What would holiday meals be without that special Cranberry Salad side? It was always one of my favorite dishes, and I came up with this version after experimenting over the years with fresh cranberries and various fruit additions. I like the whole berry cranberry sauce better than using fresh cranberries, which can be too firm and too tart for this dish. The grapes and blueberries add texture and flavor.
I had settled on these ingredients, using cherry or raspberry gelatin, but one year, my friend Noel told me she adds orange zest to her version. I tried it, adding the orange zest and substituting one orange gelatin for one of the red gelatins (be sure to keep half of your gelatin ingredients cherry, raspberry or strawberry so it has that beautiful red color), and I found I really love the combination of flavors. One year, I added drained mandarin oranges to the ingredients as well, and it was great. With the fruity chunkiness, it can double as a fruit salad, and some in my family eat a bowl of it for dessert. This recipe makes two big bowls, and yet we always run out of it before we run out of everything else!
I really like pecans in the salad, but because some of our guests may have nut allergies, I usually put pecans in one bowl and leave the other pecan-free.
Click here for the recipe.
