Apple Cider Salad ~ page 59

This "salad" can double as a light dessert, a morning breakfast, a healthy snack...it fits just about anywhere in your day! The fresh simplicity of this is what makes it so delightful. But forget about artificially brightly colored Jello salads--this is just the natural color of fresh apple cider, so the color is not going to wow you, but I promise you, the flavor will!

I only make this salad in the fall, because that seems to be the only time I can find fresh apple cider in the graocery store. Good cider is crucial to this recipe. Basically, this is fresh, bright, tangy apple cider with unflavored gelatin added to make it set up and form a base for crisp apple dices and chopped walnuts.

Unflavored gelatin  is dissolved in a small amount of warm cider. Just a touch of sugar sweetens it up, and some fresh lemon juice brightens the flavor.

The gelatin is then refrigerated for 1 1/2 hours or so, to barely set up.

Then apples and walnuts are stirred in--then back in the fridge it goes.

You can eat this in a couple more hours for a soft-set, or wait till the next day for a firmer gelatin salad. This will last for several days in the refrigerator--if you restrain yourself from eating it all the first day...

Seafood Caesar Pasta Salad ~ page 72; Avocado Quesadillas ~ page 90

Yesterday was Carissa's birthday, so I made a light outdoor lunch for her in my back yard--which as of two months ago, is right next door to her house! (Living next door has been very convenient for working on recipes--not to mention how nice it is to be near all 8 of our grandkids here in Houston!.) I know Carissa likes this salad a lot, so I put it all together the evening before to let the flavors blend.

Carissa and I often brainstorm the recipes from the cookbook to see how they might could be made even better. I had the idea, after I made my salad, that it would be nice to double the imitation lobster meat in this recipe. I was thinking as we were eating that I might try that next time, so that you get a delicious chunk of lobster with each bite of pasta.

I served the pasta salad with the Avocado Quesadillas (page 90) and their spicy dipping sauce.  These were wonderful and went well with the salad.  I crisped up the flour tortillas on a griddle instead of broiling them in the oven like the recipe says. That works well if you don't want to heat up your oven. (In August I blogged about these quesadillas when I made them from corn tortillas.) Add some ice tea and you have a very nice end-of-the-summer meal. I always think of Carissa's birthday as being the last day of summer. Now...I'm in the mood to start cooking up some fall recipes! ~Janice

Spinach Salad ~ page 75

I have always made this as a side salad until the other day, when I wanted a light supper after a big meaty lunch, so I made this spinach salad as our meal. It was perfectly satisfying and delicious. The hard boiled eggs, sliced almonds, and crisp bacon pieces add a little protein, and the mandarin oranges bring a bright sweetness to the hearty baby spinach.

The tangy sweet dressing for this salad can be made days ahead if you like--and you can make the whole recipe and have plenty for other salads, or cut the recipe in half (which will still give you some extra). I used a little blender gadget I have to mice up the onion and mix the dressing. But you can do this by hand if you want to.

One more note on the salad dressing--people often ask what extra virgin olive oil I use: this is the one I like best for salad dressings. The price is reasonable, and it is readily available--even at Walmart.

I know this recipe does not give you an amount on the bacon--it just says "bacon bits." I would probably use 1 strip per serving --however, for a salad meal like I made, I used 2 strips per serving.

Now here is the cool part about this salad--at this point, you can refrigerated all the parts of the salad separately, then transport it to a pot luck or to a friends house, or just put all the parts in the fridge for a fast salad later in the day--or even the next day.

When you are ready, dump everything in with the spinach, add as much of your dressing as you like, and serve up a wonderful salad that you are sure to get compliments on.

Ranch Chicken Salad in a Pita ~ page 71

I am short on pictures, but this recipe is big on taste. I didn't get a pic of the ranch chicken in the pita...so maybe next time I will post that. This dish is super easy, super cool, and super delicious! If you look in the cookbook, you see there are no proportions given...which makes this easy to do your way with what you have around. I didn't have the wild rice mix I like to use, so I used white jasmine rice. I also added some spinach leaves and chopped yellow pepper, just because I had them. I didn't notice till after the meal, that I forgot the grated cheddar cheese! But I don't think anyone missed it. This was still wonderful. We ate the cold leftovers for dinner, and they were just as good--maybe even better! This is a great dish to make ahead and serve company for a casual summer meal. The pita pocket bread will make it look special. ~Janice

Wilted Spinach Salad ~ page 76

You wouldn't think that "wilting" the spinach makes such a difference, but it does. This hot, lemony dressing poured over spinach leaves softens them just enough to make the leaves tender and flavorful.

When I am making this for company, I put all the dressing ingredients in a small saucepan and let it sit on the stove until just before I am ready to toss the spinach leaves...then I simmer the dressing and onions about 3 minutes, and pour it over the spinach, toss, and divide between salad plates. (The recipe calls for red onions, which I didn't have today, so used white onions. However, I do think the red onions add a more delicate flavor, and brighter look--so use them if you can.) I top each plate of spinach with Feta cheese and sliced olives to make an attractive presentation. I always get comments about how good this salad is.

Caprese Salad Lettuce Wraps ~ page 143

Lettuce wraps are perfect for summer. This is a very easy one. It is fun to eat as a wrap, but for those that don't want the bother or the mess, you could just shred your lettuce, and scoop the tomato mixture on top. But we think it is fun to roll it all up in a lettuce leaf.

Here is the foundation of a caprese wrap...dressing of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, fresh basil, tomatoes, and cubed mozzarella cheese. I buy the whole milk fresh mozzarella. It is much more flavorful than the low fat versions, so save your calories somewhere else, not here. When you are cutting your tomatoes, first cut them in half, then squeeze them gently over a bowl, like you would a lemon; then chop the tomato. You don't want all that juice to dilute the oil and vinegar.

I like to use a Boston or bib lettuce. Butter lettuce is nice, but can be expensive. You want something a little more tender than Romaine though, so it will roll up easily. Wash and dry your lettuce the day before, and put it in an air-tight baggie to crisp up.

You can roll your lettuce and filling like a burrito,

or eat it like a taco.

Either way, this lettuce wrap is so delicious with fresh summer tomatoes. Warning: it is very drippy! It helps to use a slotted spoon to serve the filling. I think this is a nice appetizer with BBQ ribs, since you will have messy hands and face from that anyway!

Bok Choy Salad ~ page 63

Although this salad goes with many kinds of meals, it is especially nice with any type Chinese food, especially when you need an extra vegetable to round things out. Bok choy is in interesting type of Chinese cabbage. It has a light, sweet flavor, crisp texture, and high nutritional value.

The white stalks on bok choy resemble celery without the stinginess, and the dark green crinkly leaves is similar to Romaine lettuce. Use both the stalks and the leaves in this recipe.

You can make the crispy salad topping up early in the day, or several days before you need it. Crush uncooked Ramen noodles, then add chopped almonds and sunflower seeds to toast in the oven.

This stuff is very good! This particular recipe does not use any butter or oil to make the topping. (If you look at the Crunchy Romaine Toss on page 66, there is a similar topping that uses butter to toast the noodle and nuts--but this recipe is the low fat version!) I think it is tasty both ways.

The salad dressing can be made up well before serving, also. I took this salad to a pot luck dinner, and packed the 3 components up in separate covered dishes, then when ready to serve, tossed all 3 parts together. This is very easy to travel with, or to make well in advance.

Greek Tortellini Salad

Since I am a salad lover I couldnt wait to try this. I thought when I started that I had green olives but shortly after found out I didnt so, I found some artichokes and decided that would have to do. I made the salad and added the dressing and let me tell you I LOVED IT. I ate on it all week. This is by far my favorite so for. This is something I will eat often. Thanks again Janice and Carissa for sharing. Ooops sorry I didnt get pictures of this either. Maybe next time...

Southwest Layered Salad ~ page 61

I made this salad for the outdoor cookout we went to over the weekend, so I didn't use a pretty glass bowl to show off the layers. But this sure is a nice salad for traveling! I love that it can be made many hours before serving.

I made the dressing up first--that is easy, just  blend ranch dressing with salsa and it's done.

Now start layering ingredients:

First comes the chopped romaine lettuce, the black beans, then the shoepeg corn. Shoepeg corn is white sweetcorn that is valued for its sweetness. It is characterized by small, narrow kernels, and only comes in a can. And would you like to know where it gets such a name? The name "shoepeg corn" derives from a showmaking term used during the 1800's. Shoepeg corn kernels resemble the wooden pegs used to attach soles to the upper part of shoes. And now you know the rest of the story...

The dressing goes on top all that...

then the cheese, and now it is ready to wait in the fridge until time to travel. I chopped up the tomatoes and crushed the tortilla chips to bring separately. (I used a combo of yellow and blue corn tortilla chips--just because I had them.)

When the time is right, add the tomatoes and chips and serve it up right away! The chips can get soft pretty quick, so don't do this part before you need to. If the salad needs to stand around a bit, I would suggest serving the crushed chips along side as a topping.  The slight spiciness from the dressing, the sweet corn, and the beans make this an interesting and hearty salad.

Greek Tortellini Salad ~ page 67

This is probably one of my favorite salads in our cookbook. The cheese tortellini make it hearty and filling. This salad can almost stand on its own as a light meal. It offers an explosion of great flavors melded together.

The balsamic and lemon dressing can be made up a day in advance if desired. This dressing gives you good reason to own a lemon press and and garlic press! They make the dressing quick and fun to make. (But don't fret--you can certainly do these 2 chores another way, if you don't have these gadgets!)

The dressing is poured over the hot tortellini so that the pasta can soak up all the dressing flavors. I don't use all the dressing--maybe just about 1/2 of it...so start with a smaller amount, and add more at the very end if you feel you need it. (Save any extra in the fridge for another salad.) Wait till the pasta cools to add the rest of your ingredients.

Here is everything except the fresh spinach leaves. After you put them in, just let it all sit around for 30 minutes or so while you get the rest of your dinner or lunch together. The marinating will make all the flavors come together.

I served this Greek Tortellini Salad along side of the Smoky Chicken Salad for a light salad supper last night for my 2 daughter-in-laws that came into town to visit.

Smoky Chicken Salad ~ page 73

Anytime I want to do a light summer lunch with no cooking to heat up the kitchen--this is the meal I go to. It is the easiest chicken salad ever, made with rotisserie chicken, celery, grapes, pecans, and spices. The liquid smoke adds a nice summer flair to the taste.

I didn't have the celery on hand that the recipe calls for, so I substituted red onion. However, I think the celery adds a bigger crunch, which is nice. If your grapes are large, cut them in two or three slices.

Spike is a very nice all purpose seasoning. It contains 37 herbs, spices, and vegetables! I use the salt free version in this recipe, because I want a lot of the Spike flavor--but rotisserie chicken usually needs no extra salt. I like to serve this chunky chicken salad over slivered lettuce.

Avacado, Cranberry, Pecan Salad ~ page 62

You're absolutely, right Janice...when you described this salad as "a lovely twist...tasty, unusual and colorful". My family loved it!
The dressing (of course) was the best part! I marinated a chicken breast in the homemade dressing and grilled it ahead of time. I added this to the salad to make this into a main dish. It was a perfect light dinner!

Crunchy Romaine Toss ~ page 66

I served this salad as a side dish to my guests and it was a big hit! The recipe is correct in that it does make a ton of dressing! I wish I would have read the directions more closely ahead of time and not eagerly poured it all on (I can never have too much dressing, so I thought it was safe) :-)
Here is a picture of what my dressing looked like before I tossed it ALL into the salad:
The ramen noodles in my topping were a tad bit too hard for me, so I'm not sure if I should have browned them a little longer or if that's how they are supposed to be...but it did make for great (not soggy) leftover salad because of it.
Everyone loved it! I will definitely be making this again!

Crunchy Romaine Toss ~ page 66

This salad is so fast and easy to serve to company because you can prep each ingredient ahead of time. Only mix up what you think you will use at a time though. Once mixed up, the leftovers are not good...the lettuce gets soggy, and the nuts get soft and chewy. I cut my broccoli pretty small, I think the recipe says "coarsely". I don't like huge bites of raw broccoli in my salad. I have served this with meals that have an Asian flare, and it works very nicely since the dressing has a touch of soy sauce. Try this one if you haven't yet. --Carissa