7-Up Salad

I have a file folder of recipes I've collected over the years. Many of them I've yet to try and many of them I made quite a few times. Some I've learned to make from my Nutritional Education class senior year in high school. Others I've learned to make from friends and family. There's some I've clipped from magazines, newspapers and coupon ads...then there are some, like this recipe, that I have no idea where it came from. I do know I've made it for my family during Thanksgiving and Christmas, but probably not since the late 80s/early 90s. When I made it again this Christmas, I did some tweaking to the original recipe. It is still just as good but not nearly as sweet. Keep in mind it is still quite sweet, but no one needs as much of a sugar rush as the original recipe!

The recipe is on an old sheet of loose leaf paper that is now yellowing and the pencil is fading so I thought I should blog this recipe so I don't lose it! Here's what I found in my file folder extra scribbles on the paper and all.

My mom and I had fun making this together so I could take photos of the process for this blog.

7-Up Salad...the recipe

Please note this takes overnight to set, so this isn't a make and instantly serve recipe.

1 small box of sugar free lime gelatin

20 oz. can of crushed pineapple (drained well)

1/2 cup granulated sugar substitute or sugar

1/2 cup 7-Up (or your favorite lemon-lime soda)

1/2 cup water

1 envelope of Dream Whip whipped topping mix

1/2 cup of cold 1% milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 oz. bar of Neufchâtel cheese softened (or cream cheese but we're trying to somewhat watch the calories here)

Start by draining the crushed pineapple and measuring your sugar substitute, 7-Up and water.

  

 

In a small sauce pan, pour in the gelatin and add the sugar substitute.

 

Add in the 7-Up (which will fizz quite a bit) and the water.

 

Add the crushed pineapple, put the pan on medium-high heat and stir constantly.

 

Keep stirring until this mixture is brought to a boiling point. Please note, you are not going to boil this mixture. As soon as it starts to boil, take it off the heat and let it cool.

Now it's time to make the Dream Whip. Empty a packet of Dream Whip into a small bowl.

Measure 1/2 cup 1% cold milk and add it to the bowl.

Measure 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and add it to the bowl as well.

  

Beat this mixture until soft peaks form.

In a medium sized bowl (the bowl in which you will be combining all of the ingredients to set overnight). Drop in the box of softened Neufchâtel and beat well.

Next, fold in the Dream Whip to the cheese until well combined. There may be some small lumps of cheese which is okay, just make sure you don't have large chunks.

 

Take the cooled gelatin mixture, and fold it in to the cheese and Dream Whip mix until well combined.

Refrigerate overnight.

When you are ready to serve, it should be the consistency of a creamy gelatin. You can add a dollop of whipped cream on top or serve as is (as I do).

Serves 6-8.

I hope you enjoy as much as I do!

Lazy Golumki, Golabki, Golumpki or Galumpki. Its Good No Matter How You Spell It!

I love Polish foods. We ate a lot of it growing up. However, I have not really learned how to cook it much myself. So I'm starting with an easy recipe. Lazy Golumki... or Golabki or Galumpki. No matter how you spell it, its delicious. If you don't want to take the time to make the yummy little cabbage rolls, then this is for you.

Lazy Golumki...the recipe

1 lb hamburger
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion diced
1/2 of a head of cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup of rice
1 quart tomato juice or V8 juice
Salt and pepper to taste

First, prep the cabbage. I took off 3 or 4 leafs from the head until I got to a nice clean part of the cabbage. Cut it in half and in half again.

Cut out the center part of the cabbage. I took my knife and on a diagonal cut the heart of the cabbage out and threw it away.

On the cut side of the cabbage, slice the quartered head to make shreds of cabbage. Repeat until you have sliced both sections of cabbage. Rinse with water and set aside.

Next, dice your onion. However since I am making Lazy Golumkis, I substituted 1/2 cup of frozen diced onions instead. It isn't called Lazy Golumkis for nothing.

Warm a large skillet pan over medium heat. Add your hamburger (since my local grocery store has been having great deals on Ground Bison, I used that in my recipe). Break up the meat into small crumbles and brown it. It should take about 5-8 minutes.

Drain the fat from the meat. I put a bowl under a colander, poured the meat in the colander and let the fat drain in the bowl below.

While the meat is draining, lower the heat to medium/low. In the same pan (don't rinse out, use as is to keep any flavors or small bits of meat), melt the butter.

Add the onions and cook until they are translucent. Be careful not to brown or caramelize the onion. They will be cooking more so you just need them translucent. Please note since you didn't rinse out the pan, the onions may appear a little brown from the leftover meat which is fine. Just don't brown them.

Combine the meat with onions.

Measure a 1/2 cup of rice (I used brown rice which takes longer to cook) and stir it in with the meat and onion combination.

Pour in enough juice to cover the ingredients.

 

Mix in the cabbage.

Cook and stir occasionally. The juice will cook down so you will add more while cooking. If you run out of juice, add water until until the cabbage is tender and the rice is done. Since I used brown rice in my recipe, it took a little over an hour for this to be ready.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Since most tomato juices have salt in them already, taste your food before adding more salt.

I served my Lazy Golumki with a slice of buttered bread.

This makes about 4 servings.

Enjoy!