Creamy Cranberry Salad

Ingredients:

12 oz fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 6 oz raspberry jello mix
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple
3/4 cup orange juice
1 apple with peel, grated
1 cup whipping cream
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Process cranberries in blender or food processor.  Pour sugar over cranberries, stir to dissolve.
Bring 3/4 cup water to boil.  Stir in gelatin and cool.  Stir cooled gelatin into cranberries, add pineapple, Orange juice, grated apple.  Mix well, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Whip cream and beat in cream cheese and powdered sugar.

In glass serving dish layer half the cranberry mixture, then the whipped cream mixture, Then the remaining cranberry mixture.

Bean Salad

Ingredients:
1 can corn
1 can kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can white beans
1 can pinto beans
Or any other types of beans you like
3 stalks of celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped or shredded
bundle of parsley, chopped
bottle of balsamic dressing, any type

Rinse beans. Mix all ingredients together. Enjoy!

7 layered lettuce salad

This recipe comes from my mother in law. Anything with bacon is great in my opinion. It's easy to put together and a little different from the usual green salad.

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped celery
1 green pepper, chopped
1 cup green onions, chopped
1 package frozen peas, uncooked

1 head of lettuce
6 hardboiled eggs, chopped
1 cup cheese, grated
6-7 pieces crisp bacon, crumbled

Sauce:
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream

Directions:
Mix together: celery, green pepper, green onions and frozen peas.
Layer half the lettuce (torn or chopped) on bottom of 9x13 pan. Layer half the celery mixture, the entier 6 eggs, chopped. Then layer the remaining lettuce, remaining celery mixture. Top with mayonnaise mixture. Then sprinkle with cheese and bacon.
Can be refrigerated overnight.

Ribbon Salad

This is my favorite jello salad. I love to have it at Christmas time because of the fun Christmas colors, although anytime is a good time for this salad. I have never been able to successfully make it look pretty myself--for some reason my top layer of jello has never completely covered the middle layer. It still tastes good, it just doesn't look good. So while my mom was in town I asked her to make it for me so I could see where I was going wrong. We decided I was either using the wrong size pan or forgot to add the 2nd bit of water to the red jello. So we will see if I've got it figured out the next time I attempt to make this jello salad.

Ingredients:
1 pkg each 3 oz size Jell-O: Lemon, Lime, and Raspberry or strawberry
3 cups boiling water
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cup cold water
4 oz cool whip
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 20 oz can crushed pineapple

Directions:
Dissolve jello flavors separately, using 1 cup boiling water for each. Stir miniature marshmallows into lemon Jell-O, set aside. Add 3/4 cup cold water to lime Jell-O; pour into 13x9 inch pan. Chill until set but not firm. Add 3/4 cup cold water to raspberry Jell-O, set aside at room temperature. Then add cream cheese to lemon mixture; beat until blended, chill until slightly thickened, then blend in mayonnaise, whipped cream and crushed pineapple. Chill until very thick; spoon gently over lime Jell-O. Chill until set, but not firm; meanwhile chill raspberry Jell-O until thick, pour over lemon Jell-O. Chill.

Hot German Potato Salad

Ingredients:
9 potatoes peeled
6 slices bacon
3/4 cup chopped onions
2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/8 tsp pepper
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup white vinegar

Directions:
Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes that have been sliced thin and cook until tender but still firm, abt 30 min. Drain.
Place bacon in a large, deep skillett. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside, reserving drippings.
Saute onions in bacon drippings until they are golden brown. In small bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, celery seed, and pepper. Add to the sauteed onions and cook and stir until bubbly, then remove from heat. Stir in water and vinegar, then return to the stove and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for one minute. Carefully stir bacon and sliced potatoes into the vinegar/water mixture, stirring gently until potatoes are heated through.

Layered Summer Fruits with Creamy Lime Dressing

Ingredients:
3 cups cut up cantaloupe
1 quart strawberries, quartered
2 ripe medium mangoes, seed removed, peeled and cut up
2 cups blueberries
2 cups cut up honeydew melon


Dressing:
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup whipping cream whipped (I used cool whip when the whipping cream I had was unusable)



Directions:
For dressing: beat cream cheese, limeade concentrate and powdered sugar with electric mixer on med-high speed about 3 minutes until smooth. Fold in whipped cream. Set aside.

In trifle bowl layer cantaloupe and strawberries. Spread half the cream cheese mixture over the strawberries. Layer mangoes, blueberries and honeydew over cream cheese mixture. Spread remaining cream cheese mixture on top. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate up to 2 hours before serving.

Blueberry Spinach Salad

Ingredients:
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup raspberry vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (10 ounce) package fresh spinach, torn
1 (4 ounce) package crumbled feta cheese
1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:
In a jar with tight-fitting lid, combine the first five ingredients and shake well. In a large salad bowl, toss the spinach, feta cheese, and blueberries. Add dressing and toss gently; serve immediately.

Tomato Cucumber Salad

This was so fresh and light. It was a great way to use all the small tomatoes from my garden. I found this recipe on Annies Eats.

Ingredients:
4 cups cherry or grape tomatoes quartered
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 medium shallot, minced (I just used an onion)
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
black pepper
1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced into 1/2 inch chunks
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
1-2 Tbsp fresh parsley, minced

Directions:
Combine the tomatoes, salt and sugar in a medium bowl; toss to combine. Let stand for 30 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a salad spinner and spin until the seeds and excess liquid have been removed, about 1 minute. Return the tomatoes to the bowl and set aside. Strain the tomato liquid through a fine mesh strainer into a liquid measuring cup, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible.
Combine 1/2 cup of the tomato liquid with the garlic, oregano, shallot, and vinegar in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Simmer until the mixture is reduced, about 6-8 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Whisk in the oil, and season with pepper to taste.
Add the cucumber, feta, dressing and parsley to the bowl with the tomatoes. Toss gently and serve.

Sweet Potato Potato Salad

Ingredients:
2 potatoes
1 sweet potato
4 hard boiled eggs
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
3/4 c mayonnaise
1 Tbsp prepared mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Directions:
Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Add peeled and chopped potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, abt. 30 min. Drain.

Peel and chop cooled hard-boiled eggs
Combine the potatoes, eggs, celery, and onion.

Whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, salt and pepper. Add to potato mixture, toss well to coat. Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Ingredients:
Dressing:
1 lemon
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp poppy seeds
Salad:
8 oz strawberries, bulled and quartered
1/2 medium cucumber, sliced and cut in half
1/4 small red onion, sliced into thin wedges
1 package (6oz) baby spinach

Directions:
For dressing, zest lemon using lemon zester to measure 1/2 tsp zest. Juice lemon to measure 2 Tbsp juice. Combine zest, juice, vinegar, sugar, oil, and poppy seeds in small bowl. whisk until blended. Cover, refrigerate until ready to use.
Hull strawberries and cut into quarters. Score cucumber lengthwise using zester/scorer, remove seeds. Slice cucumber, cut slices in half. Slice onion into thin wedges. Place spinach in large serving bowl; add strawberries, cucumber, and onion. Whisk dressing. Pour over salad, gently tossing to coat. serve immediately.

Broccoli Salad

Ingredients:
1 head broccoli, cut in small pieces
1/8 cup red onion, sliced
8 pieces cooked bacon, crumbled
1 pkg salted, shelled sunflower seeds
Dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp vinegar

Directions:
Mix broccoli, onion, bacon, and sunflower seeds in a bowl, toss with dressing.
Dressing: mix mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar in blender. Let sit for several hours. Or substitue this dressing with lite house poppy seed dressing.

Cole Slaw

Ingredients:
1/2 head of cabbage--cut into fine slices (or a bag of cole slaw mix)
3 tomatoes, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1/4 cup mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Mix the cabbage, tomatoes, onion. Add just enough mayonnaise to coat everything--about 1/4 cup or a large spoonful. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Mango Turkey Salad

This is my favorite lunch. Whenever I have Mango Salsa around this is what I eat. It's soo yummy!

Ingredients
Mango Salsa
Green Salad
Turkey lunch meat
poppy seed dressing

Instructions:
I use whatever green salad I have around--my favorite is a mix of romaine lettuce and spinach with red onion, red pepper, tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta cheese is really yummy too. Then I just cut up some turkey lunch meat, add the mango salsa and top with poppy seed dressing. Delicious!