This has been a tradition at our holiday for years. We leave out the pecans, don't heat the pineapple (our recipe didn't call for that) and sometimes don't whip the cream when short on time. Still turns out great! Oh and an immersion hand blender works beautifully when the jello sets up a little faster than you expected. My husband doesn't like pineapple, so I made him a cherry version. Subbed two 4 oz. boxes of sugar-free black cherry jello, upped the boiling water to 1-1/2 c. and added chopped fresh bing cherries. Yum! Could even add chopped almonds to compliment the cherries. Next? Strawberry-banana walnut? The possibilities are up to you!

Reviewed On: Jun. 9, 2011

Followed the recipe as is (using KC Masterpiece orignal). If you try it, I am sure you will change something to suite your taste. HOWEVER, the cooking technique is awesome; shredded beautifully in 5 hours in the oven. Ingredient-wise, unless you are a HUGE fan, I would drop the liquid smoke and also only use 1 bottle of beer. Two teaspoons is WAY too much. Made it again with 1/2 t. smoke and still just - too much. I would say it actually ruins a good basic recipe. Your BBQ sauce will probably be enough for infusing that smokey flavor. Like others, I drain the liquid and only add back in if I need to adjust the consistency.

Reviewed On: Feb. 20, 2011

I have used a ranch recipe for years with great success. However, I am always up for something new. I rate this 3 stars as is. However, I found a similar recipe that uses 1/2 c. mayo (I used Kraft), 1/2 c. sour cream (Deans) and 8 oz. softened cream cheese. It also added 4 chopped green onions. We put both this modified version and the ranch version side by side at our football party last night and everyone liked both!

Reviewed On: Jan. 10, 2011