Jello Pretzel Salad

I need to just get my Granny Pat's recipe, but this tasted just like hers. A little bit of sweet and a

little bit of salty. It was perfect for July 4th with blueberries on top!

Jello Pretzel Salad

by Lisa Poulsen

2 1/2 c. pretzels (crushed fine)

3 Tbsp. brown sugar

3/4 c. butter

1 (6 oz) pkg instant strawberry jello

1 10 oz. pkg. frozenstrawberries or small container (16 oz) sliced fresh strawberries (I prefer fresh. I have also used blueberries and Im sure Raspberries would work too)

1 ( 8 oz ) pkg cream cheese

1 c. sugar

8 oz. cool whip

Combine pretzels, brown sugar, and melted butter and press into a greased 9 X 13 pan. You can use more butter if the crust isn't sticking together and make the pretzels more crushed than I did. Bake @ 350 for 10 minutes.

Make jello according to directions and add the strawberries. Refrigerate until partially set. *If it is not set enough it will leak through your cream cheese layer and make your pretzels soggy.

Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Blend in cool whip. Spread over cooled crust make sure you pread completely to the edges to create a seal so your jello doesn't leak through. Pour jello over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate.

Autumn Pear Salad

Autumn Pear Salad:

1/2 head green leaf lettuce, washed and torn,
1/2 head red leaf lettuce, washed and torn (I just used the Costco Spring Mix I think it is and that worked great)
2 ripe pears,
thinly sliced 2 oz parmesan cheese, shaved with vegetable peeler (or bought already shaved at Fry's :)
1/2 cup unsalted cashews, toasted.

Dressing: 5 T. olive oil,
2T. Balsamic vinegar,
1 tsp. honey
1 tsp. Dijon mustard,
1 T. chopped green onions,
salt and freshly ground pepper.
Mix dressing ingredients in jar, shake well and refrigerate. In salad bowl, combine greens and 3/4 of the dressing. Arrange pears, cheese and cashews over top and drizzle on remaining dressing. Enjoy!!

I have not stopped eating this since I made it the other day. I got this recipe from my friend Steph who got it from a friend. etc etc etc. The combination of the foods and dressing are amazing. Headed to the store right now to get me more olive oil so I can make it tonight! Yummmmo!

Another Spinach Salad

This is another favorite salad of mine. I got it off of www.justgetoffyourbuttandbake.com. Here it is. So simple.

SPINACH SALAD

1 head lettuce

1 bunch spinach

3/4 lb. sliced mushrooms

3/4 lb. grated Swiss or Mozzarella Cheese

1 red onion

1/2 lb. bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 cup mandarin oranges, drained

1/2 cup slivered almonds

3 Tbsp. sugar

DRESSING

3/4 Tbsp. poppy seeds

1/3 Cup White vinegar

3/4 cup oil (Crisco, canola or olive oil)

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. grated onion (opt)

3/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. prepared mustard

*I add onion rings to the dressing… so that it flavors it, then I remove the rings. Some picky people don’t like onion!

Directions:

Cook sugar and almonds over low heat until light brown. Mix first 5 ingredients; sprinkle almonds, bacon, and oranges over the top. Serve with Poppy seed dressing.

Strawberry/Spinach Salad

Ingredients:
1 Bag of spinach leaves
1 Avocado sliced
1/2 package strawberries rinsed and sliced
2 chicken breasts cooked and chopped
Fetta Cheese
1/4 red onion sliced thinly
1 small bag of pecans
Poppy seed dressing

Toss everything up in the salad and drizzle with yummy poppy seed dressing. I have made this salad before, but just added a few changes. We loved this!

Chipotle Chicken Salad

So I usually just try stuff that I think my family will like and it usually works out. I found this yummy Chipotle Chicken Salad off our www.ourbestbites.com. We loved it! You can follow the directions and get the recipe here: HERE

If you like a little spice and kick you will love this salad!

Candied Walnut Salad

Candied Walnut Salad

2 heads of leafy greens; 1 can be a bag of spinach (I like 1 bag of spinach and a head of Romaine or just 2 heads of Romaine)

3/4 c. Craisins

2 crisp apples

Orange juice (enough to toss apples in to prevent browning and add a little flavor)

2 oz. blue cheese or Gorgonzola (I prefer Gorgonzola; it's milder, but harder to find and more expensive)

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

1/4 c. sugar

To Carmalize your walnuts toss them in a pan on medium heat with the 1/4 C. sugar. Stir constantly and they will eventually turn into a liquid state. This is when you need to really stir and watch them so they don't burn. Once they hit that liquid state they are pretty much done. Take them out and place on a cookie sheet to cool off.

When ready to serve, toss lettuce, cranberries, walnuts, apples, and blue cheese in a large bowl. Add dressing if desired; it really is better all mixed together rather than on top, but the dressing will wilt any leftovers.

Here is the dressing:

Honey Red Wine Vinaigrette

1/2 c. red wine vinegar

1/2 c. honey

1-2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped (really, that's pretty optional; it all goes in the blender)

1 tsp. Kosher salt

1 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper

1/2 c. canola oil

In a blender, combine vinegar, honey, garlic, salt, and pepper. Place lid on blender and blend on high. While blender is running, add oil in a steady stream. Store in refrigerator for about 2-3 weeks. Shake well before serving.

This Salad was so yummy. I got it off of ourbestbites.com!

Yummy Salad

Romaine lettuce
mandarin oranges
craisins
glazed pecans (or almonds)
celery
mozzarella

Dressing (in the blender):
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
2 Tbsp mustard
2 tsp salt
1 diced red onion
2 cups vegetable oil

It makes 5 cups of dressing and you really only need a little for the salad so there is a lot left over. Enjoy!

I used honey cashews instead of the pecans and they were delicious. They were just cheaper so I tried em and we loved em!

Spicy Honey Chicken Mango Salad

I got this recipe off of www.ourbestbites.com and LOVED LOVED LOVED it! Jordan and I made it two nights in a row we loved it so much. It was fabulous and I can't say enough good things about it. You have to try it for anyone who even reads this blog.
Just click on this link and you can get this recipe

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/05/spicy-honey-chicken-salad.html

Spinach Salad

The last thing I want to do in this heat is slave away in the hot kitchen so Salads here we come. I got this yummy recipe from " Down Home with the Neely's" on foodnetwork. We loved it!

Ingredients:
3/4 of the big bag of Spinach
6 slices cooked and crumbled turkey bacon
Blue Cheese crumbled ( I used half the container)
small bag of pecans
1/2 a bag of Craisens

Directions:
Throw everything in a bowl and toss it up! We used turkey bacon instead of regular bacon and it was so good. I think if I were to make this next time I might add a bit of red onion. We used our Romano dressing, but I think you could use any salad dressing you like. Enjoy!

Strawberry/Chicken Salad

My girlfriend Joanna made this incredible salad and I haven't stopped making it. It's perfect for spring or summer when the temp.'s start rising and you don't want to be in the kitchen slaving away in the heat.

Ingredients:
Lettuce ( 1 head of lettuce, don't use iceburg)
1 small container of washed cut in slices strawberries
1 small bag of Almond slices
2-3 pieces of cooked chopped chicken
1 bottle of poppyseed dressing
Fetta cheese ( ohhh about a 1/4 a cup)

Directions:
Chop and rinse your lettuce. Wash, and cut into slices the strawberries. Boil and cook the chicken. Cut it into bite size pieces. Combine all the ingredients into a big bowl except the poppyseed dressing and fetta cheese. Mix all the ingredients together and then drizzle the dressing all over. The finishing touch should be sprinkling the fetta cheese on top! We eat this as a meal alot of the time. I love this salad. I think my Mom would love it too!

Pasta Salad

Jage and I went to a BBQ the other night with some friends and they asked us to bring a side dish so I made up this quick pasta salad. It was really delicious in my opinion. Here it is:

Ingredients:
1 box Garden Rotini spiral pasta
1 C. cherry tomatoes
1/2 stalk of celery
1 can black olives rinsed and halved
1/4 C. Parmesan cheese shredded
1 green bell pepper chopped
1 bottle of Romano dressing

Directions:
I cooked the pasta. I chopped the bell pepper, celery, olives, and tomatoes up and placed them into a bowl. After the pasta was done cooking I drained and rinsed it and then added it to the other ingredients. I poured on about 1/2 the bottle of Romano dressing and mixed thoroughly through and then sprinkled on the Parmesan cheese and mixed throughout. Wahhhla that's it!

7. . . I mean 8 Layer Salad!

So I just created my own version of the 7 layer salad. We just didn't feel like meat or anything heavy a few nights ago and I went with a yummy salad. I didn't have one of those cool dishes to place all of my yummy ingredients in so I made due with a round casserole serving dish.

Ingredients:
1 packet ranch dressing
16 oz. of sour cream
half a head of iceburg lettuce
3 roma tomatoes
1/2 package bacon cooked and crumbled
1 avocado
1/2 can olives
1 small can of water chesnuts
1/2 frozen bag of peas
1/4 red onion cut into thin slices

Directions:
In a small bowl mix your ranch packet and sour cream and refrigerate. I did it in the afternoon a few hours before dinner. You don't have to, but it tastes better to me after it has sat. Layer your bowl with a good amount of shredded lettuce, layer the chopped tomatoes on top of that, pour your drained water chesnuts on top of that, slice your olives in half and place on top of the waterchesnuts, and then peas, and onions. I then take about 3/4 of the ranch mix and pour and smoothe on top of the salad and then finish it off with shredded chedder cheese on top.

On a side note: We do use turkey bacon and reduced fat sour cream to cut back on the calories and fat and it is just as good. Seriously. I can't do the fat free sour cream, but the reduced fat light is just as good. Enjoy! This is a perfect meal during the hot summer days when you don't want to be in the hot kitchen.