Category: Salads

Momma’s Favorite

Momma was not much for fancy.  On special occasions she would add sliced bananas or mini marshmallows, but never both.

Ingredients:

  • 1 small pkg raspberry jello
  • 1 can fruit cocktail (no, you cannot eat the cherries out before you use it)

Directions: 

  1.  Make Jello as directed on package.
  2. When done pour into a bowl.
  3. Add fruit into it.
  4. Put in refrigerator until it thickens.

Serves:  The package says 4 – don’t- believe it.  One kid will eat the whole thing.

Source:  Everyone’s Mom

Jimmy’s Beet/Pineapple Salad (“Not Mine” – Jim K)

You have to like beets for this salad, but you can bet no one else will bring it to the potluck!

Ingredients:

  • 1 15 oz can beets julienne, drained – liquid reserved (These can be pickled or not – if pickled, leave out the vinegar)
  • 1 12 oz can crushed pineapple, drained – liquid reserved
  • 1 c chopped walnuts
  • 1 c water
  • 1/4 c vinegar
  • 2 Tab lemon juice
  • 1 Tab sugar
  • 1 8 oz pkg raspberry jello

Directions:

  1. Dissolve gelatin in 2 cups boiling water.
  2. Drain beets and pineapple.
  3. Use the juices and enough water to make up the other 2 cups of liquid.
  4. Add the juice/water, vinegar, lemon juice and sugar.
  5. Chill till thick but not set.
  6. Add beets, pineapple and nuts.
  7. Chill till firm.

Serves: 8

Source:  HungryMonster,com

Crimson Tide Cherry Salad

Variations on this recipe use cranberry juice or cherry coke in place of soda water.  Just don’t stir it too much.

Ingredients:

  • 1 can sour pie cherries, drain and reserve juice
  • 1 Tbs lemon juice
  • soda water
  • 1 c sugar
  • 1 small envelope unflavored gelatin
  • 2 Tab cold water
  • 1 6 oz pkg cherry jello
  • 1 3/4 c soda water
  • 1 c sliced celery
  • 1 c sliced stuffed olives
  • 1 small pkg (3 oz) cream cheese, make 13 balls

Directions:

  1. Measure cherry juice.
  2. Add lemon juice and enough soda water for two cups.
  3. Mix in sugar
  4. Bring to a boil.
  5. Dissolve gelatin in cold water and stir into the heated mixture.
  6. Just add the cherry jello straight to the hot liquid.
  7. Stir until dissolved.
  8. Mix one and three-quarter cups soda water.
  9. Chill until it starts to get thick.
  10. Slightly sir in cherries, celery, and olives.
  11. Pour into a greased mold. (Jello salads always look better molded.)
  12. Poke down the balls of cheese here and there.
  13. Chill until firm and unmold.

Serves:   Makes one 7 cup mold

Source:  White Trash Cook Book II – Holidays

Iris Salad

This one is a challenge!  How big a can of applesauce?Bottle of ginger ale?  Based on other similar recipes – the quantities in ( ) are my best bet.  And I found just what I needed on Mid-Century Menu.
“Applesauce 7-Up Salad – The Fourth Place Best Recipe Winner In The Glistening And Jiggly Contest by RetroRuth,| Jul 18, 2012 Best & Worst, Contests, Hello Jell-O.  This is a very sweet salad, with all the sugar from the Jell-O, the applesauce AND the soda, so do yourself a favor and get unsweetened or natural applesauce. This has a refreshing taste and, if you don’t overmix it, the carbonation from the soda makes a fun texture in the finished salad.

Ingredients: 

  • 1 can applesauce
  • 1 pack lime Jello
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 Tab sugar
  • 1 small bottle ginger ale

Directions:

  1. Heat applesauce.
  2. Add lime jello and sugar.
  3. Dissolve.
  4. Cool.
  5. Add lemon juice and ginger ale.
  6. Chill.

Serves:   4

Source:  White Trash Cook Book II – Quiltins

This may help

Applesauce 7-Up Salad
Ingredients
1.5 cups applesauce
1 small box lime Jello
1 cup chilled 7-Up
Instructions
1. Bring applesauce to a boil.
2. Stir in Jello.
3. Cool to room temperature. Stir in 7-Up.
4. Pour into a Jello mold. Chill.
Recipe by The Mid-Century Menu

Molded Strawberry Salad

This is a vintage recipe, filled with the wonderful blended flavors of strawberries, bananas and pineapple. The sour cream layer in the middle gives a tangy counterpoint to the sweetness of the Jell-O and fruit.  It works for dessert too.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large box (6 ounce) strawberry or strawberry/banana Jell-O (regular or sugar-free)
  • 1 c boiling water
  • 3 bananas, peeled and mashed (I put the bananas on a plate and mash them with the tines of a fork.)
  • 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen strawberries with juice, defrosted
  • 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
  • 1/2 – 1 c chopped pecans, toasted (optional)
  • 1 1/2 c sour cream, can use regular or light

Directions:  

  1. In a large bowl, stir Jell-O and the 1 cup boiling water together until the jello is completely dissolved.
  2. Add the mashed bananas, strawberries with juice, drained crushed pineapple, and pecans (optional).
  3. Stir to blend.
  4. Pour half of the Jell-O mixture into a 9″ x 13″ glass dish.
  5. Spread evenly.
  6. Chill until set. This goes quickly because of the low moisture content in the Jell-O.
  7. Set aside the other half of the jello – do not chill or else it will set.
  8. Once the jello in the dish has set, gently spread the sour cream evenly over the Jell-O. Before spreading the sour cream, you may want to stir it to loosen it and make it more of a spreading consistency.
  9. Pour the remaining half of the Jell-O mixture over the sour cream, gently spread evenly, cover.
  10. Chill until jello is set.
  11. The Jell-O can be cut into squares if desired for serving. Otherwise – serve it family style and let everyone scoop out their desired portion.

Servings: 12 -15 servings

Source: Terri @ that’s some good cookin’.  Recipe given to me by my Grandmother, Thelma Lucille Bates

Basic Tossed Green Salad

Salad for your family dinner – easy. Salad for 50, not so much!  This should help.  Remember, this is not an exact science experiment – Sally will not eat anything green and Joe is on a salad only diet, and you know who will pick out all the tomatoes..

For the salad greens, you can figure that each person will eat about 2.5 ounces (1 cup).

4 people – 10 ounces (4 cups)
6 people – 15 ounces (6 cups)
12 people – 30 ounces (12 cups)
20 people – 50 ounces (20 cups)

Ingredient Approximate Equivalent Measurements
Lettuce (Iceberg) 4 cups, shredded 1 medium head
Lettuce (Iceberg) 6 to 8 cups, torn 1 medium head
Lettuce (Leaf) 4 to 6 cups, torn 25 to 30 leaves
Lettuce (Romaine) 6 cups, torn 1 head

For the chopped vegetables, figure each person will eat 4 ounces (1/2 cup).
4 people – 16 ounces (2 cups)
6 people – 24 ounces (3 cups)
12 people – 48 ounces (6 cups)
20 people – 80 ounces (10 cups)

For the salad dressing, each person will eat about 2 tablespoons.

4 people – 8 Tbsp (1/2 cup)
6 people – 12 Tbsp (3/4 cup)
12 people – 24 Tbsp (1 1/2 cup)
20 people – 40 Tbsp (2 1/2 cups)

Asparagus and Mushroom Salad

This can go from plain to fancy – which lettuce? Romaine/spinach, baby spring mix.  Which mushrooms?  white or Enoki, shiitake, crimini (baby bellas).  What about tomatoes?  Diced Romas? or Tiny Sweet 100s , Rainbow cherry tomatoes, dead ripe home grown Heirlooms.  For a really fancy touch check out edible flowers!

Ingredients:

  • 2 lb trendy lettuce
  • 2 lb romaine
  • 200 small to medium asparagus
  • 2 – 3 lb mushrooms – Enoki, Crimini  (or several mixed varieties)
  • 2+ lb cherry tomatoes
  • 2 c Creamy Parsley Dressing (on the blog)

Directions:

  1. Wash and dry the lettuce (paper towels or spinner)
  2. Tear into bite size pieces.
  3. Trim the tough ends off the asparagus.
  4. Cut into 1 inch pieces.
  5. Drop into boiling water (in small batches) then remove quickly. (I find using a strainer to raise and lower saves a lot of water.)
  6. Drop the blanched asparagus in ice water.
  7. Dry.
  8. Rinse and dry mushrooms
  9. Rinse and dry tomatoes (Are you getting a trend here?  No one wants a watered down salad.)
  10. Place everything but the dressing in a bow.
  11. Toss gently.
  12. Add half the dressing.
  13. Toss gently.
  14. Does it need more?  Add it.
  15. Toss again.
  16. Serve.

Or:  for really fancy – compose the salad:  Place a serving (scant cup) lettuce on plate, top with asparagus, mushrooms, tomatoes arranged artfully.  Drizzle on dressing.  Garnish with edible flower.

Serves:   50  but you can cut it down you know.

Source:  We were playing with food.

 

KOA Chopped Caprese Salad

 Caprese Salad is the perfect easy side dish for any meal! Simple, delicious, and healthy! Tomato, Mozzarella, Basil, and Balsamic Vinegar. Traditionally, tomato slices are layered on a platter with slices of Mozzarella and basil leaves, then sprinkled with oil and vinegar.  This salad is way better for a crowd!  Like pizza Margherita, it features the colors of the Italian flag: green, white, and red. 

Ingredients:

  • 10 ounces cherry or cherub tomatoes chopped in half
  • 8 ounces whole milk mozzarella cherry sized. Chopped in half or fourths
  • 1/4 c fresh basil chopped
  • 1/2 c good quality balsamic vinegar
  • 2 Tabs honey (if you want to make a balsamic reduction sauce)
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Add the balsamic vinegar and honey to a small saucepan over high heat.
  2. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
  3. Once it’s reduced by approximately half and thickened to your liking (about 10-15 min), remove from the heat. Be careful it doesn’t get too thick, but a bit syrupy is good.
  4. Toss all ingredients except for the reduction in a bowl. (Can be made ahead to this point and refrigerate – just add dressing when serving)
  5. Drizzle with the reduction, adding a little at a time, tossing, tasting, and then adding more to your liking.
  6. Enjoy!

Note: you can also add 1 tablespoon of olive oil if you’d like the added flavor, but it’s not necessary

Serves:   4

Source:  The Cookie Rookie

Sunset Salad   

This salad can be mixed in a bowl for a crowd or plated for individual service.  Just mix with the dressing or top with the dressing.

Ingredients:

  • 3    cantaloupe (16 slices/cantaloupe)
  • 8    banana (6 pieces/banana)
  • 2    pineapple
  • 2 c mayonnaise
  • 2 c sour cream
  • 1/4 c lemon juice
  • 1 tsp dry mustard
  • 1 tsp garlic salt
  • 1 tsp curry powder or more
  • 1/2 lb slivered almonds – toasted  (2 c)

Directions:

  1. For mixed salad, cube the fruit in 3/4 to 1 inch cubes.  For plated salad, cut into strips.
  2. Mix mayonnaise and sour cream,
  3. Add lemon juice, mustard, garlic salt, curry powder to taste.  Remember it will get stronger the longer it sits.
  4. Mix dressing with fruit cubes or spoon over strips (on a lettuce leaf).
  5. Sprinkle with almonds.

Serves:  40 – 50

Source:  Sunset

 

 

Notes:

  • Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip – both good.

 

Frog Eye Salad

Which foods are unusually popular in each state on Thanksgiving.

 

Like many other readers, we were fascinated by the 50-dishes-for-50-states Thanksgiving mega-menu that our colleagues in the Food section recently produced. The piece – and the many reactions to it – got us wondering what a democratic version of the project might look like. That is, if the residents of every state could vote for distinct Thanksgiving dishes, what would each state’s dish be? So we asked researchers at Google for help. You can think of every web search that someone does for a recipe as a kind of vote, after all. The researchers didn’t focus on the most popular dish in every state, because that would be “turkey” in all 50 states. They instead looked for the most distinct.  The dishes you see listed here are the result of the analysis. You should not interpret the dishes here as the most iconic Thanksgiving recipes in each state, or even a state's favorite dish. It’s possible that some dishes are so central to a state’s culture that people there don’t need to search for them on the web, for instance. But academic research – on everything from voter turnout to flu epidemics– has found that Google searching can be a meaningful indicator of behavior and attitudes. We certainly learned a lot from the analysis – ooey gooey bars! pig pickin cake! – and have had great fun talking about them around the office in the last few days. We hope you enjoy it as much. The top-ranked dish Googled for Thanksgiving in Colorado (Also Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming)was “Frog Eye Salad,” which turns out to be something of a regional phenomenon, also appearing in the top 10 in Idaho, Nevada and Utah. It is especially popular among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The New York Times Stylebook warns against overusing the word “unique,” so we’ll just tell you that we’re not aware of any other salad that combines pasta, fruit, eggs, whipped cream and marshmallows.

“The son-in-law posted this on his blog and stated “I personally commit to each and every one of you that, even though I am from Colorado, I have never, ever, Googled “frog eye salad”. Nor do I ever plan to.”  So I did – and I took it to Thanksgiving dinner at their house!  It was NOT a hit!  Sort of ambrosia with something odd in it.

Ingredients:

  • 20 oz can pineapple tidbits , drained and juice reserved
  • 10 oz can crushed pineapple , drained and juice reserved
  • 1 c reserved pineapple juice
  • 1/2 c granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 Tab cornstarch
  • 1/2 c acini de pepe noodles (tiny round balls of pasta)
  • 15 oz can mandarin oranges , drained
  • 1/2 c shredded sweetened coconut
  • 1 c mini marshmallows
  • 1 banana , sliced
  • 1 c heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 c powdered sugar

Directions:

  1. Drain the pineapple cans and reserve the juice. Reserve the pineapple fruit in the fridge for later.
  2. In a saucepan over medium heat combine the pineapple juice, sugar, egg yolk, salt and cornstarch and whisk until smooth.
  3. Cook until mixtures comes to a low boil and thickens slightly.
  4. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
  5. Cook acini de pepe noodles according to package instructions.
  6. Drain and cool.
  7. Combine the acini de pepe and the thickened sauce in a Tupperware.
  8. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
  9. Once the acini de pepe mixture has chilled add it to a large bowl with the pineapple, mandarin oranges, coconut, marshmallows, and bananas.
  10. In a separate bowl beat the cream and sugar together until stiff peaks.
  11. Fold fresh whipped
  12. cream into the acini de pepe mixture.
  13. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Serves: 10

Source:  Tastes Better From Scratch