This Ain’t Your Grandma’s Ambrosia

I don’t ever recall my grandmother making ambrosia salad. Nor was it made in my house growing up. My memory of an ambrosia salad is at a buffet restaurant as an optional side dish. Is this salad a salad, side dish or a dessert? 

I personally love to have a cold, sweet side dish next to the other hot, salty food on my plate. I think that’s why I always have applesauce to counter-balance all the salt. My parents also made a rice with milk, cinnamon, and sugar, a Waldorf salad and occasionally opened a can of fruit cocktail as a side dish. So I have no idea why an ambrosia salad wasn’t included every now and then, maybe because it was too sweet? This salad has heavy whipping cream, sugar and marshmallows and possibly could make us kids too hyper for my parents to handle after a long day at work. 

I wish I could ask my mom, but she’s been gone since 1992. One big thing I wish I would have asked my grandmother and my mother were family recipes. Recipes that I could of passed down to my daughter and my granddaughters. Maybe my grandmother did make an ambrosia salad and I just don’t remember. I think that’s another reason I’m doing this website so my granddaughters have something of mine they can use and pass down to their children. 

Ingredients:

1 20 oz can of pineapple chunks
1 15 oz can of mandarin oranges
1 cup maraschino cherries, rinse and drained 
1 cup heavy whipping cream 
1 tablespoon sugar 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1/2 cup light sour cream 
3 cups of mini marshmallows 
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
3/4 cup pecans, chopped 
1 cup green grapes, halved 

Directions:

Put the pineapple chunks and the mandarin oranges in a strainer and let drain for 30 minutes to an hour. Rinse and drain the cherries, set aside. 

In a medium size bowl use a hand mixer to whip together the heavy whipping cream, sugar and vanilla extract until it’s light and fluffy. Gently fold in 1/3rd of the sour cream until fully incorporated, then repeat 1/3rd at a time until all of the sour cream is in the mixture. Gently add in the pecans, coconut and marshmallows, then fold in the grapes, pineapple, oranges and cherries. Refrigerate up to an hour before serving. When serving top with some shredded coconut or chopped pecans, optional. Yum Yum!