I've never tried this salad but if you google coca cola salad there's a lot of recipes. Maybe that would give you an idea of the amounts you need.

Mark it up as a bad recipe and look for another.
Linda C

I agree with LindaC, as a recipe that is pretty much useless and there's a zillion more out there that are similar, I'm sure.

Basically it's just jello and fruit with some cream cheese so if you find one similar you can probably figure it out from there.

Annie

Mark it up as a bad recipe and look for another.
Linda C

Thanks...
I know many old recipes use amounts that were understandable back then but now leave a lot to the imagination!

I'll take a stab at it. The boxes of Jello mean the small boxes. The ones that take two cups of liquid. A small package of cream cheese is 3 oz instead of the large 8 oz one. I'd say the 1 1/2 cups of liquid is from draining the cherries and the pineapple, adding water if it doesn't make the cup and a half. I take it you didn't include the Coke in the recipe. That would probably be around 2 cups since the jello's usually use two cups each pack. Only one and a half of the juices makes up for the wet fruit and such. That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it. Oh and btw, a #2 can is the regular size, like the size of a can of veggies and such. Pineapple would be the same, I'd say. Just make sure you let the cream cheese soften well before trying to incorporate it.

In the "what's wrong with this recipe" vein, I'm just wondering why it's called "Coca-Cola Salad" when there is no Coca-Cola called for. LindaC -- kinda like you suggested in the other thread -- is it supposed to just be eaten while drinking Coke? LOL

Here's one with the same ingredients, but it actually has amounts and directions, plus Coca Cola! It's from Cooks.com.

Since I have a bias against Jello, it just feels so icky, I can't say that I've ever eaten anything similar, but I have a recipe for a apricot/pineapple/cream cheese/jello thing that my girls love. If you want to blend the cream cheese in, be sure it's soft, as coconut suggests, and mix it into the hot liquid when you make the jello. This recipe says to mix it in in pieces, so it appears that there are supposed to be floating about in jello with the fruit.

COCA-COLA SALAD

2 (1 lb.) cans dark sweet cherries (pitted 4 cups)
1 (3 oz.) pkg. strawberry gelatin (Jello)
1 c. chopped pecans
1 1/2 c. Coca-Cola
1 can (2 1/2 c.) crushed pineapple
1 (3 oz.) pkg. cherry gelatin (Jello)
3 (3 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese

Drain juices from cherries and pineapple. Bring 2 cups juice to boil (save any remaining juice for another use). Dissolve gelatins in boiling liquid. Cool. Add Coca-Cola; stir and chill. Cut up cream cheese then add cream cheese along with cherries, pineapple and nuts to mixture. Pour into mold or dish.
Place in refrigerator to congeal. Unmold and serve, or if prepared in a dish, cut into squares and serve. As a garnish or decoration you may add one tablespoon of Cool Whip to each serving.

NOTE: Dark sweet cherries are difficult to find. Kroger has one brand in 1-pound size cans (2 cups).

here is one that slightly different, and more like the original poster's list of ingredients, but with directions. It doesn't specify the amount of the "small can" of pineapple, but here I can only get two sizes, the small one is 6 or 8 ounces I think. The cream cheese is blended into the hot liquid so you wouldn't have little chunks of cream cheese in this one, also from Cooks.com

COCA COLA SALAD

1 pkg. raspberry Jello
1 pkg. cherry Jello
1 sm. pkg. Philadelphia cream cheese
1 can Bing cherries (No. 2 can)
1 sm. can crushed pineapple
1 c. nuts
1 1/2 c. hot liquid (fruit juice)
2 bottles Coca Cola (10 oz.)

Dissolve Jello in hot liquid. While hot, add cream cheese. After cool, add fruit and nuts and after well cooled add 2 bottles of Coca Cola. This amount will fill approximately 16 individual molds. Put in refrigerator to set.

I still maintain that the first recipe, without amounts and with no real directions, is a bad recipe. I get recipes with instructions like "cover with a clean towel". What, I'm going to use a dirty towel? At least you get directions with those, even if they make me laugh. And then there are recipes like this one, that are pretty much useless.

Annie

OK, why is it called a "salad" when it is obviously a dessert? Or is it just me and does the rest of the world consider jelloed fruit as a "salad"? In my mind, a salad is a cold dish containing veggies and/or fruits, but without sugary dessert-type elements like jello. And an aspic, OTOH, would be a salad, right?

Never understood that....I have seen jello salads that really were sort of "salad-ey" with things like chopped raw cabbage and shredded carrots and chopped celery....but one that is much served around here....red jello with applesauce mixed in ( blech!)...is nothing like any salad I could imagine.
It used to be....before I took the job, that funeral lunches were always served a square of "jello salad" on a paper plate. Each made by a different person and as varied as say a box of chocolates ( sorry Mr. Gump!). Any left over would go into the refrig until they got eaten or turned to rubber. One time someone mentioned to our new pastor from Oregon, that there was some extra salad in the refrigerator....he went, looked and then called and asked which refrigerator because all he could find was jello!

I don't know, Helene, but it's always been called a salad here. Ambrosia salad is fruit and cocnut, covered with sweetened whipped cream and sometimes contains marshmallows and it's called a salad, as is the fruit salad dish with the sweet dressing kind of like pudding or custard.

Of course, I always knew soup as a savory too, until I started coming across all the recipes for fruit soup and quick breads alway seemed a lot more like cake than they ever did bread, the only similarity is that they're both baked in a loaf pan.

Annie

I got kinda curious about the whole "salad" issue myself so I looked it up. Per Merriam-Webster.com, their number 1. definition is as follows:

Definition of SALAD
1: any of various usually cold dishes: as

a : raw greens (as lettuce) often combined with other vegetables and toppings and served especially with dressing

b : small pieces of food (as pasta, meat, fruit, or vegetables) usually mixed with a dressing (as mayonnaise) or set in gelatin

So there you go! Apparently bits of food set in jell-o is a salad by definition! Who knew!

But, honestly, I'm with you. I'm not convinced that jell-o anything is really a salad, at least not in my book. But hey, I guess it's a cultural thing as Annie points out.

I have Larousse Gastronomique at home, I'll check for their definition tonight.

I'm not sure jello is even food!

Annie

Gelatin is used in an aspic. Gelatin is not Jello, IMHO. It's like using cornstarch or another ingredient to set a texture, not to add flavor/color, no matter how artificial.

Thank you Annie.. that recipe you posted above IS the one I was asking about -but I forgot to add the '2 bottles of coco cola (10 oz.)' when I posted it!

Since it calls for a box of raspberry & a box of cherry Jello, I guess each was probably a small box?! Would save a lot of frustrations if the recipes would mention the ounces, etc. as 'box' sizes may change in a few years as others have done. As for me.. jello is also a 'salad'!! I have the index file for salads in my recipe box that includes a lot of jello recipes & the one using cinnamon hots is one I am often asked to bring again. Thanks everyone!

Glad your recipe has been figured out!

To me jello should be plain. It's really gross to me when it has other stuff in it!

Tami

Annie: the recipe you posted was like mine, but neither of ours mentions if the cherries or pineapple are drained for the recipe & if the 'hot liquid' might be the juices that are drained & heated!?

That's why I posted the first one, vieja, because it DID have sizes and amounts and the only real difference is the cream cheese, both in size and in technique. Well, I guess a cup and a half of Coke isn't 20 ounces, it's 12 ounces, so that is a bit different, but might have been changed just to accomodate the fact that most cans of soft drinks are 12 ounces. So, I'd use the 3 ounce boxes as noted in the first recipe, I don't know if that's the big box or small box. I('d use the juice,just for more flavor, but it's Jello. (shrug) I don't think it really makes a difference whether you boil water or heat the juice and use it as the liquid.

Larousse isn't much help in the salad issue either, it just says:

Salad: A dish of raw, cold or warm cooked foods, usually dressed or seasoned, served as an appetizer, side dish or main course.

It goes on to give recipes for everything from apple salad to Salade Nicoise, so I guess nearly anything can be a salad. According to Wikipedia, the word "salad" comes from the French salade of the same meaning, from the Latin salata (salty), from sal (salt). In English, the word first appears as "salad" or "sallet" in the 14th century.
Salt is associated with salad because vegetables were seasoned with brine or salty oil-and-vinegar dressings during Roman times.

Wiki goes on to talk about green salads, cold salads, "bound" salads and dessert salads. It also mentioned the infamous "Snickers Salad" which I'd forgotten about and Ashley loved, full of apples and chopped Snickers bars, and dressed with sweetened whipped cream. Gives me a toothache just to think about it and a whole new meaning to "I'll just have a salad, thanks". (grin)

Annie

Gelatin is not Jello, IMHO

Yeah, I agree. But jell-o is gelatin. It's flavored gelatin. IOW jell-o is a subset of gelatin.

Annie,
That definition covers just about every dish! LOL, could they have been more vague?

Well, maybe they could have been more vague, but I don't know how!

Annie