Semi Homemade Cranberry Pineapple Pecan Salad

A quick and easy 3 ingredient side dish that tastes fresh, sweet, cool and crunchy all at once. Jazz up a can of whole berry cranberry sauce and perk up your holiday table.

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Two things contributed to this cranberry sauce. Neither of them involve beets. Rejoice!

First, I swung by my closest Kroger grocery store during their pre-holiday free sample palooza and tried a taste of cranberry celebration salad. Second, my mom read this post on my make ahead slow cooker cranberry orange and beet salad and suggested I offer up a recipe for doctored up cranberry sauce that starts with a can, not a bag.

To be honest, I'm cool with the can of whole berry cranberry sauce [though the jellied kind icks me out as I did not grow up with it]. I'm game to start out with a bag of cranberries too--though if we're a small amount around the table I don't need that much sauce. I just require demand a small amount of sweet red salad to mix with my mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey and gravy. [In the same way, I need that dab of lingonberry jam with my meatballs and potatoes at IKEA.]

If you're not into beets yoga using a slow cooker or stove top to make your cranberry sauce but you've got a knife and the ability to toast pecans for a couple of minutes, this is a fast way to dress up a perfectly fine side dish into something even better.

For more dishes using cranberries, fresh or dried, please see my Cranberry Recipes Collection. This is part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for those of us who can't walk past all the bountiful displays at the grocery store this time of year without picking up a little something 'just in case'. I'm pinning tasty looking sides to my Pinterest boards and sharing them on my FB page.

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why is the label upside down when the can is right side up?

Semi Homemade Cranberry Pineapple Pecan Salad

Ingredients

• 1 cup pecan halves
• 1 to 1+½ cups fresh pineapple chunks
• 1 can (14 ounces) whole berry cranberry sauce

Instructions

1. Toast pecan halves. If I've got the oven on already, this is about 5 minutes on a cookie sheet at 325 degrees Fahrenheit or until fragrant. If I'm not already baking, it's 3 to 4 minutes in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking once or twice. Set aside to cool.
2. Chop pineapple into bite sized chunks.
3. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients. Chill for 30 minutes before serving. You can make this a day ahead. After a couple of days the pecans will soften, but still taste good.

I'm having a flurry of Thanksgiving recipes to get me mentally prepared. Previously I shared my Apple & Sausage Cornbread Stuffing (GF). Next up will be a homey Celeriac & Carrot mash. Finally, I'll round up a bunch of Thanksgiving Round Ups to round out the run.