Watergate Salad

The best recipes for cooking with very little kids (at least, in our kitchen) are the ones in which not a lot of actual cooking is involved. In my experience, a toddler's attention span is mostly limited to dumping things in a bowl and stirring and not much else. This recipe for Watergate Salad, then, is perfect because dumping things in a bowl and stirring is basically all that's required to make it.

Watergate Salad was first served at the Watergate Hotel in DC in the 1970s, which is strange to me because it seems like this kitschy, neon-green dessert would be the last thing you would think of gracing a high-end hotel brunch buffet. Still, the mix of chilled pudding, marshmallows, and fruit make it a wonderful treat at a cookout on a hot summer day.

The recipe we use is adapted from the one published on the Kraft Foods website, with a few special additions that sprang up over the years (as we really just experimented with throwing random things in the mix).

Ingredients:

1 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple, with juice
1 cup mini marshmallows
1 cup pecans
1 cup blueberries
1 package instant pistachio pudding mix
1.5 cups Cool Whip, thawed
Shredded coconut (sweetened or not, depending on your preference)

Directions:

Combine the pineapple, marshmallows, pecans, blueberries, and pudding mix in a large bowl. Add the Cool Whip. Refrigerate for one hour. Sprinkle shredded coconut generously over the top of each serving. Eat.

____________

The last time we brought this to a party, someone commented that it was like sex on a plate. Which isn't perhaps the most kid-friendly way to talk about something your two-year-old helped make, but it sure is descriptive.

Are there any retro recipes that you can't help but love?