SWEETHEART SALAD

A special treat for Valentine's Day: Sweetheart Salad. After Mom's pancakes, this is the most cherished food tradition in my family. At holiday dinners at my sister's and brother-in-law's farm, we always had six or seven families in our clan gathered together to enjoy food contributed by all. It was almost always the same food, an essential part of the tradition for us, as it is for many other families. I'm not sure who originally contributed the sweetheart salad nor where the recipe originated - it's been a long time ago - but the dish quickly became a favorite that, late in her life, my mother always made, and served in an antique g;ass bowl passed down in her family (and now mine). The recipe sounds like it might have come from "Good Housekeeping" or some similar homemaker magazine but no matter; it now has a sound pedigree in the Cooper and Cawley households.

It's a little sweet and somewhat fattening but hey; Valentine's Day comes only once a year! Try it with ham or turkey. I think you'll like it.

SWEETHEART SALAD

serves 8 - 10

2 C crushed pineapple

1/2 C sugar

1 1/2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

1/2 C cold water

2 T fresh lemon juice

2 T cherry juice (from Marachino cherries you use in Manhattans)

1 6-oz package cream cheese, softened, at room temperature

12 Marachine cherries (from the jar above), roughly chopped, without the stems!

1/2 pint whipping cream

1. Heat pineapple and sugar. Add gelatin, softened in the cold water. Stir until melted. Add juices and cool. (This  takes a while and I'm usually impatient to get on with it so don't worry if, like me, you don't wait until it's totally cool)

2. Mash cheese and cherries. Blend together, Mix with pineapple mixture.

3. When the mixture becomes slightly thickened, whip cream and fold in. Mold and chill.

Note: it's easiest to mix the cheese and cherries with your hands, a chef's best tool. If you must, you can use Kool Whip.