Layered lettuce salad

Apr 6, 2014

But one variation of the ubiquitous salad found at every church potluck in the 60s and 70s.

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Layered lettuce salad

The idea here is layers, so choose whatever sounds good to you. Chopped up water chestnuts are a nice addition. If I make this in a deep bowl, I make more dressing and make two sets of layers, with dressing in between the two sets.

Ingredients

Salad

  • 1 head lettuce
  • 1 pkg. frozen peas
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1 lb. sliced bacon fried crisp and crumbled
  • 1/4 cup green peppers diced
  • 4 hard-boiled eggs chopped
  • 1/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese plus a little more for garnish

Dressing

  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tblsp sugar
  • splash of lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Tear lettuce and place in a large, see-through glass bowl.
  2. Layer ingredients in order given.
  3. Combine sugar and mayonnaise; spread mixture on top of salad.
  4. Sprinkle with more cheese.
  5. Refrigerate overnight.

 

Spinach Bacon Salad

Apr 6, 2014

Long-time favorite from my mother-in-law’s recipe collection. Whenever this is served, without fail someone asks for the recipe.

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Spinach Bacon Salad

Ingredients

Salad

  • 2 lb fresh spinach
  • 2 heads red leaf lettuce
  • 1/2 lb bacon fried crisp and crumbled

Dressing

  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp dry mustard
  • 1 tblsp grated not chopped, you want the juice onion
  • 1/3 cup cider vinegar
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1-1/2 cup small-curd cottage cheese

Instructions

Salad

  1. Tear spinach and lettuce. Please tear the stems off and don't just dump it from the bag.

  2. Toss together.

Dressing

  1. Combine all ingredients except cottage cheese and shake well.
  2. Add half of cottage cheese and shake again.
  3. Just before serving, toss together dressing with greens, remaining cottage cheese, and bacon.

 

Potato Salad

Mar 9, 2014

Captain OCD used to run down to Fred’s and come back with potato salad that was a bit unusual in that it came from a store in a plastic container, but had lots of flavor and was delicious in a sturdy, potluck-picnic kind of way. Turns out that Diane, who worked there, made all the salads (her macaroni salad was also excellent), soups, baked beans, and most of the other typical deli-case dishes. While what you see in those glass cases in small, unfancy stores is usually mass-produced, bland crap, what resided in Fred’s case was a delightful surprise. I’m pretty sure she made them in her kitchen, which assuredly was not a certified kitchen, but no one cared: her stuff was good. Like all good cooks, she didn’t adhere to specific recipes, but she finally obliged Captain OCD and wrote down an approximation of her potato salad recipe. That’s below, exactly as she wrote it.

I found this recipe, scribbled on the back of part of a cigarette carton. A hastily scribbled favorite recipe on a torn-off part of a cigarette carton is a pretty good description of this potato salad. Bring this to your next picnic and, when someone condescendingly asks if that’s mayonnaise dressing those potatoes, say, no, it’s just a simple rustic emulsified vinaigrette.

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potato salad

Potato Salad

Ingredients

  • 4 –5 pounds red potatoes boiled and diced
  • 1 medium onion finely chopped
  • 6 hard boiled eggs chopped
  • 1 cup relish: sweet or dill whatever you like
  • 1-1/2 –2 cups mayonnaise
  • 1 –2 tablespoons mustard the kind you choose greatly influences the flavor of the salad
  • 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons Mrs. dash
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. Gently combine all ingredients.
  2. Chill thoroughly.

 

Orange Salad Dressing

Apr 21, 2013

From my mother-in-law’s recipe collection.

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Orange Salad Dressing

Toss with salad greens or fruit.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup vinegar
  • 1/2 cup orange juice
  • juice of 1 large lemon
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp orange peel grated
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp dry mustard
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients and shake well.

 

French Salad Dressing

Apr 21, 2013

From my mother-in-law’s collection. This one is red and somewhat creamy. Makes 1 pint.

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French Salad Dressing

A different twist on creamy red french dressing.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup red-wine vinegar
  • 1 cup ketchup yep, ketchup
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup onion chopped
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 clove garlic minced

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a blender, food processor, or hand blender.