posts may contain Amazon affiliate links, which earn me a small commission when you buy (but doesn't cost you anything extra). Occasionally I receive free products and/or run sponsored posts—this will always be stated clearly in the post. Thank you for supporting this blog.

This website contains some quotations, excerpts, and screen clips from copyrighted material. These uses fall well within the copyright doctrine of "Fair Use".
Sunday, March 29, 2009

Riding on a Cloud...with this Pink Cloud Pie!

 Can I just tell you, I am riding on a cloud right now! My Spartans just made it to the Final Four!!! Woo Hoo!! Okay, had to show some love to my boys. And now on to the "real" content of this puffy post. Karen at DomesticMuse is hosting a challenge called Everything Old is New Again; I love the idea of this challenge! My grandma has so many recipes tucked into her recipe box and I'm always asking her how do you make such-n-such, so this is a great opportunity to get down & dirty with some vintage recipes. I actually chose to update a recipe that grandma makes for almost every holiday. Green Salad or Lime Salad or Green Jello Salad are all names that it answers to. Truth...I've never really liked it. Everyone else seems to, though. I was inspired a while back by a recipe Joy the Baker posted. She used a jello salad much like my grandmas and turned it into a pie. I thought...I HAVE to try that with my grandma's Green Salad. I bookmarked the recipe and have thought on it ever since. When Karen's challenge surfaced, I figured it'd be the perfect time to give it a go. I did decide to update the recipe a bit...change it to something I would actually like to eat (sorry Gram). Have you ever seen the movie Waitress? Love it! In a nutshell, Kerry Russell's character is a pie maker...all kinds of pies for all kinds of reasons. One of the pies she makes is called Mermaid Marshmallow Pie...this is another inspiration for my creation.

I'm also gonna do double-duty here and make this my entry for this month's You Want Pies With That? The theme being Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous...you create and bake a pie with a rich & famous person in mind. Picking someone to attribute this to, taking the Everything Old is New Again theme into consideration as well...it's going to be....ah, I'll tell you at the end of the post! I want you to see it first!

Old Recipe- Grandma's Green Jello Salad
1 pkg. Lime Jello
1 c. hot water
1/2 c. pineapple juice
1/2 pint whipped cream
1 (10 cent!!) small jar maraschino cherries, drained
1 small pkg. Philly cream cheese
chopped nuts
1 can crushed pineapple, drained well

Dissolve jello in hot water and pineapple juice. Let cool until slightly set. Add cream cheese and fold in whipped cream, cherries, nuts and pineapple. Pour into mold and let set.
...and now, changed to make it "new again"....

Pink Cloud Pie
by girlichef

Graham Cracker Crust:
9 graham crackers
1/4 c. brown sugar
7-8 Tbs. melted butter

Place crackers in a large zipper bag. Crush to fine crumbs. Place in bowl and mix w/ brown sugar. Have your quality control people in place to check the texture of the graham crackers (um, that would be the munchkins). Drizzle in butter and mix. Press into pie pan. Bake in preheated 325°F oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Let cool completely.
1 (3 oz) pkg raspberry jello
1 c. hot water
1/2 c. pineapple juice
1 c. heavy cream- whipped until stiff peaks
1 c. raspberries, fresh or frozen
8 oz. cream cheese or neufchatel, softened
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 can (20 oz. can) crushed pineapple, drained well

Dissolve jello in hot water. Stir in pineapple juice. Put in refrigerator until slightly set, about 1-1 1/2 hrs. Stir in cream cheese (I used stick blender). Fold in whipped cream. Add raspberries, nuts and crushed pineapple.


Mix all together gently. Pour into prepared graham cracker shell. Put in refrigerator until set, about one more hour. 

Now, take:
2 c. heavy cream
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
juice from 1/2 c. crushed raspberries
pink mini-marshmallows (I picked them from a mixed bag)

Place all in bowl and whip until stiff peaks form. Blop it onto the chilled pie and spread gently. Top with pink mini-marshmallows.


Serve. Will keep wrapped in foil for a day or two...not sure, it hasn't been that long yet.


This was such a fun challenge...well, two fun challenges! Are you wondering which rich & famous person I'm dedicating this pie to? It's all pink and fluffy and girly, so it's got to be Anna Nicole Smith. I wasn't really a big fan of hers, but I know she idolized Marilyn Monroe (old) and went to Hollywood to remake herself (new), just as Norma Jean did. Anna Nicole loved pink and was often "riding on a cloud".  Hers is a tragic story...sad, I think. But wouldn't she have loved this pie?

*Update 4/3/11--->I am sharing this post with:
foodpalette pink

Would you like to comment?

  1. Jello .. hey I was going to do that:).. Great idea.. great minds think alike.. Sounds fantastic..good luck with the contest!

    ReplyDelete
  2. so pink and yummy and delicious! i love it!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You did a great job reinventing it! Ever since I found out what gelatin is made of I haven't eaten it, I never really liked it. But if you put this pie in front of me I wouldn't hesitate. It is so pretty and raspberries make it real yummy. I like how you tied it in with Anna Nicole.

    I voted for all of your pictures. And I loved Waitress too!

    Your kids look cute! How many do you have?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my gosh! I love jello concoctions and my mammaw used to do a similar cake! I love it...it is like a cloud of goodness...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oooh, how pretty, I'm loving the pink!

    ReplyDelete
  6. If you still have it, maybe you could stick a PEEP on it and enter it in the contest. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love anything with Jello! This is awesome! Congrats on the March Madness. I'm a UCLA Bruin and while my team is out, I'm always a huge fan of the madness.

    ReplyDelete
  8. ...Donna- yes, great minds ;) The more jello the merrier! Good luck right back at ya.

    ...Heather- thx!

    ...Reeni- I know...I just try to pretend I don't, lol. thx for voting for my pix! I totally want to have a "waitress" party! I have 3 kids!

    ...Chef E- exactly! cloud of goodness

    ...teresa- so girly...Pretty in Pink! Coulda linked it w/ Molly Ringwald...

    ...Jennifer- I seriously considered it, but didn't think it could be considered "healthy"! You're really making it hard on me ;)

    ...librarian- thanks! I love March Madness 2...but extra right now!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love these kind of jello dishes, especially when they involve marshmallows! I'll eat anything that contains marshmallows :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a pretty pink cloud pie - I will absolutely have to make it for my daughter! Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Holy Moley.... that looks freakin' steller man... I love when people do that w/ recipes..Hey I made grams from scratch this weekend...Super easy!
    Thanks for alwat visiting my blog and leaving such great comments about be.. I make my kids read them outloud so I can imagine it's them sayin it!! HAHAHAHA!

    ReplyDelete
  12. ...Sara & 5*- yes, def. worth trying, esp if u love jello salad or mallows!

    ...SugaMama- ha ha ha, that's awesome! And really, homemade grahams? I'd luv that recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wow does that look mouthwatering or what???????
    I've got to stop reading all of these recipe posts.....it ain't helping my "thigh issue", lol.
    Fantastic :)

    Steady On
    Reggie Girl

    ReplyDelete
  14. WOW! this looks SO fun to make AND eat! yum!
    aah...I remember the jell-o days, where we had all sorts of jell-o recipes!
    where did u find the pink marshmallows?

    ReplyDelete
  15. WOW!! May I have some, please? You are going to win.. I voted for you on Foodie Views!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. This is so cute and I love the color!! I have never made any type of jello salad. One year my grandmother decided to bring it to our thanksgiving family feast. She was really tired so I thought I'd help by getting the jello made for her so it could set. She had a lot of fun telling me that you don't actually make the jello and "now I have to go buy more"!! Ah, memories!! LOL!!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Looks very pink and yummy. I like how you "blopped" the frosting on. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. ...reggie girl- my thighs 2 girl!

    ...burp & slurp- I picked them out of one of those multi-colored bags.

    ...Gin- :D yay...thanks! you da best!

    ...ChefBliss- great story! LOL! love it.

    ReplyDelete
  19. What a pretty, pretty pie! Looks so light and sweet... and congratulations to your Spartans!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Very creative... and pink! Good tribute to Anna Nicole.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I love what you did. I am hopeless with jello - my kids have "jello" stories from my attempts. But you just made a work of art! Looks wonderful and although I am jello-challenged I have to give it a whirl.

    ReplyDelete
  22. ...jesse- thanks so much! Go State!

    ...Natashya- thanks to you, too...I thought it was pretty fitting to AN!

    ...Claudia- :) I hope you do, it was really pretty simple. Let me know how it comes out if you try it!

    ReplyDelete
  23. ...and Gloria- Yes! It was definitely a Blop :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Clever girl! It sure is pink, but I'll bet it's tasty. I just may give this a try.

    ReplyDelete
  25. How pink, fluffy and fun! It reminds me of a salad my Aunt made. Great job making it into a pie!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I just love the pink fluffiness of this! It's great that you've resurrected and reinvented such a classic and beloved dish. And the recipe box you've pictured looks so much like my husband's grandmother's recipe box that I know have. I'll have to look through it, too and see if I can find some gems.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Oooh yay! I just saw that Domestic Muse extended the challenge because I wanted to do it! And I loved the movie Waitress and your version of the Marshmallow Pie looks, well, both Old fashioned disgusting and yummy intriguing at the same time! Just like so many of those old recipes of our youth! Love it!I love the pink!

    ReplyDelete
  28. What a pretty and yummy pie. Jello is always a winner in my book!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Great pie! I love the colors and the dedication. :)

    ReplyDelete
  30. Not sure if you've ever listened to Garrison Keillor, but THIS is the pie to bring to a Lutheran pot luck if I ever saw one! Nice reinterpretation. Libby

    ReplyDelete
  31. thank you for linking delicious looks fluffy and spongy
    added the picture regards Heather to you and family

    ReplyDelete
  32. pie looks awesome, lovely color -

    ReplyDelete