This dessert is one of my favorites to take to gatherings. It's easy to make and irresistible: I'm getting hungry just telling you about it. Well, enough about me, let's talk about Coka-Cola Salad.

Step 1: Groceries and Supplies

This dish is as simple as Lasagna and just begs to be experimented with. As an example; the original recipe calls for raspberry Jello but I'm not a huge fan of raspberry so I replaced it with strawberry.

The original ingredient list is as follows:
- 1 small box raspberry Jello
- 1 small box strawberry Jello
- 1 small can pineapple tidbits (drained)
- 8oz. cream cheese
- 1.5 cup cold water
- 1 cup hot water
- 1 cup Coke
- 1 jar maraschino cherries (drained)
- 1 cup pecans

The batch I made this time was drastically different from that recipe partly out of necessity and partly out of taste. The hot and cold water and the Coke are used in making the Jello but I prefer to substitute all Coke for the water because it gives the dish more zing: it actually has a little carbonation in it after it's done. I didn't have enough cream cheese so it ended up being short on that and it's my favorite part. I also thought I had pineapple tidbits but it turned out to be crushed pineapple.

So, after all my modifications, here's the final ingredients list:
- 2 small boxes strawberry Jello
- 1 cup crushed pineapple (drained)
- 4oz. cream cheese
- 3.5 cup Coke
- 1 jar maraschino cherries (drained)
- 1 cup pecans

You only need a couple of utensils and containers. You will need a pan to heat water/Coke in or a cup if you plan to use a microwave. You can dissolve the Jello using the same container you heated the water in or, if you prefer, you can use another dish. A spoon will be necessary to stir the Jello while it's dissolving. You will also need whatever dish you plan to serve this in as that's the dish it will have to be refrigerated in while it solidifies.

Step 2: Preparation

There are really two steps to making this dish: make the Jello and mix in the other stuff. The simplicity of the recipe is what makes it so easy to modify and personalize.

To make Jello you have to dissolve the gelatin powder in hot water and mix in cold water. In the original recipe you heat a cup of water and melt the powder in that. In the recipe used here you heat a cup of Coke and dissolve the powder in that. Either way, make sure you stir the gelatin long enough or some of it will settle on the bottom and not dissolve or, worse yet, fall in your Coke Salad making grainy bites on the bottom of the casserole.

The only real preparation involved is the cream cheese. The cream cheese has to be cut into small cubes. This is the point where many people change the recipe. My aunt uses a mixer and chops up the cream cheese finely but I don't particularly like it that way.

So the original process is as follows:
1 - Dissolve Jello in 1 cup of hot water.
2 - Add the cup and a half of cold water and the cup of Coke to the mixture
3 - Stir in the pineapple, nuts, cream cheese, and cherries.
4 - Chill until set ( about an hour).

The process used for this batch is:
1 - Dissolve Jello in 1 cup of hot Coke.
2 - Add the two and a half cups and a half of cold Coke to the mixture
3 - Stir in the pineapple, nuts, cream cheese, and cherries.
4 - Chill until set ( about an hour).

It's that easy! Can't believe I just said that.

Step 3: Customization

This dish can be customized as easily as Lasagna so this step could just go on and on. As mentioned earlier, the first change I made was to swap out the raspberry Jello for the strawberry Jello. I also replaced all the water with Coke to add some extra zing to the dessert.

Here are some other ways to modify this dish:
- Replace the Jello with your favorite flavor or a mixture of your favorite Jello flavors.
- Replace the Coke with another beverage like Sprite or Root Beer or even tea could be used.
- Replace the fruit and nuts or add some other items like mandarin oranges, grapefruit, coconut, etc...