Mom's Holiday Jell-o Salad

Gratitude to our midwestern ancestors for this gem.  Not the most sophisticated recipe on the blog, but so tasty! Great Grandma Millie made a version of this, as did Great Aunt Jan. My mother updated it a bit since we don't particularly want to eat Cool Whip these days.

Mom's Holiday Jell-o Salad

One large package of raspberry or raspberry/cranberry Jell-o

One 20 ounce can crushed pineapple in 100% juice

One 15 ounce mandarin orange in light syrup

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 tb sugar

Strain pineapple and mandarin oranges in a colander over a bowl, reserving the juices.  Set aside. There will be about 2 cups of juice from the canned fruit.  

Pour the Jell-o mix into a big heatproof bowl.  Add 2 cups of boiling water and stir until dissolved. Stir in the reserved juice from the canned fruit.  Place bowl in the refrigerator until the Jell-o is slightly thickened.  Add the strained fruit and stir.  Place back in the refrigerator until almost set.  

Whip 2 cups of heavy whipping cream with the sugar until stiff but not butter.  When Jell-o is about like thick pancake batter stir in the whipped cream.  Pour into a mold and set overnight.