Resurrection Black Cherry Salad

This gelatin salad is made in a cross-shaped mold. Dark cherries, pineapple & pecans are folded into Jell-O, then garnished with tinted coconut & colored eggs.

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Ingredients:

• 2, 16-oz. cans dark pitted sweet cherries
• 1 8-oz can crushed pineapple
• 2 small packages cherry Jell-O
• 2 small packages lemon Jell-O
• 1 3/4 cups chopped pecans
• Nonstick cooking spray
• 7 Hard cooked eggs, Color only 6 with food coloring
• Green, yellow, and red food coloring
• 2 cups coconut
• 1 large board covered with foil (for display)
• 1 large Cross-shaped cake pan

Method

Drain cherries and pineapple, reserving juice. Add water to juices to equal 8 cups. In large saucepan, heat the juice-water just to boiling. Dissolve the cherry and lemon Jell-O in hot liquid. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for about 1 hour or until partially set. When mixture begins to set, add cherries, pineapple and nuts. Pour into cross mold that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Refrigerate. When completely chilled (about 3 hours or longer) carefully loosen and invert Jell-O cross on foil-covered board. In the meantime, color 6 of the hard cooked eggs as follows: in each of 3 different bowls combine some warm water, 1 Tablespoon vinegar, and several drops of one of the colors (green, yellow, red) in each bowl. Leave 1 egg white. Add two eggs to each color and let stand for a few minutes until tinted. In a 1-quart jar with cover, combine 1 or 2 drops of green food coloring and about 1 tablespoon water. Add coconut. Cover and shake to tint green. Sprinkle coconut around the entire cross mold on the board. The mold, with its the dark purple-red cross, represents the wood of the cross and the sacrifice Jesus made for all mankind. The black cherries in the gelatin represent the hearts that were broken when Jesus died. The crushed pineapple represents the scourging, and the nuts represent the stones that Jesus walked on His way to the cross. The 1 white egg symbolizes the stone removed from the tomb of Jesus. The colored coconut and colored eggs represent Spring Time and the celebration of the Resurrection and Eternal Life for all to come!

Notes: Adapted from a Recipe of my Mother's, who died when I was eleven. My sister continued the tradition with fond memories of this Wonderful Easter Black Cherry Salad. The salad alone can also be made at other times of the year in an ordinary Jell-O mold!

Number of servings: 8 to 10

Submitted By: faustina4life
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