This is a recipe that is neither frugal nor healthy.
And it’s not exactly a salad either. So, I can’t really encourage you to eat this in good conscience.
Except maybe every now and again, like I do.
My mom used to make this (every now and again, mind you) when I was a kid, mostly on special occasions, like birthdays. Like my siblings and me, my own kids now regularly request this as part of their birthday meals.
And since some of you asked after seeing my 365 post the other day, I thought it might be fun to share the recipe.
I’m filing it in the Desserts category, but to be terribly honest, my family never eats this as dessert…we eat it right alongside the main dishes.
Surprisingly, none of us have died from it yet. 
In a pot, combine one 3 oz. package of tapioca pudding mix, one 3 oz. package of cook and serve vanilla pudding mix, and one 3 oz. package of orange jello mix with 3 cups of water.
Boy. That’s not how my recipes normally start.
Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and clear. I usually bring mine to a low boil.
Let that cool completely.
Then prepare one package of Dream Whip according to the package directions. I imagine you could use real whipped cream (or Cool Whip) if you preferred.
Fold the Dream Whip into the cooled jello mixture,
along with one small can of drained mandarin oranges.
Cover and refrigerate until firm.
I must apologize for not having a lovely plated photo of this for you…I took the jello to a family gathering and barely remembered to snap a photo at all.
On the next every-now-and-then sort of occasion where I make this, I promise I’ll do better.
Mandarin Orange Salad
1 small (3 oz) package tapioca pudding mix
1 small (3 oz.) package cook and serve vanilla pudding mix
1 small (3 oz.) package orange Jello
3 cups water
1 small can mandarin oranges, drained
1 package Dream Whip
In a medium-sized saucepan, combine tapioca, pudding and Jello with water. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened, clear, and bubbling slightly. Cool completely.
Prepare Dream Whip according to package directions, and fold oranges and Dream Whip into cooled Jello mixture. Cover and refrigerate until firm.
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Pssst!
If you’re looking for something mandarin-y but a bit healthier (or for something that truly IS a salad!), perhaps Mandarin Chicken Salad would be more your speed.
Both of those recipes are easy and include directions for making two different but delicious homemade salad dressings.
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Today’s 365 post: The not-so-beautiful side of things
Joshua’s 365 post:Pop! (a.k.a. Baking With Joshua)
{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
This is “Dorothy’s Orange Jello Salad” in my family (Dorothy being a church friend). We used to make it faithfully every Memorial Day – and the random potluck. Yummmmmmmmo!
I make a “salad” much like this only using cottage cheese, mandarin oranges, cool whip. You could also add some pineapple chunks in it as well. You just “dump” it all together and stir.
How much cottage cheese and cool whip? … sounds good
Recipe:
1 small box of orange jello
1- 8 oz. container of cottage cheese, or according to your taste
1 – 8 oz. Cool Whip, thawed
1 large can of mandarin oranges
Mix the jello with cottage cheese and Cool Whip, then add the mandarin oranges. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve it. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.
At least there is protein from the cottage cheese in this one.
Also you can use the lowfat cottage cheese.
Thank you!
Oops! I forgot the small package of jello for my recipe!
I think this is where historical and cultural food differences come in to play. I’m English and that looks like a decidedly peculiar combination of ingredients to me!
I’m sure it’s delicious, but I’ll go and look at the mandarin and spinach salad…
Hazel, I’m with you (& a fellow Brit.)
The way it looks puts me off more than the ingredients. It looks gloopy, reminding me of cold rice pudding. I wonder what it tastes like? Jelly custard?
Lots of positive comments though!
Cold rice pudding would be close, but creamier and with an orange flavor.
This is such a classic! My family eats this every year at Thanksgiving (as a side dish, not dessert… haha).
Oh! My family makes this recipe… only we add a small can of crushed pineapple… and call it YumYum salad. haha. =D This is a favorite sweet salad at any of our special occasions.
This sounds disgusting and I bet it’s wonderful–can’t see myself buying dream whip though, I would cringe to the ends of my toe nails, but with a little whipped cream I might go this way sometime!
My family always called this “Foam” using the Cool Whip, Jello mix and Cottage Cheese recipe. Fun times!
Color Color Color — just gorgeous to look at, plated or not! No wonder the kids request it, and I bet it’s yummy! The proper salads look great, too, but there’s something about the orange=ness that has me drooling.
We call it Creamsicle Salad. I use the exact same recipe but we don’t have Dream Whip around here. I use one regular sized tub of Cool-Whip instead. Everyone loves it. I make it at the holidays.
I have two salads like this in my repertoire, but I always used real whipped cream (no fake on my cake!), ’cause firstly, I was raised on a dairy farm and secondly, I’m not a friend of chemical concoctions now being marketed as “food.” And since all mandarin oranges in tins seem to come from China, I’ve stopped buying those, too. But at the large family gatherings, we can still find these salads and they’re a big hit with the kids, both young and old!
Thanks for sharing!
Here’s an odd question – what is the name of the dishes used in your picture?
I’ve been wanting a nice simple white set of dishes. Love the simple scroll work!
jello dish sounds yummy. I have a recipe that has buttermilk in it, similar to this one. Not eaten often for obvious reasons but so tasty!
My mother in law use to make a similar “salad” for my husband on special occasions. The recipe has since been passed on to me…I am going to try and make a “healthy” version of it without the dream whip.
What is dream whip. I’ve never made anything like this before but it sounds like something my kids would love.
Awesome! I love this type of ‘salad’, we used to have otnnnes of different kinds of them at church suppers. You hardly ever see then anymore.
We have a family friend who makes this and she calls it “orange fluff”.
My daughter in law’s family calls it “orange floof.”
Now THERE’S a classy name.
Ohhhhhhh….that looks very yummy! I will have to give it a try.
I too make the cottage cheese/pineapple version
I call it Orange Fluff
my kids hate it and say it looks like puke (they are teenagers!)
I use lowfat and sugar free on all the items and call it dessert
We lovingly call this OFPS for “Orange fluff pudding stuff.”
My in-laws make something similar, but green! Pistachio-flavored jello or pudding, I think.
You might want to try making it with real whipped cream – the third ingredient in Dream Whip is partially hydrogenated oil, which means it’s loaded with trans fat, the one fat everyone can agree is BAD.