whip) and you've got a low calorie dish that can easily replace many of the fat laden dishes that often appear on potluck tables around the country.

I have taken this dish to many gatherings over the years and it always disappears quickly. I decided to make a batch today because I thought the sweet tartness would be a good ending to our pork carnitas dinner. Tonight we'll enjoy it as "dessert".  We're still recovering from the extra calories we consumed while on vacation a week ago so any low calorie treats I can fit on the menu are welcomed.

This dish is one that is relatively inexpensive to put together if you're in need of a dish to bring to a potluck gathering. I picked up cans of pineapple for 50 cents a can using store specials and coupons. The pudding is a little trickier to find. I usually can find it at Walmart for under $1, but I have not had as much luck finding this particular flavor at local Kroger or Meijer. I almost always have a container of $1 Cool Whip on hand in my freezer. I've made it with both fat free and low fat; I can't tell a huge difference in the end result. I picked up a couple of Granny Smith apples on my last grocery trip for around $1.

Here's the recipe:

Pineapple Cheesecake Apple Salad
1 can crushed pineapple
1 pkg cheesecake flavored pudding mix
2 large Granny Smith apples, chopped
1 container Fat Free or Low Fat Whipped Topping














1. Place crushed pineapple (and juice) into a large mixing bowl.
2. Add pudding mix and stir to combine.
3. Add chopped apples and mix.
4. Fold in whipped topping.
5. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. (actually tastes better the next day!)

Pineapple Cheesecake Apple Salad
Tart, crunchy apples, sweet pineapple held together by cheesecake fluff. . .YUMMY!



What's your favorite recipe that can be placed into two categories?

Fluffy Orange Salad

I posted my Fluffy Green Salad last week, so it's only natural that I post our other favorite, Fluffy Orange Salad, this week.  I think I need to work on coming up with more creative names for my recipes!   I don't have a picture for this one, but just picture a bowl or orange fluffy goodness and that's sort of what it looks like.

We first had this Fluffy Orange Salad after the birth of my youngest daughter.  Our wonderful neighbor, Brenda, brought us dinner including a container of this wonderful Fluffy Orange Salad.  As we ate spoonful after spoonful, we all tried to guess just what was in this delicious dish.  It tasted like a melted creamsicle.  I asked Brenda to share her recipe, and she did, so now I'm no sharing it with you.  Since then, Fluffy Orange Salad makes a regular appearance on our weekly menu.  I've tried to lighten up the original version a bit using sugar free and fat free products, and the results are favorable.  I've served it to many guests young and old, and they all think it's heavenly.  I hope you do, too.

Here's the recipe:

Fluffy Orange Salad
3 cups water
1 sm pkg orange sugar free jello
1 sm pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 sm pkg cook and serve tapioca pudding
1 lg can mandarin oranges, drained
1 sm can crushed pineapple, drained
1 tub of Light Cool Whip

1.  In a sauce pan, bring water to a boil.
2.  Whisk in the jello and pudding mixes.
3.  Boil for 1 min.
4.  Remove from heat and let cool on counter.
5.  Fold in pineapple and oranges and cool whip being careful not to break up the oranges too much.
6.  Spoon into a serving bowl.
7.  Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

What's your favorite recipe you've ever received from a neighbor?

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.