queen salad

I had had the whole day planned. The kiddos and I would wake up, go to the library, come home and make a little treat, pick up the basement (which looked to be a recent victim of a glitter and foam sticker bomb), work out, menu plan, write a grocery store and Costco list, and then make dinner all while untangling My Little Pony hair and teaching the Buddy how to spell ‘extravaganza’.

After seeing the snow outside, my entire plan went spiraling down the drain. I lost all motivation to even get dressed.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Winter (although Fall is my true love) but when the calendar rolls to the next season, I’m ready to move on with it.

I mean, what is the point in living in Ohio if you aren’t going to get to experience the full advantages of every season?

Now, I have no intention of complaining about the weather all day, because, really? Who needs that garbage? Not me. My point is that my plan was down the drain, so therefore, my planned and productive Monday turned into a I’m-going-to-pat-myself-on-the-back-for-getting-dressed-before-noon kind of day.

And by noon, I mean 3:00.

Don’t judge me.

 

Still with me? Good.

Queen Salad is a dessert (dare I say side dish?) that my Great Grandma Carrie passed on to my Grandma who made it every Easter for as long as I can remember. She still does, too.

This (along with deviled eggs) is one of my favorite staples at Easter. It’s lemon gelatin mixed with cream cheese, whipped topping, pineapple and marshmallows.  After posting about it last week on Instagram, I got the amazing suggestion to add coconut to the mix.

That would be amazing…

The only twist I put on my Grandma’s Queen Salad (see? it’s totally a side dish. It has the word ‘salad’ right in the title) is that I spooned the mixture into cute little mason jars and mini jello molds. You can try either, both or just pile it into a pretty bowl. Anyway you serve it, Queen Salad will capture that wonderfully retro, yet totally comforting and sweet feeling that only a classic jello salad could.

Plus, it’s just plain ‘ole good.

Happy Tuesday!!

Queen Salad
Makes 10-12 servings

Ingredients:
1 3oz box of lemon flavored gelatin
1 cup of boiling water
1 20 oz can of crushed pineapple in juice, drained, juice reserved
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups of mini marshmallows
1 1/2 cups of whipped topping
additional whipped topping + maraschino cherries for garnish

Directions:
In a medium size bowl, add lemon gelatin and 1 cup of boiling water, stirring with a spoon until all of powder is dissolved. Stir in 1 cup of reserved pineapple juice (or add water to the juice to make a total of 1 cup of liquid). Chill gelatin mixture until partially set, about 1-2 hours.

In the bowl of  stand mixer, whip partially set gelatin on high speed until frothy. Add softened cream cheese and whip until blended. There may be small pieces of cream cheese throughout mixture and this is okay. Using a spatula, fold mini marshmallows, crushed pineapple and whipped topping into gelatin mixture. Spoon gelatin mixture into greased jello mold or individual mason jars. Chill for several hours or until set.

Top Queen Salad with additional whipped topping and maraschino cherries, if using. Serve!

Queen Salad can be made head of time and extra Queen Salad can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Enjoy!