Broccoli Salad

This is another recipe that I am constantly looking up. I LOVE it:)

2 heads fresh broccoli
1 red onion (I use more like 1/2 an oinion)
1/2 pound bacon
3/4 cup craisins
3/4 cup sliced almonds
1 cup mayonnaise (I use light)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 TB white wine vinegar (or regular vinegar)

I like to slice my bacon in small pieces then cook until crisp.

Cut broccoli florets into bite-sized pieces and dice red onion. Combine with the bacon, Craisins, nuts and mix well.

Dressing: mix Mayo, sugar, vinegar together until smooth. Pour over salad, stir, let chill and serve.

I don't usually mix all the dressing on to the salad, it's a little too much in my opinion. SO I start with a good helping of dressing on the salad, and then just before serving judge how much more needs to be added to keep the salad moist with dressing, but not soggy.

Bacon Apple Spinach Salad

5 slices bacon

¼ c. sliced almonds

2 TB sugar

8 c. spinach and romaine

1 Granny smith apple, unpeeled, cored, diced

Dressing:

1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil

3 TBsp White vinegar

¼ c. sugar

¼ tsp. salt

1/8 red onion, sliced thin

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

In skillet, cook bacnon until crisp. Drain on paper towel. Crumble.

In small skillet heat 2 Tablespoons sugar with the almonds in saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir while sugar starts to melt and coat almonds. Stir constantly until almonds are light brown. Turn onto a glass plate and cool for 10 minutes.

Add dressings ingredients in jar, seal lid tightly and shake well. Keep refrigerated and shake again before serving.

In large salad bowl combine spinach, bacon, almonds, and apples. Toss with dressing. Serves 6-8.

Bowtie Chicken Salad

6 cups chicken, boiled & diced (3 lbs)
16 oz farfalle (bowtie) pasta, cooked and cooled
1/2 bunch green onions, sliced
8 oz Ranch dressing
2 cups mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste
1 lg can pineapple tidbits, drained
1 lb purple grapes, cut in half
1 cup celery, chopped
1 pkg slivered almonds
2-3 red apples, cut into bite size pieces

Mix chicken, pasta and onion in large bowl. In separate bowl, mix dressing and mayonnaise. Fold into pasta mixture and chill overnight. Add remaining ingredients and serve.

Celery Salsa

Okay, I've been waiting to post this until I had a picture of it... but everytime I make it, it's gone before I think about grabbing my camera to take a picture. So I swiped one off the internet that looks similar! (cool, huh?)

Ingredients:

1 can black beans, rinsed & drained

1 1/2 cups celery, diced

1/4 cup green onion, chopped

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1 1/2 cup tomato, diced

1 can corn, drained (I used frozen sweet corn)

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

2 TBsp oil (I used EVOO)

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1 TBsp hot sauce

Directions:

Prep all veggies and put in bowl. I mixed the dressing ingredients in a seperate bowl then added it, you could jsut add it all together and mix, it turns out the same.

Serve with tortilla chips.

Or you could use it as a topper/ dressing on a salad. Sometimes I will make a salad with it and add in some of Summer's Sweet Crock Pot Chicken --YUM!

Frito Salad

This recipe is a summer picnic favorite of mine! I did 1/2 the recipe for our get-together.

4 cans red or pinto beans (or a combo), drained & rinsed
1 grn. pepper, chopped
2-3 grn. onions, sliced
3 Roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
1 c. grated cheddar cheese
12"ish" oz. bottle Catalina or French dressing*
1 reg. size bag Fritos or Fritos Scoops

Combine all ingre. except for chips. You can make it the day before & refrigerate until ready to serve. At serving time, mix in chips. It will keep fresh for about 1 1/2 hours or you can just let everyone add their own chips. :)

*For recipe group I strayed from my usual Kraft Catalina dressing & went with Brianna's brand Zesty French dressing which had A LOT less sodium & tasted fresher to me.

Apple Salad

This was Liz Lantry's recipe. :-)

Ingredients:

4 med-small apples
1 8oz tub light cool whip
1 c. mini marshmallows
1 20 oz can of pineapple tidbits, do not drain
1 small box fat free sugar free white chocolate pudding mix (or vanilla, or cheesecake)
Pecan pieces, if desired

Directions

Mix all ingredients. Top with nuts if desired. Chill and serve.

Asian Chicken Pasta Salad

I got this reciepe from no biggie.net. It's delicious! Enjoy!

Asian Chicken Pasta Salad

1 box bowtie (farfalle) pasta
4 chicken breasts cooked & shredded or all the breast meat of one rotisserie chicken
1/4 Cup green onions (sliced & diced into oblivion)
1/2 pack sliced almonds - toasted
1 bag spinach (stems removed)
1 sm. bag peapods
1 can Mandarin Oranges (drained)

The Dressing (double this into two batches)
1/4 Cup Sesame seeds (toasted)
1/3 Cup Soy Sauce
1/3 Cup Red Wind Vinegar
1/3 Cup Veg. Oil *or Sesame Oil is great here too
2 TBS. Sugar
1/2 tsp. S & P

Marinate chicken & pasta in the dressing in the fridge overnight.

* It's helpful to under cook the pasta a bit. Al dente would be perfect.

Toss altogether right before serving with round two of the dressing.

SNICKERS Apple Salad

OK this one takes forever to make good luck!

3-5 apples (different varieties for fun.)
1 large container of cool whip thawed
3 frozen snickers

Cut apples into bit size pieces, smashed frozen snicker with a rolling pin and add 3/4 of it to the mix. Next add all the cool whip until desired texture. Last add remaining snickers for garnish. YUMMY!!!

Lemon Spinach Salad

I thought this salad was very refreshing. It was my first time making it and I would definitely make it again. Enjoy!!!

3T fresh lemon juice
3T sugar
1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tbsp grated lemon rind
1/4 cup canola or light olive oil ( I used extra virgin olive oil)

3 cups fresh spinach ( I used a mix of spring greens and spinach)
1 cup fresh strawberries ,sliced
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
Feta cheese to taste
In blender combine lemon juice, sugar, mustard, grated lemon rind and oil. Pulse until mixture is combined , thickened and sugar is dissolved.In a large bowl, toss together spinach, strawberries, nuts and feta. Toss with enough dressing to coat.

Citrus Slaw

Slaw Ingredients:

1 head Napa cabbage (shredded)
2 large Sunkist® navel oranges, segmented
1 medium Sunkist® grapefruit, segmented
1 small green papaya (shredded) I used fresh pineapple instead
1 medium carrot (julienne)
1 medium red onion (julienne)
2 Poblano chilies (julienne


Dressing Ingredients:

2 Ancho – chilies (roasted and rehydrated) I'd leave these out
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
¼ cup fresh lime juice
½ cup Sunkist® freshly squeezed lemon juice
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground cumin I'd leave this out too


Directions:

I used my mandolin slicer, set with julienne blade, to cut almost everything, to make the carrots, onions, peppers small enough. The cutting was pretty simple, a bit time consuming.

I used all my left over juices to add to the dressing, some grapfruit and pineapple juice, I personally really disliked the flavor of the cumin, so I would suggest adding it to just a little bit of dressing, and trying it before you use it in the whole thing. Also, I think it would have been better without the ancho chilies, they were kind of pasty in the dressing, never really mixed in, and smelled kinda funky!

Romaine Salad with Honey-Dijon Vinaigrette

7 cups torn romaine
1 cup seedless red grapes
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup salted soy nuts
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
salad dressing

In a small nonstick skillet coated with butter-flavored cooking spray, cook and stir pecans and salt until toasted. Remove from the heat; set aside. In a salad bowl, combine the romaine, grapes, cranberries, soy nuts, and cheese. Add reserved pecans; toss to combine. Serve with dressing.

Honey-Dijon Vinaigrette
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 Tbsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp poppy seeds

Shake all of the ingredients in a salad dressing shaker. Can be refrigerated for up to 7 days; bring to room temperature, then shake vigorously to recombine before serving.

Tortellini Spinach Salad with Balsamic Tomato Vinaigrette

When I brought this to lunch the other day I didn't have any artichokes or feta cheese and it still turned out okay. So, leave out or add in whatever you think will go well. I love the dressing!

Salad:
20 oz package refrigerated cheese tortellini
1 (14.5 oz) can quartered artichokes
1 (9 oz) bag fresh baby spinach
1 (3 oz) bag sun dried tomatoes
1/2C crumbled feta cheese
1/4C diced red onion

Dressing:
9 Tbl balsamic vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 Tbl tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
3/4C olive oil

Cook tortellini in boiling water until al dente. Drain and toss with a teaspoon of olive oil to prevent sticking. Let cool in colander. In a large bowl, toss all the salad ingredients together after the pasta has cooled.

In a blender add all of the dressing ingredients except for the olive oil. Blend until smooth. While blender is running, slowly add the olive oil and blend until combined. Pour dressing over salad and toss (I never use all of the dressing.)

Ranch Salad

Lettuce

Carrots

Small Shell Pasta Noodles

Red Bell Peppers

Frozen Sweet Peas (thawed)

Red Onions

Tomatoes

Homemade Dressing

Layer ingredients in decorative glass bowl in your favorite order. Add or delete later items according to your tastes, or seasonal favorites! (I like to top with a little extra bacon!)