posted by Stacey on children, large family

4 comments

When I was a kid, I got a kick out of taking Frog Eye Salad in my lunch and I happily attempted to gross out all of my friends by telling them they were real frogs eyes. As an adult, it is still one of my favorite salads. I’ve also heard it called Acini de Pepe salad, but that’s just boring, unless you say Pepe like peepee, then it at least has character.

The first time I had someone else’s version of the Acini de Pepe salad, I thought there was something wrong with it. It wasn’t pink and it didn’t have marshmallows. So when I was all grown up, I got my Mother’s recipe and have made it for every major family event over the years. It is the one recipe that I have been asked for repeatedly because, let’s face it, cooking ain’t my thing.

This may be my one and only recipe post. Ya’ll can thank me later. Plus, the next time someone asks me, I can refer them to my blog. Yippee, skippee.

Here are the cast of characters. (Ignore sizes of things in this picture, it’s just what I had on hand as I was making a large batch for a wedding.)

First, cook the whole box of acini de pepe as instructed.

Make sure you rinse it well, then set aside while you make the sauce.

The key to the pretty color of the salad is the sauce. In a saucepan, combine 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs beaten, 2 Tablespoons flour and 1 3/4 cup juice from fruit. I use all of the juice from the marachino cherries, then use the pineapple juice, then if I still need more, I will add the juice from the mandarin oranges. If you don’t like the marachino cherries, you could still use the juice and just leave the cherries out.

Cook the sauce over medium heat until it is nice and thick. Make sure you stir fairly often so it doesn’t burn.

When the sauce is thick, pour it over the cooked pasta, cover and refrigerate it at least 1/2 a day. (Sorry, I forgot a picture for this step.) I always do it over night because then it is a simple matter of mixing things in and is super quick.

Then, just mix everything else in and stir it up! First, the whipped cream.

Then all the fruit.

Then the colored marshmallows!

And Waalaa! Frog eye salad. Super easy and feeds a bunch!

Frog Eye Salad

Cook 1 box of Acini De Pepe, rinse and drain.

Combine in saucepan and cook till thick over medium heat:
1 Cup Sugar
2 eggs beaten
2 Tbsp. flour
1 3/4 Cup juice from fruit
Pour over cooked pasta and refrigerate at least 1/2 day

Add:
1 large can chunk or tidbit pineapple
2 cans mandarin oranges
Marachino cherries cut in half to taste (I like the whole jar, but that’s just me.)
1 large can cool whip
1 bag colored marshmallows

There you have it! I hope you enjoy Frog’s Eyes as much as I do!

Tags: cooking, recipe