Rhubarb-Strawberry Salad

Possibly I have gotten a southern gene, although I do remember Jell-O salads as a child.  I remember the red one with canned cherries and what I called worms (cream cheese put through a sieve).  There was the green one with nuts, celery and who knows what else.  I never ate one of these, but they were my Mom’s go to dish to take to family gatherings in Chicago.  At a recent party I was pissed as my, I thought, thoughtful dish was rejected in lieu of a Jell-O and cool whip mixture.  I had not made this one yet, but I have gotten pretty good of reading a recipe and telling whether it would turn out or not.  So I made this for dinner.  I actually was going to have it Friday, but did not finish in time.  So we had it Saturday night.  It serves 12, so we will be having it again and again and again.  Luckily it is good.  Jim even had seconds.  This recipe is from the Neiman Marcus Cookbook.  It was in a magazine at my chiropractor’s office. 

Ingredients:

1 ½ C fresh or frozen cranberries (I used rhubarb)

2C diced fresh strawberries

½ C sugar

2 C boiling water

3 (3-oz) packages strawberry flavored gelatin

2 C cranberry juice, chilled

1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple, undrained

1 C celery  

Directions:

1.      Process cranberries in a food processor 30 seconds or until coarsely chopped. (I actually measured the rhubarb after the chopping)

2.      Stir together cranberries (rhubarb), strawberries, and sugar in a medium bowl.

3.      Stir together 2 C boiling water and gelatin in a large bowl, stirring 2 minutes or until gelatin dissolves.  Stir in juice, and chill 30 minutes or until consistency of unbeaten egg whites.  (I think that statement is misleading.  It needs to be thick enough that you feel the solid ingredients will suspend in the Jell-o and not sink to the bottom.) 

4.      Stir in the fruit mixture, pineapple, and celery. 

5.      Spoon mixture into 12 lightly greased 2/3 C molds; cover and chill molds 8 hours until firm.  My individual molds are packed somewhere.  I used a large flexible fluted mold.  It unmolded beautifully. 

If you plug this into any program that measures calories, points or fat content, it beats Jell-O with cool whip by a mile.  This was part of a whole brunch menu that I would love to put together some day.