Fruit salad is fluffy pink goodness

  Some recipes just naturally become favorites that are passed on to friends, family and anyone else who samples a certain dish and says, "Mmm! What's in this?"

  One such recipe is for a fruit salad I first sampled over three decades ago while spending Thanksgiving with some friends. Upon my first fluffy, creamy, crunchy, tasty bite, I asked the above-mentioned question, and I've been making pink fluff fruit salad every holiday since.

  I also make it for potlucks, dinner parties and classroom holiday celebrations. Once I even made a huge batch for a friend's wedding reception. It's always a big hit, and I have yet to make it when at least one person did not ask for the recipe.

  While it's clearly made with fruit cocktail and Cool Whip, pink fluff fruit salad gets its color and base flavor from strawberry banana-flavored Jell-O. But the mystery ingredient that most people just can't put their finger on is cottage cheese. They usually don't even realize it's there, yet it counters the sweetness of the Jell-O and Cool Whip mixture, complements the fruit and adds a hearty substance to the dish.

  Not only is it cool and delicious, it's also nutritious. The fruit cocktail provides carbohydrates and fiber, and the cottage cheese provides protein and calcium.

  While the Jell-O and Cool Whip used in the recipe do add considerable sugar content, the recipe can be made healthier by using sugar-free Jell-O and nondairy whipped dessert mix. Doubling the amount of fruit cocktail also ensures consumption of more fruit and less of the sweet ingredients.

  The simplest version of the recipe calls only for four ingredients: Cool Whip, Jell-O, cottage cheese and fruit cocktail. But the salad tastes even better with chopped walnuts and shredded coconut.

  My sons disagree. When two of them were just toddlers, they quietly ate their Thanksgiving dinner, including every bit of the fruit salad. My then 3-year-old son said, "Mom, this was really good. Only next time, don't use string."

  "Or hair," said his 2-year-old brother. They were both referring to the shredded coconut I had used.

  The salad is also good when made with fresh strawberries and bananas instead of fruit cocktail. And it's refreshing when made with lime-flavored Jell-O and tropical fruit cocktail.

  The possible variations are endless, and I experiment with different ingredients from time to time. But at Thanksgiving and Christmastime, those two sons of mine (now ages 24 and 25) and their two younger brothers expect the traditional pink fluff fruit salad - sans coconut.

  This Thanksgiving, whip up a bowl of pink fluff fruit salad to serve with your family dinner. Chances are, the recipe will become a tradition that you'll share with others for decades to come.

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PINK FLUFF FRUIT SALAD
Serves 6. Double the recipe for more servings.
Prep time: About 15 minutes
(Also must be chilled in fridge overnight)
 
Small package of strawberry banana-flavored Jell-O mix
Small tub of light Cool Whip
Small tub of low-fat cottage cheese
Large can of fruit cocktail, drained
Chopped walnuts (optional)
Shredded coconut (optional)

  In a large mixing bowl, add dry Jell-O mix to Cool Whip and stir until well blended. Fold cottage cheese into Jell-O and Cool Whip mixture, then stir until well blended.

  Thoroughly drain fruit cocktail in colander, then add to ingredients in bowl. If using shredded coconut and/or chopped walnuts, add them also. Gently stir all ingredients until well blended. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill in fridge overnight.