As the holiday season approaches, add a pop of color and flavor to your festive table with this delicious Cranberry Salad. This salad is a delightful blend of cream cheese, cranberry sauce, pineapple, and walnuts, folded into a light and airy whipped cream. It’s a sweet and tangy dish that’s sure to please your guests.
Ingredients
- 2 (3 oz.) pkg. softened cream cheese
- 2 Tbsp. margarine
- 2 Tbsp. sugar
- 1 (16 oz.) can whole berry cranberry sauce
- 3/4 c. crushed pineapple, drained
- 1/2 c. chopped walnuts
- 1 c. whipping cream
Freezing Instructions
- Mix cream cheese, margarine and sugar.
- Add fruit and walnuts. Whip cream and fold into fruit and cream cheese mixture.
- Pour into round mold.
- Freeze 6 hours.
- Remove from mold shortly before serving.
- Makes 12 servings.
Calorie: 350
Total cooking time:6 hours freezing time
Difficulty level: Easy
The Cream Cheese Conundrum
Once upon a time in my humble kitchen, I decided to tackle the seemingly innocent task of creating a Cranberry Salad. I mean, how hard could it be? It’s just a salad, right? Wrong. My first hurdle was the two 3 oz. packages of softened cream cheese. Now, I had the cream cheese, but ‘softened’ was the tricky part. I stared at the rock-hard cream cheese and pondered, “Should I microwave it? Or should I leave it out on the counter?” After a quick game of rock-paper-scissors with myself, I decided on the latter. I’d like to say it was a strategic decision, but honestly, I was just too lazy to clean the microwave if the cheese exploded.
The Margarine Menace
With the cream cheese softening, I moved onto the next ingredient: 2 tablespoons of margarine. Now, don’t get me wrong, margarine and I are old pals. There’s just something about its buttery, faux-butter goodness that gets me every time. But today, we were not friends. As I attempted to measure out the perfect tablespoon, the margarine seemed to have a mind of its own, sliding off the spoon and onto my clean kitchen floor. Not once, but twice. Is there such a thing as too much margarine? Yes, yes there is.
The Sugar Saga
Next up, 2 tablespoons of sugar. Easy peasy, right? Well, sort of. As I was tipping the sugar jar, the lid decided it was time to retire and jumped ship. Sugar flooded my countertop, cascading onto the floor like a sweet, granulated waterfall. I couldn’t help but laugh as I swept it up, realizing that my culinary prowess was really shining today.
The Fruity Fiasco
Once the cream cheese, margarine, and sugar were mixed, it was time to add the fruit and walnuts. The can of cranberry sauce and crushed pineapple didn’t give me much trouble, except for the fact that the can opener seemed to be on vacation. After a brief wrestling match, the cans were open and the fruit was in the mix. The walnuts, however, were another story. I accidentally bought whole walnuts instead of chopped ones. Let’s just say, there were a lot of nutty ricochets around my kitchen that day.
The Whipping Cream Woes
With everything mixed, it was time for the final step: whipping the cream. Now, I’d like to say that I’m a master at this, but I’d be lying. As the mixer whirred and the cream flew, it felt like a dairy-based snowstorm in my kitchen. Eventually, the cream was whipped and folded into the fruit and cream cheese mixture, and everything was poured into a round mold.
The Freezing Finale
The next part of the recipe was to freeze the salad for 6 hours. It was a long wait, filled with cleaning up my kitchen disaster and wondering if my culinary masterpiece would actually turn out. Spoiler alert: it did. When I finally removed the cranberry salad from the mold, it was a beautiful sight. Sure, it looked a bit like a fruity iceberg, but it was my fruity iceberg.
The Tasting Triumph
Serving up the cranberry salad, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the chaos that had ensued in the making of this dish. But as my guests took their first bites and their faces lit up with delight, I realized something important. Cooking isn’t about being perfect. It’s about the fun, the mess, and the joy of creating something delicious from a bunch of random ingredients.
So, that’s my tale of cranberry salad chaos. Despite the cream cheese conundrum, the margarine menace, the sugar saga, the fruity fiasco, the whipping cream woes, and the freezing finale, the tasting triumph made it all worthwhile. And the best part? I now have a great story to share every time I serve this dish.
