Strawberry Salad-Also an informational writing

Holiday traditions are very important to me, but somehow the last couple of years I have let this one slide past me. (and a couple more....as this year my family and I will be celebrating Christmas on board a cruise ship.However, we are celebrating Christmas with my sister and her family BEFORE our trip, as well as celebrating Christmas with my husband's family BEFORE our trip. SO the tradition of my family being together on Christmas will still pass as tradition--RIGHT?)

I have decided to join the LINKY PARTY at TBA for a favorite holiday recipe. My mamaw would make this Strawberry Salad each year for the holidays--Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and when I was younger my family would gather for Labor Day too. We always had this as a "sweet" treat. I guess that is what makes it a TRADITION!



Anyway back to my post-This year after Thanksgiving my class was studying about informational writing. We had already written about someone that we wanted to honor during our Susan B. Anthony study and made a coin. We had written informational pieces about how to play games. AND of course-informational writing is NOT complete without writing a recipe. I wanted to write an easy recipe. I did not even have one idea of what I was going to use until the morning of the lesson. I had thought about making a sandwich, chicken casserole, or a smoothie, but then I remembered....I had brought Strawberry Salad for lunch and this was something I could present as somewhat healthy (since it has cottage cheese). I started by asking yes/no questions and having the students raise their thumb up for yes and down for no.

Do you like cottage cheese? (No-Yuck! I don't. My thumb was down. Most of the students' thumbs were too.)

Do you like strawberries?

Do you like cool whip?

Do you like pineapple?

Do you like pecans?

(Most of the thumbs were raised for the remaining questions. The students were out of their seats. Some were licking their lips and saying yummy.)

Then, I proceeded to write the recipe and we discussed the information needed for recipes. What was awesome about this lesson was that several students remembered the recipe and made it at home (one even brought to school for lunch). I brought Strawberry Salad too for the next couple of days. They all tried it and loved it. I remember one student saying, "Where is the lettuce? You said it was a salad."  We started another discussion. Anyway here is the recipe:

Strawberry Salad

You will need:

1 large container of low curd cottage cheese

1 package frozen strawberries in juice (thawed)

1 container of cool whip

1 pkg of strawberry jello (do not make this--you are going to use this for the sugary, strawberry flavor)

1 small jar pineapple, drained

1 cup pecans

Procedure:

1. Combine the package of strawberry jello, cottage cheese, and cool whip in a large bowl. Stir.

2. Add the frozen strawberries, pineapple, and pecans. Stir.

3. Place in the refrigerator or serve immediately.

4. ENJOY! YUMMY!