"ambrosia" news and stories

Ambrosia salad is one of those 1950s marshmallow concoctions that I ate at picnics and graduations when I was a kid. It's a fruit salad but there's nothing healthy about it -- candy-coated fluff traditionally made with Cool Whip, mayonnaise or sour cream and marshmallows.

The salad gets its name from the magical strength building food eaten by the Gods of Greek mythology, reputed to retain immortality. I'll admit that this marshmallow and mayo disaster does have a dreamy flavor, but it needs a serious shape up. I've added dried mango for sweetness in place of the high-fructose corn syrup-laden marshmallows. Instead of Cool Whip, mayo or sour cream, I've used high-protein, low-fat Greek yogurt and kept the coconut flakes. I've replaced all canned fruit with fresh, and if you want to serve this as a healthy breakfast, leave out the powdered sugar.

Find The Skinny Chef's Ambrosia recipe after the jump.

Call me crazy, but I never think of the winter being a time for salads. To me, the winter is for soups and hearty meals and hot meals and hot tea and hot chocolate. Salads are for the spring and summer, the time of leafy greens and lighter dinners. Christmas is for turkeys and hams and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie.

But the people over at Cooks Recipes would certainly disagree with me. They've come up with a huge list of various salads that you can eat at Christmas. Most of them incorporate the flavors of the season, including the Cranberry Apple Salad, the Holiday Sweet Potato Salad, and Grandma's Winter Fruit Medley. Danish-Deli-Food.com has a Winter Salad made with figs, cabbage, oranges, and pecans that sounds interesting. But the Layered Lettuce Salad? Not festive enough.

Oh, and Ambrosia Mold sounds like the name of a Bond girl.