Layered Salad

Just found this recipe in my unpublished blogs. Don't ask me why it was there. I may have posted it before and it's not an uncommon recipe, but it's a good one. So here it is again.

This is tasty and a huge hit with guests. My daughter calls it horizontal salad. You can make it big in a fancy see through bowl, or smaller for just a couple of servings. Make a day ahead and let the flavours absorb and meld. The photo at the end is in a normal bowl. I usually take my time to make it look nicer for company and I use an etched footed bowl.

Essentially, you need these ingredients - (start at bottom of list with lettuce to the top cheese). Don't ask me why I  wrote everything in reverse order but this is how it looks in a bowl...lettuce at the bottom.
                   
                       old/sharp cheddar cheese (old is best for taste)
                       a teaspoon of sugar or sweetener
                       real mayonnaise (not miracle whip)
                       frozen sweetlet peas
                       spanish or red onion
                       one red pepper (or other colour)
                       celery
                       iceberg lettuce (or any kind I guess)

I chop enough lettuce to fill about 1/3 of bowl.
Next, add about 2 or 3 stalks of celery (depending on salad size), chopped small, diagonally.
Seed and chop a large red pepper, although I've used other colours...orange or yellow.
Chop enough red (prettier) or spanish onion to create another layer. Use a whole one for big salad.
Layer frozen peas on top of all this but make sure there's no snow or frost on them.
Spread a layer of mayo., sprinkle with sugar or sweetener.
Grate enough old cheddar cheese to create another layer.
For added colour and decoration you can put parsley on top or a very light sprinkling of paprika.

***Variation - For meat eaters a variation is to crumble half a dozen slices of crispy cooked bacon on top.

                           

                     
           

Wild Rice, Cranberry, Walnut Salad

I have learned to be much more food flexible in my old age, and also during this pandemic. My best suggestion is to be creative and/or lazy.  If you don't have an ingredient, try a substitution. If the recipe looks as though it has too much of one thing or another for your liking, change the recipe. If everything has to be made from scratch, think twice about how to adapt the recipe. It usually works out without too much of an ensuing disaster.

***Allergy alert - The recipe that follows contains walnuts, but any types of nuts can be substituted including pine nuts (I don't care for these), almonds, or pecans. I've only tried it with walnuts so far.

Whereas I was less than enthusiastic about my recent attempt at Jambalaya, this recipe is definitely a keeper. I think it's been around for a long time. A rice salad with very few ingredients, it tastes delicious even though it doesn't look too appealing to everyone in the photo...wait, nobody's in the photo. It doesn't look appealing to everyone the way it appears in the photo...better.  It also keeps for several days in the fridge.

I didn't do anything 'much' to change this recipe (unusual for me) which I found in several different online locations including a page on anti-aging foods...yayyy. Let's see if it helps. Here's the version that my stepmom used, and that I am also currently using. 


Cranberry, Rice, & Walnut Salad


Ingredients in red.

1 cup rice - brown and wild is suggested, but I substituted long and wild rice. Is there really much difference? ***I also have been known to use prefab rice. In other words, something of slightly lesser nutritional value and much less work. On the other hand, if you're a purist and you have an hour to kill, go ahead and use wild rice that you need to cook. I think the brown takes a little less time.

When rice cools (if you're using cooked), mix with  1/2 cup of dried cranberries, and 1/2 cup of squashed walnuts. I had to use halves which I put in a bag and crushed with a rolling pin.

For dressing -

Whisk together 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1/2 tsp. of sugar (I used sweetener), 1 tablespoon lemon juice (from a real lemon or from a squeezy plastic lemon), a tsp. of rind if you have any kind of citrus fruit, like the aforementioned lemon (not the plastic one) or an orange-like item with rind, salt, pepper to your taste.

Assemble by pouring dressing on rice mixture, and serve. I've also seen versions using roasted nuts that have been cooled, and versions that are warm salads. I like to refrigerate mine prior to consuming.

Et voi​là. There you have it...easy peasy.

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***Prefab rice example. I don't use them often because of the plastic, but this one comes in two, one cup sizes so I just use one of the two for the recipe.  The plastic cups can however be recycled, or up cycled and used for other purposes.