Category Archives: Recipes – Salads

Recipes - Salads

Mason Jar 7-Layer Salad

Here’s a fun post for today! With company coming tomorrow, I took time this afternoon to do some prep work for the big supper I’m planning. Mama and I spotted this great idea in a Spring issue of Southern Living Magazine for a traditional 7-layer salad served in a most nontraditional way. I knew it would be a great salad to enjoy around the supper table when guests are in the house. The recipe for this salad has many variations and today I made a few changes of my own so the recipe is the ingredients and method used when I prepared the salad today.  Use pint size Mason jars for this.

The prep work consists of tearing the lettuce into bite-size pieces, trimming the cauliflower into flowerets, allowing the frozen peas to thaw, slicing green onion, grating a hard block of Parmesan cheese, and frying the bacon for the bacon crumbles. I did add sugar to the mayonnaise before topping the salad with that mixture and the freshly grated Parmesan as I like mayonnaise sweetened slightly for dressing purposes. I’m saving the bacon crumbles for serving at the table for individual bowls. Many recipes use Cheddar cheese for this dish but my block of Parmesan seemed more enticing to me than the packaged Cheddar in my fridge so I substituted it.

Serve with a deep bowl for guests to mix their own salad right out of the jar. A fun idea and a flavorful crisp dish! What could be better? Allow the jars to sit in the fridge overnight then place on the table with a bowl for mixing. There are multiple reasons to love this recipe: seven layers, seven good bites, one great salad!

Mason Jar 7-Layer Salad

Ingredients

1 head iceberg lettuce, rinsed, torn into bite-size pieces, dried
1 head cauliflower, trimmed into flowerets
1 bag frozen peas
1 cup green onion, snipped small
1-1/4 cups mayonnaise
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
8 pieces bacon, fried, drained, and crumbled

Directions: Prepare all vegetables and fry and drain the baxon. Assemble the salad in individual jars beginning with the lettuce and then in the order listed. Wipe jar tops and rim of jar carefully, seal tightly, and store in fridge until ready for serving.

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Recipes - Salads

Grandma’s Green Salad

At any large family gathering of ours that involves a hearty meal, someone is tasked with making what my sisters and I always referred to simply as “Grandma’s Green Salad”.  It is a green salad, yes, but prepared using gelatin in a ring mold and nary a vegetable in sight. There was no way I could cut into this salad today for a photograph so I am posting a photograph of it “as is”,  before chilling in the fridge overnight.  The salad is airy with whipped cream and small bits of crushed pineapple and cream cheese for delicate flavor.

This is a simple gelatin salad to prepare with 40-50 minutes of “down time” while the gelatin is setting up halfway in the fridge. Once that is ready, you need only whip your cream and fold it into the gelatin-pineapple-cream cheese mixture and allow it to rest, covered, in the fridge overnight.  I prefer this salad with some finely chopped pecans myself, but I omitted them today as the Carlyle branch of the family likes it best without nuts.

The cream cheese and crushed pineapple add sweetness to the lime gelatin used in the recipe.  To serve, turn out onto a plate  on a bed of lettuce leaves or serve from your ring mold.  This salad always brings back sweet memories for all of us, and I hope someday it will do so for your family; there really is nothing better than our old heartfelt favorites on the table!  Happy Easter, y’all!

Grandma’s Green Salad

Ingredients

1-(3 oz.) box lime gelatin
1 cup water
1 small can crushed pineapple with juice
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 pint whipping cream
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

Directions Dissolve the package of lime gelatin in the boiling water in small sauce pot. Pour small amount of this mixture in the bottom of a glass ring mold and place in fridge to set. Transfer the remainder of the gelatin mixture to a large bowl and add the crushed pineapple and cream cheese, breaking the cream cheese into small pieces with a fork. Place this mixture in fridge also until halfway set, whip the cream then add it to the gelatin mixture.  Add pecans, if using, and fold well to blend ingredients. Scrape this mixture over the set-up gelatin mixture in your ring mold, smoothing with a spatula. Cover and chill overnight.

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Recipes - Salads

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Strawberry Pretzel Salad finished

Another dish from last night’s party.  Like the Copper Penny Carrots, making the dish a day ahead allows the flavors to take an overnight mingle. The pretzel crust is the salad’s best feature providing plenty of texture and contrast to the other layers.

Not a hard dish to prepare, quickly finished after the gelatin mixture thickens, this salad provides  big results.  A three-layer salad, it has versatility for serving alongside your entrée, or, as a sweet dessert treat.  The crust, a baked mixture of crushed pretzels, brown sugar and butter, provides the dish its chewiness, and the cream cheese middle layer its creaminess.  Add a topping of sweetened gelatin with fruit and how could you go wrong? The result is a pretzel salad  with an awesome blend of flavors and texture.  Added bonus (because we are into that around here) you can present this in small squares and serve at least 18 people, and you can do it easily because the concoction is rich and satisfying enough to allow for it.

It will take an hour to complete this always popular salad but  30-minutes of that hour is waiting on the  gelatin mixture to set and thicken so the cook gets a break before putting the layers together and then it goes right back to the fridge and all pau!

Big Win-Win!

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
5 T. brown sugar
2-1/2 cups crushed pretzels (not too finely crushed)
1-(6 oz.) pkg. strawberry gelatin
2 cups boiling water
2 small pkgs. frozen, sweetened strawberries or container to equal 20 oz.
1 cup sugar
1-(8 oz.) block cream cheese
1-(8 or 12 oz.) container Cool Whip, thawed

Directions Preheat oven to 350. Combine butter, brown sugar, and pretzels and stir until the ingredients are thoroughly combines. Press into a buttered 9×13” glass dish. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven; cool. Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. In large bowl, combine frozen strawberries and the gelatin mixture, stirring often. As berries thaw, stir to blend well and snip the berries into smaller uniform, pieces if desired. Keep stirring until mixture is thoroughly combined then place bowl in refrigerator and chill until slightly thickened. In large bowl, combine the sugar and cream cheese and use a wooden spoon to thoroughly cream ingredients; add the Cool Whip and beat on low speed with electric mixture until just combined. Spread the cream cheese mixture on the cooled crust then top with cold thickened gelatin mixture, spreading each layer to the sides of the pan. Refrigerate overnight, covered. Cut into small squares for serving.

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Recipes - Salads

Absolute Best Macaroni Salad

different mac

Ahhh, macaroni salad! Who doesn’t love pasta and veggies dressed with a special “sauce”? Because this salad keeps well in the fridge without losing its flavor or texture, it was on my carry-in list to my sister’s house for Christmas again this year. The secret to the salad’s great taste is found in the sweetened condensed milk used in the dressing. Cutting the vegetables for this dish by hand does take longer, an exercise in determined effort more than anything else, but the moisture the veggies release using a food chopper detract from the flavor of this dish and you will have better results taking the time to slice-and-dice them yourself.

The secret to the salad’s great taste is found in the sweetened condensed milk in the dressing. Use just enough mayonnaise to prevent the dressing being runny as this keeps the pasta from being overwhelmed. I already adjusted the mayonnaise amount; you should start with the smaller amount then adjust to your taste. This yields a large bowl of salad so it is a perfect choice for a “next day” menu as well. Do try this and let me know what you think; it is not the typical Hawaiian-style plate lunch mac salad, y’all, but it is a good alternative. Don’t over cook the macaroni and it’s all “duck soup!”

Ingredients

For the salad

1 (16 oz.) pkg. elbow macaroni, cooked, drained well
1 large onion, chopped, small dice
1 large green pepper, seeded, cut into strips, then cut, small dice
2-3 stalks celery, cut into thin strips then diced
3 carrots, shaved into strips then snipped small

For the dressing

1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1-1/2 to 2 cups Hellman’s mayonnaise, to taste
1/4 cup cider vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste
Celery seed, to taste

Directions Prepare the vegetables. Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain well in a colander. Prepare the dressing by combining the milk, mayonnaise, and vinegar in small mixing bowl, whisking thoroughly to blend. Season dressing to taste with salt, pepper, and celery seed if using. Place well-drained macaroni in large bowl, add the vegetables and the dressing; stir well, folding the dressing in thoroughly to coat the macaroni. Scrape into large covered container and chill completely before serving. Store leftovers in fridge.

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Recipes - Salads

Cranberries in the Snow

this cranberry salad

Christmas is past, but, oh, how memories linger! My hope is that every blessing you enjoyed be magnified in the new year! Shared family time, often with a baby or several, means a new generation of your family growing and changing right in front of your eyes, and is there anything finer than Christmas excitement reflected in their eyes? The days after Christmas are sweet as well with all busyness finished and stopping to catch our breath before the new year begins. The holiday tables set with favorite dishes linger in my memory especially then. Our celebration this year was made sweeter with this cranberry salad. This old recipe of mama’s is a beautiful addition to any holiday table; it looks so festive plated with a Christmas turkey or ham. The sweetened tartness of the cranberry sauce is a perfect complement to the “snow” topping. This tastes even better the second day, or for a sweet late-night snack, after the flavors have mellowed. It is such a special dish, do try it!

Cranberries in the Snow

Ingredients

1 lb. pkg. fresh cranberries
3/4 cup water
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup pecans, chopped
1-(8 oz.) block cream cheese, softened
1 large box cherry flavored gelatin
2 cups sugar
1 cup celery, sliced thin
1-(7 oz.) jar marshmallow crème
1/2 pt. carton whipping cream

Directions Cook cranberries in water until tender and they begin to pop. Mix dry gelatin and sugar in large bowl and add cooked cranberries. Stir and allow to cool. Add pineapple, celery and nuts. Pour into a 9×13 glass pan and refrigerate until set.

Topping: Whip the cream and mix well in large bowl with cream cheese and marshmallow crème. Use a rubber spatula or a flat wooden spoon for this as it takes effort to get the marshmallow crème blended with the whipped cream. Keep blending until you reach a good spreading consistency. Spread on top of gelatin mixture and refrigerate, covered, overnight.

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