Gelatin salads are traditional fare on many holiday tables. Carol Brown of Mount Auburn requested a rehab of her cranberry salad. Her family loves this cranberry gelatin mixed with whole-berry cranberry sauce, crushed pineapple, and grated apple. Best of all, they like the nutty cream cheese and sour cream topping. It's pretty and tasty to eat, but each serving contains 14 grams of fat.

For this rehab, we:

• Reduced the amount of regular cream cheese from 8 ounces to 3, and added 5 ounces of fat-free cream cheese.

• Used fat-free sour cream.

• Reduced the amount of nuts from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup.

Results were delicious. No one could really tell a difference between the full- and reduced-fat versions. The combination of pineapple and apple was a nice contrast to the festive cranberry base, and the creamy topping made this dish stand out.

Reduced to 5 grams of fat per serving, this Cranberry Salad will add a sweet dimension to your holiday meal.

Tip of the week: This recipe did not call for a specific type of apple. We used the Granny Smith variety and found its tartness to be a good contrast to the sweetness of the other ingredients.

Cranberry Salad

6 ounces cranberry gelatin

1 15-ounce can whole-berry cranberry sauce

1 14 to 15-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained

2 cups peeled, grated Granny Smith (or other tart) apples (about 2-3 medium)

3 ounces regular cream cheese

5 ounces fat-free cream cheese

1 cup fat-free sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup chopped pecans

In large bowl, dissolve gelatin in 2 cups boiling water. Add cranberry sauce, pineapple, and apple; mix well. Pour mixture into 9-by-13-inch pan; refrigerate until set (about 4 hours).

In medium bowl, combine cream cheeses, sour cream, sugar, and nuts; blend until smooth. Spread mixture over set gelatin. Refrigerate until serving. Makes 12 servings.

Before and after

Based on 1 serving ( 1/12 of recipe)

Cranberry Salad		Adapted
Calories	308	245
Fat	14 g	5 g
Carbohydrate	44 g	47 g
Sodium	108 mg	143 mg
Fiber	2 g	2 g
Cholesterol	29 mg	11 mg
Calories from fat
	40%	19%

Nutritionists recommend those on daily 2,000 calorie diet limit their fat consumption to 65 g or less, cholesterol to 300 mg or less and sodium to 2,400 mg or less per day.

Karen Weber, Pat Streicher and Ellen Illig are registered dietitians at Jewish Hospital's Cholesterol Center. To have your recipes rehabbed, send them to: Recipe Rehab, The Jewish Hospital Cholesterol Center, 3200 Burnet Ave., Cincinnati 45229.