Summer Strawberry Salad

This is the most delicious, refreshing salad that is perfect for summer! Take this to your next pot-luck and you'll be the star! The secret is the salad dressing. This is one of those salads that you need to keep simple--if you add a ton of stuff to it, the individual flavors will get muddied, and you want to enjoy each flavor to the fullest!

Ingredients:
2 heads Romain lettuce, torn up (I used red-leaf lettuce)
1 cup purple, seedless grapes, sliced
1 strawberry basket, cleaned and sliced
2 stalks green onions, cleaned and sliced
1/2 cup walnuts, candied (optional)

Salad dressing ingredients:
2 Tbsp. dry Italian dressing
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar

Mix and refrigerate. To candy the walnuts, chop and add to a frying pan on the stove. Sprinkle about 2-3 Tbsp. sugar over top. Mix and cook on low heat until sugar melts and caramelizes. Cool and sprinkle on salad if desired.

Frog Eye Salad

I don't know what it is about this salad, but I can't stop eating it. It has such a pleasing texture and lovely light flavor. If you're not from Utah, you might not know what this salad is. I admit--it has an odd combination of ingredients, but somehow, they work so well together. Just trust me :)

1 1/3 cup (8 oz.) Acini di pepe, uncooked (this is a type of pasta that looks like little tiny balls and I have only ever found it in boxes, not in plastic packages)
1 (20 oz.) can pineapple chunks, drained (save juice)
1 3/4 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 (3.4 oz.) package instant vanilla pudding
1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineappe, drained
1 (11 oz.) cans mandarin oranges, drained
2 cups non-dairy whipped topping
3 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Cook pasta for 11 minutes. Rinse with cold water, drain well. In a large bowl, beat 1/4 cup reserved pineapple juice, milk, sugar, and dry pudding mix for 2 minutes. Gently stir in pasta and remaining ingredients. Cover. Refrigerate 3 hours, stir and refrigerate 3 more hours. Makes 12 servings.

Layered salad

I first had this salad at my friend Jana's house, and it is fantastic. It's so fresh and yummy and has such a great mix of flavors. You have to make it a day ahead of when you plan to serve it, which is actually a good thing for days like Thanksgiving. Making it early means you have more time to wrestle with a turkey that never seems to be entirely thawed out by Thanksgiving morning!

About half-a-head of shredded lettuce
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 chopped onion (green or red)
1 small can sliced water chestnuts
4 boiled eggs, sliced
1 small package frozen peas
1 pint mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup bacon bits

At least 8 hours before serving, fill bowl 1/2 full of shredded lettuce, then layer with celery, green pepper, onion, water chestnuts, boiled eggs, and frozen peas. Make topping by mixing mayonnaise, sugar and cheese. Sprinkle top with bacon bits. Do not mix. Cover and refrigerate until time to serve. You can also wait until just before serving to sprinkle with bacon, and you can add shredded cheese to the top at the same time if you wish.

I have found the topping to be a little excessive, so I'll not make quite as much as it says. I also like to layer this in a glass see-through bowl so it will be all pretty :)

Melissa's World-famous Broccoli Salad

Every time I make this salad and take it to a function, it gets rave reviews. I once took it to a wedding reception, and the groom said that instead of congratulating them on their marriage, people were asking who made the broccoli salad!

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp vinegar
2-3 bunches broccoli, chopped into small florettes
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup raisins or craisins
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 Tbsp bacon bits, or 3 strips of cooked, crumbled bacon

Mix the first three ingredients together in a bowl and let sit while you prepare the rest of the salad. After adding the rest of the ingredients (I always just estimate the amount of craisins, onions, walnuts and bacon), mix everything together and refrigerate for at least an hour. This is very important. If you serve this salad immediately, the sugar in the dressing will still be grainy. It needs an hour to dissolve. The dressing starts out goopy-looking, but should turn milky in an hour. Stir before serving.