Wendy's Side Salad Copycat Recipe

Hi guys!  I'm back with another super easy copycat/fastfood-inspired recipe for you.  It' so easy that you will just need prepare the ingredients and assemble, it only takes minutes.  We have no Wendy's here in the province and I really miss their side salad.  This side salad, from what I know, is unique here in the Philippines and foreigners find it a bit weird of a combination but it's super yummy.  Since I've been craving for some, I decided to recreate the salad and here's what I came up with.  I do hope you will also give it a try.

For this salad, we will need the following ingredients:
1.  Pineapple tidbits
2.  Cooked macaroni
3.  Cucumber, sliced
4.  Carrots, diced
5.  Pineapple juice
6. Cheese
7.  Chicken bullion/cube
8.  Pre-prepared thousand island dressing
9.  Food coloring
10.  Unflavored gelatin
11.  Mayonnaise

First thing we need to do is to prep the veggies.  Wash the veggies then very thinly slice the cucumbers and dice the carrots.  Set the prepped veggies aside.

Next, follow the package instructions for your unflavored gelatin.  For this recipe, I used one envelope of Knox unflavored gelatin then added 1/4 cup of cold pineapple juice.  I let it stand for a minute.

Next, in two separate containers, add a few drops of red and green food coloring and a tablespoon of sugar.
Now, mix the gelatin + cold pineapple juice mixture with hot pineapple juice.  I just nuked the juice in the microwave for a few minutes then poured it to the mixture.  Stir the juice + gelatin mixture until the gelatin is completely dissolved then pour the mixture to your containers.  If you are using concentrated juice, you might want to add water to your pineapple juice so that it is not too sour.  Mix until well combined. Once done, just chill in the fridge until needed for salad assembly.
Next, for our macaroni, I am sharing with you a super useful tip.  While cooking the pasta, instead of using salt to season it, I placed one bullion cube to give flavor to my pasta then just cook it according to package instructions.  Drain the macaroni well of excess water then add mayonnaise to keep the macaroni moist.
Now, it's time to get our gelatin.  Remove the gelatin from the mold then cut into cubes/bite-size pieces.
It's finally time to assemble!  On a plate, place a few slices of cucumber, some diced carrots, pineapple tidbits, gelatin, and macaroni.  Sprinkle some cheese over your salad then put a dollop of thousand island dressing and you are done!  The original recipe has raisins but I do not like raisins but if you like them, feel free to add it :)
Serve the salad cold.  Share with a friend and enjoy!  This is how mine looked like after.
I hope you try today's recipe.  Please let me know what you think :) I definitely love reading your  comments!  Have a great day ahead!