Frog Eye Salad

Frog eye salad is such a weird name for food. I had never heard of Frog eye salad until I met my future in-laws and it's too bad because it's such a yummy fruit salad. I imagine that it's called 'frog eye' because the little acini de pepe pasta are little tiny balls that resemble eyes. It's easy to make and makes a great fruit salad to take to group outings when you need to serve a lot. That is if you make a full batch , which I do because we will eat it all within a few days.  If you don't need to feed an army, then it's easy peasy to half the recipe.  

Click here for printable recipe. 

The Ingredients:

1 box (16-ounces) acini de pepe pasta (I couldn't find any here so I used the smallest pasta I could find)
1 large box (8-serving size) instant vanilla pudding
3 cans (11-ounces each) mandarin oranges
2 cans (20-ounces each)  crushed pineapple
1 carton (16-oz.) Cool Whip 
1 package (10-ounces) mini marshmallows (get the colored kind if you can find them!)
Other optional fruit like maraschino cherries, grapes, diced pears/peaches, or even coconut

The Directions:
Start water to boil and cook pasta to al dente (cooked, but still firm). You don't want squishy pasta!

Drain juices of canned fruit into large bowl. Sprinkle pudding mix into bowl and whisk or beat until mostly smooth.He is whisking so fast you can't even see the bottom of the whisk!
Drain pasta and cool it off slightly. Add to pudding mixture and mix well.Add fruit and mix in.Fold in Cool Whip gently so it's all incorporated.
Add marshmallows and mix well.
Place in refrigerator with plastic wrap covering it (make sure the plastic wrap is actually touching the top of the fruit salad)

I like to rationalize the it's good for you with the fruit, but honestly it's probably not with all the Cool Whip and marshmallows. But that doesn't stop me from eating leftovers for breakfast because it's so good!  (And so easy even a child can do it!)

Enjoy!