Broccoli Salad

INGREDIENTS
3 heads of broccoli, chopped into small pieces
1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 c craisins
1/2 c salted sunflower seeds
1 c mayonnaise
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp white vinegar

STEPS

• In a large bowl combine the broccoli, bacon, red onion, craisins, and sunflower seeds.
• In a small bowl whisk together the mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar.
• Drizzle the dressing over the broccoli salad and toss to coat.
• Cover the salad and place in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
• Stir right before serving.

This is one of my FAVORITES!

Mexican Chef's Salad

I got this recipe from my girlfriend Laurel Noble Bateman when I was pregnant with Erik.  It is the recipe I used when our kids were growing up.  Make your own adaptations...

Brown: 1 pound Hamburger with diced onions 1/4 teaspoon salt, add 1 can (15oz) Kidney Beans and simmer for 10 minutes...cool.

Chop:
1 head of lettuce
4 tomatoes

Toss with:
4 oz grated cheese
8 oz 1,000 island dressing (or Ranch) with Hot sauce to taste

When ready to serve:
Slice and add 1 large avocado
Mix in hamberger
Add one bag Doritos Corn Tortilla Chips or Corn Chips (crunched up)

Garnish with chips, avocado, and sliced tomatoes

Serve Pronto!

Keep everything cold.

Pasta Chicken Salad

5-6 chicken breasts
2 bags curly pasta (1 colored, 1 plain)
2 cans pineapple tidbits (drain juice to soak apples)
4 cups grapes (2 red, 2 green)
4 cups diced red apples, soaked in pineapple juice
1 can cashews, halves and pieces
1 cup mayonnaise
1 bottle Kraft coleslaw dressing

1. Boil chicken with onion and salt until done.  Dice chicken into bite size pieces.
2. Cook and drain pasta.
3. Combine mayo and dressing in separate bowl.
4. In large bowl combine chicken, pasta, pineapple, grapes, and apples.
5. Toss with dressing mixture.
6. Add cashews just before serving.

Recipe Author: Danielle Peterson

Ginger's Toco Salad

Mexican Hash (Taco Salad)

1 lb. ground beef -  browned with chopped onion

1 pkg. Zatarains's Black Beans and Rice- prepared

Mix together and add 1 small can Mexican stewed tomatoes

(cut smaller if desired)

1 can green chilies (about 4 oz.)

½ C. Salsa

(when making for a large group you can add 1 can black beans with juice)



Serve over chips with:

Chopped lettuce

Grated Cheddar Cheese

Avocado

Sliced olives

Sour Cream

Chopped tomatoes

(can also serve in a tortilla wrap)

Spinach salad and award winning dressing

SPINACH SALAD (Served at the high priest dinner November 4, 2011).

Marinade for spinach salad:

1 ½ tsp. poppy seeds

¾ cup apple cider vinegar

¾ cup vegetable oil

½ cup sugar

1 ½ tsp finely chopped red onion

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp cottage cheese

Mix together; it has to be stirred constantly while putting on the salad because it separates very fast.  This makes 1 pint of dressing (up to 34 tbsp).  I put two tbsp on the salad at the dinner, but 1 tbsp goes pretty far.  I love this dressing on most of my salads, it is 56 calories per tbsp.

We garnished the spinach with:

Craisins

Real bacon bits

Sliced almonds

Sliced red onion

Mandarin oranges

Shredded Mozzarella cheese

(You can use any yummy thing you have in your pantry).

Kathy Perrins (adapted from Linda Bergeson)

"Bajio Sweet Pork Salad" Copy Cat

I made this salad last week and it was DELICIOSO! I found these recipes online. The one for the sweet pork was from our local ABC 4 news who had one of the big wigs from Bajio on their show to present, so I thought it would be a pretty good recipe and it sure was!

So the layers in a salad you would get at Bajio (or Cafe Rio) include:

1- Tortilla (I used the uncooked 'tortilla land' brand you can find at Costco or most grocery stores by the milk, butter, etc. for sure at Walmart, smiths, maceys)

2- Sweet Rice (recipe below)

3- Black Beans (I just opened a can of seasoned black beans)

4- Corn

5- Sweet Pork (recipe below)
6- Chopped romain lettuce

7- Cheese

8- Any additional toppings you like: sour cream, guacamole, pico, salsa, etc

9- Tortilla strips (instructions below)

10- Creamy Tomatillo Ranch (recipe here)

And that is one dreamy meal.. and those you are serving it to will think you are the BEST!

Recipe for:

Sweet Pork

pork

3 lbs pork roast 

2 quarts water 

4 cups sliced white onions

1/4 cup salt

1 cup sugar

Marinade

Simmer together the following ingredients for 1 hour

4 cups enchilada sauce

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups soda water or coke/dr pepper

1 Tbs taco seasoning to taste

1 small cans pineapple juice (I added this to original recipe to try to reduce the spiciness of the taco seasoning because I had overdone it with almost 3 Tbs, my sis-in-law Birgitta recommended the pineapple juice and it was sooooo good that I'm always going to use it)

Cook pork in crock pot until tender enough to shred (about 8 hours). 

Drain pork and shred with fork, keeping pork in original cooking pot

Pour hot marinade over shredded pork

keep warm

Recipe for:

Sweet Rice

1 Tbs oil

1/2 of a white onion, chopped (add more or less to your taste)

1/2 bunch fresh cilantro chopped

1 1/3 c. white rice

3 c. chicken broth

1/4  c. white sugar
heaping 1/2 tsp salt (1/2 tsp salt per cup of rice)

Put a little oil in bottom of pan

Saute chopped onion until translucent

On the side, combine the chicken broth and sugar, letting sugar dissolve (get this ready before you add the cilantro so it's ready to pour)

Add rice, cooking it until it is brown (be careful not to burn)

Add chopped cilantro (no big stems) to your onions and rice and saute 30 seconds more or so

Pour in broth with sugar, add salt, combine, and bring to boil

Cover and let cook on low/med low until rice is done, about 20-25 min

Fluff with fork before serving.

Tortilla Strips

Use tortillas of your choice (white corn, yellow, corn, flour)

Cut into thin strips

In large skillet, heat vegetable oil and fry up your strips, adding plenty of salt for deliciousness. Fry until light to golden brown.

Enjoy! You will be stu-uffed.

Black Bean Salad

I got this recipe from Enrichment night. It's pretty tasty and perfect for summer BBQ's!

3 Cans Black beans, rinsed & drained
2 Cans Corn, drained
1 ¼ Cups cooked white Rice
3 Roma Tomatoes, chopped
½ Cup Red Onion, chopped
¼ Cup Green Onion, chopped
1 Cup Italian Dressing
1 Can chopped Green Chilies
1 Bunch Cilantro, chopped
1 tsp. Salt
1 TBL. Cumin
2 TBL. Lemon or Lime Juice
¼ Cup Red Wine Vinegar

Combine all ingredients and chill.

Cafe Rio Dressing

I've had a request for my lazy chef Cafe Rio Replica.

Start with a good Ranch Dressing. Hidden Valley in a bottle is NOT good ranch dressing. Hidden Valley you make from a packet is pretty good. Costco sells a big bottle of ranch back near the produce (refrigerated) that is very good.

Add Salsa Verde (the green stuff), Lime juice and cilantro to taste. I use a blender so the fresh cilantro gets chippity chopped.

And there you have it. Never had any complaints.

Pear Green Salad

2 heads Romaine – or other leafy types of lettuce
2 heads Mixed Greens
½ lb. Bacon (fried and crumbled)
4-5 Ripe pears, chopped
½ C. Slivered almonds toasted
1 pkg. Craisins (approx. 1 C.)
4 oz. Gorgonzola Cheese or Blue Cheese

Dressing: (Only ½ is really needed for the amount of salad above)
2 C. Sugar
2 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Poppyseed
½ C. Oil
2 tsp Dry Mustard
1 C. Red Wine Vinegar

This is a hit to everyone! Even my hubby who thinks any salad is just "rabbit food".