A Serious Case of (Food) Remorse, Complete with Recipe

am·bro·sia/amˈbrōZH(ē)ə/

Noun	The food of the gods (does Hades count?) Something very pleasing to taste or smell (oh, I'm with you on that one!)

I had a hankering.  And a good one.  I wanted ambrosia salad, in all of its (whipped) creamy, fruity, marshmallow-y goodness.  The fact that I even craved it was weird.  If I was not absolutely certain that my oven contained nary a bun, I might have panicked.  You see, when I think of ambrosia salad, I typically think of bundt-shaped, marshmallow and fruit containing, lime Jello-involving dessert creations popular with the 70+ crowd.  Why I wanted it so much is beyond me. But I guess in the end why is irrelevant.

Bleary eyed after my night class on Monday, I sought out the ingredients at my local grocery store and headed home to make it. However, I haven't purchased Cool Whip in about 12 years (weird, right?), so I failed to take into consideration the fact that it comes frozen.  So I waited, impatiently, to make it the next day. Tuesday afternoon I got to work.  I forgot to buy mini marshmallows and ended up having to cut up campfire-sized ones into tiny pieces.  Don't do that. It's really inefficient.

At first my concoction tasted like sweet school paste, but then I realized that in my haste to partake I hadn't noticed that it needs to chill for two hours. Two whole hours?  Come. On.  An hour and 45 minutes later, I was shoveling it in.  It was delicious. My husband raved about it.  I wish that was the end of the story.  I had it for snack, and dessert, and polished off the remains for breakfast this morning.  I didn't even bother with formalities.  I just ate it, unabashedly, out of the serving bowl with a spoon.  Needless to say, I left the house this morning with shame in my belly.  I used fat free Greek yogurt (high in protein, duh)!  I bought the lite whipped topping (fewer calories, duh)!  It had fruit (fruit always equals healthy, duh)!  It had marshmallows...well, never mind about that.  It had to be healthy, riiiiight?  Keep telling yourself that, Sarah.  Although the (non-ambrosia) salad I had for lunch helped to negate my diet blunder ever so slightly, I still haven't let myself off the hook for my transgressions.  So in an attempt to increase my good juju for the day, I'm going to share my (healthier) ambrosia salad recipe, inspired by a bunch of internet recipes and uniquely created by me. I ate the final product before I could take a picture.  I'm new at this.  I'm sorry.  I promise to take one next time. Instead, just imagine how beautiful it was, like a yummy cloud that had freshly fallen from the sky. Feel free to play around with the ratios and ingredients. Make it yours. And no judgement if you polish it off in under 16 hours.  Everyone has their personal record.

Sarah's Less Guilty Ambrosia Salad

• 6 oz cup of nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 10 oz tub of lite whipped topping (aka "Cool Whip"), thawed
• 1 can of crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 can of mandarin oranges, drained
• 10 oz jar of maraschino cherries, drained
• coconut (flaked or shredded)
• mini marshmallows
• walnut pieces (optional...I like the crunch)

 Combine the yogurt and whipped topping.  It forms this great hybrid texture somewhere between the two.  I found it very satisfying.  Fold in the other ingredients.  I didn't give specific amounts for the coconut, marshmallows or walnuts because it should be based on preference; and I don't like to tell people what to do in their personal lives. Try to resist the urge to eat it straight away...you'll be disillusioned and question your new friendship.  Cover and wait until you just can't anymore.  Two hours is optimal.  Enjoy!

*Note:  I do not work for nor endorse Shaw's.  They were the closest grocery store and I wanted to make this NOW. Plus, store brands are cheaper.  Everyone knows that.*