Cherry Fruit Salad

Hello everyone!

In addition to the Carrot Cake, I made this Cherry Fruit Salad for Easter lunch this year. I first made it a few years ago, and my mother-in-law really liked it so I found the recipe again (it was actually in my cookbook and I had forgotten about it) and decided to make it again. I love fruit salads. This one is really great if you love cherries and cream cheese; It has a delicious cream cheese base and lots of maraschino cherries. I even think it might be good if you only used cherries for the fruit.

I'm not going to lie, I only had one small tub of whipped topping, so my salad was not as fluffy as the previous time I made this. It had more of a cream cheese taste to it this time, but it still turned out wonderful!

🍒🍍🍒🍍🍒🍍🍒🍍🍒🍍🍒🍍🍒🍍🍒🍍

Recipe from "Can't Stay Out of the Kitchen"

Servings: 12

Cherry Fruit Salad

Ingredients:
29 oz. can of fruit cocktail
4-5 tablespoons of reserved fruit cocktail juice
1 large can of pineapple chunks, drained
16 oz. jar maraschino cherries, drained and halved
2-3 cups of miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I used walnuts)
Red food coloring
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
16 oz. whipped topping
3 heaping tablespoons of powdered sugar

Directions:
1.) Mix softened cream cheese, whipped topping, powdered sugar, 4-5 tablespoons of fruit cocktail juice, and a few drops of red food coloring  with mixer until smooth (you could skip adding the food coloring if you like. This is only to make it more pink.)
2.) Rinse, drain, and cut maraschino cherries.
3.) Add fruit cocktail, pineapple, cherries, marshmallows, and nuts to cream cheese mixture. 
4.) Stir with large spoon.
5.) Garnish with more cherries if desired.
6.) Refrigerate overnight if possible.

Tip: Blot cherries, pineapples, and fruit cocktail dry with paper towels before adding in order to keep salad from getting too watered down.

Enjoy!