COOL CUCUMBER SALAD



COOL CUCUMBER SALAD
A classic from when I was a child.  You can serve this salad any time of year and it will not be unappreciated.  It makes a nice, festive statement on any table.  It's a great addition for St. Paddy's Day, so keep that in mind too. 

The sweetener tables for all the most common scenarios are in my cookbooks for your convenience.  For example, ¾ cup sugar sweetness (not ¾ cup liquid) using my bottle of sucralose from the EZ-Sweetz brand (whether the smaller one of 0.5 oz or the bigger yellow bottle of 2 oz – Zero carbs) would be 18 or 36 drops respectively.  Here is an article and video about the sweeteners. Part 1.  There is another article and video here: Part 2.



1 cup grated English cucumber, OR (250 mL)
  finely diced
1/2 cup diced canned pineapple, (125 mL)
  optional (NOT fresh pineapple)
1 tbsp grated onion (15 mL)
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin (45 mL)
1/cup lemon juice (75 mL)
1 cup boiling water (250 mL)
1 cup cold water (250 mL)
Liquid sweetener to equal 1/2 cup sugar (125 mL)
  (or powdered sweetener of choice)
1/cup mayonnaise (75 mL)
1 tbsp vinegar (15 mL)
1/tsp salt (0.5 mL)
Green food coloring

Set aside the cucumber, pineapple, if using, and grated onion. In a large glass bowl, soften gelatin in lemon juice. Add boiling water and stir until gelatin dissolves. Stir in cold water, liquid sweetener, OR powdered sweetener, mayonnaise, vinegar, salt and green food coloring. Whisk the mixture really well until the mayonnaise dissolves. Pour into a jello mold. Chill the mixture about 30 minutes or more until thickened slightly. Fold cucumber, pineapple (if using) and onion into gelatin and chill at least 6 hours.

Helpful Hints: My food processor grater assembly makes short work of grating the cucumber and onion. To remove cucumber jello salad, fill up a basin with hot water and lower the jello mold into the water for 5 to 10 seconds.  Place a pretty plate on top of the jello mold and invert.  The salad should slide out easily. 

The bromelaine enzyme in fresh pineapple will prevent the gelatin from setting.

Yield:  6 servings
with/without pineapple
113.5/107.0 calories
3.4/3.3 g protein
9.8/9.8 g fat
3.4/1.9 g net carbs