picnic salads

[angie r]

We're going to a picnic on Monday. The hostess asked me to bring a couple salads and I don't want to do the normal potato salad thing. Do any of you have a good, fun salad type recipe? I am thinking of a broccoli/bacon salad maybe, I don't know!

[KarlaB]

Have you ever have the one made with Ramen noodles? It's a cole slaw-y type thing. LOL at my descriptive words. ;) That's really good and simple to make. I'll post the recipe if you need it.

Otherwise a fav summer one of mine is the ol' pasta stand-by -

I cook the noodles and add the following:

Parmesan cheese
Salad Supreme seasoning
pepperoni
black olives
green olives
pickles
cubed cheese
carrots
onion
peppers
crab
Zesty Italian dressing

Of course, all of that is cut up if needed and you can pick and choose what you do/don't like. :)

I also love the brocolli salad you mentioned!! :licklips:

[KarlaB]

Was thinking some more.....

Do you want to do a sweet type of salad, too? If so, you could always do Snicker Salad.

[PamE]

Greek Salad

8 leaves Romaine lettuce, torn
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and sliced
1 tomato, chopped
½ c. sliced red onion
½ c. feta cheese

Dressing
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 T. lemon juice
1 tsp. dried oregano leaves
½ tsp. salt

Whisk dressing together to blend flavors. Toss with salad right before serving.


Strawberry Salad

Red leaf lettuce
Strawberries, cut into pieces or sliced
1 sm. bag sliced almonds, toasted in 2 tsp. sugar

Poppyseed Dressing
1/3 cup sugar 1 T. Poppyseeds
2 T. vinegar 1 T. lemon juice
½ tsp. salt ½ tsp. dry mustard
½ cup vegetable oil

Combine all dressing ingredients in a jar, shaking well to blend. Right before serving, combine lettuce with strawberries. Pour dressing over all and toss.

Substitute mandarin oranges and sliced red onion for strawberries when berries aren’t in season.

[AnnW]

This is good and you don't have to worry about mayo and getting hot.

Corkscrew pasta (cooked and cooled)
cherry tomoatoes cut in half
sliced black olives
fresh mozzarella cheese cubed
fresh basil chopped (chiffonade)
put all that together and toss with a vingerette dressing. salt and pepper to taste
chill for at least 6 hours..overnight is better

[RCT]

I use about 2 packages of frozen tortellini's cook them according to the directions. let drain and cool

black olives, about 1 can sliced is what I do
roasted red peppers
any zesty itialian dressing
fresh brocoli floweretts
cut up purple onion
peppercini's
artichoke hearts
marinated mushrooms
about a cup of grape tomatoes

mix it up and serve it cold.

[vea29]

Have you ever have the one made with Ramen noodles? It's a cole slaw-y type thing. LOL at my descriptive words. ;) That's really good and simple to make. I'll post the recipe if you need it.

Otherwise a fav summer one of mine is the ol' pasta stand-by -

I cook the noodles and add the following:

Parmesan cheese
Salad Supreme seasoning
pepperoni
black olives
green olives
pickles
cubed cheese
carrots
onion
peppers
crab
Zesty Italian dressing

Of course, all of that is cut up if needed and you can pick and choose what you do/don't like. :)

I also love the brocolli salad you mentioned!! :licklips:
this is my favorite....my cousin makes it with tri color pasta

[angie r]

Gosh guys, these all sound great. I love the ramen noodle salad Karla. I have seen a recipe for snicker salad, but never tried it, have you had it? I love the strawberry salad too Pam, but I've always used spinach. Now I have so many I want to make I may do several! Renee - Do you use cheese tortellini? Except for the olives that sounds fabulous.

[KarlaB]

The snicker salad is yummy - my cousins in Iowa request that I make that for every get together. I even had to make an enormous amount for one of their graduation parties. LOL I don't make it much anymore.

Does your recipe have vanilla pudding in it? I have seen some without it, but imo - the one with pudding is much better. :tinysmile

Lots of great ideas from everyone :yippee: - good luck deciding! :D

[Diane]

The snicker salad is yummy - my cousins in Iowa request that I make that for every get together. I even had to make an enormous amount for one of their graduation parties. LOL I don't make it much anymore.

Does your recipe have vanilla pudding in it? I have seen some without it, but imo - the one with pudding is much better. :tinysmile

Lots of great ideas from everyone :yippee: - good luck deciding! :D

Karla... could you please post your Snickers Salad recipe? I looked it up but none of the ones I found call for vanilla pudding. Apples, snickers candy bars and cool whip. Some call for banana's and/or a few other things. What all do you put in yours? Thanks.....

Diane...

[KarlaB]

Karla... could you please post your Snickers Salad recipe? I looked it up but none of the ones I found call for vanilla pudding. Apples, snickers candy bars and cool whip. Some call for banana's and/or a few other things. What all do you put in yours? Thanks.....

Diane...

Here it is! :)

2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding
2 cups cold milk
12 oz Cool Whip
4-6 Granny Smith apples, cut into bite size pieces with skin on
Snickers cut into bite size pieces (the recipe calls for 5-6 regular size, BUT I buy a couple of the snack size 10 packs...just add how much you like, I like lots. LOL)

Mix pudding and milk, fold in Cool Whip, add Snickers and apples. You can make this up ahead of time, BUT I don't add the apples until I'm ready to serve it.

[Diane]

Here it is! :)

2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding
2 cups cold milk
12 oz Cool Whip
4-6 Granny Smith apples, cut into bite size pieces with skin on
Snickers cut into bite size pieces (the recipe calls for 5-6 regular size, BUT I buy a couple of the snack size 10 packs...just add how much you like, I like lots. LOL)

Mix pudding and milk, fold in Cool Whip, add Snickers and apples. You can make this up ahead of time, BUT I don't add the apples until I'm ready to serve it.

It really sounds quick/easy and most of all good. :licklips: Your recipe with the vanilla pudding sounds like it would be a LOT better flavor wise than with just cool whip. I've got a pot luck I have to go to in a few weeks and I'm thinking this would be the perfect thing to bring. Thanks so much for posting the recipe...

[JAK]

Karla, can you post the Ramen salad recipe please? I got a great deal on Ramen (10 packages for only 20 cents). Now I don't know what to do with all of it. LOL

[KarlaB]

Karla, can you post the Ramen salad recipe please? I got a great deal on Ramen (10 packages for only 20 cents). Now I don't know what to do with all of it. LOL

Here you go! :)

1 bag shredded cabbage
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup slivered almonds
3 green onions chopped
1 pkg chicken Ramen noodles (save seasoning packet for dressing) - noodles go in salad uncooked and broken into pieces

Dressing:
3 TB vinegar
1/2 cup Safflower or vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
Ramen seasoning packet

It's a good idea to keep the ingredients separated until just before serving so all the yummy crispy stuff doesn't get soggy. :)

[KarlaB]

Forgot to say - WOW 8o on the price of the Ramen noodles!! LOL

[angie r]

Here you go! :)

1 bag shredded cabbage
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup slivered almonds
3 green onions chopped
1 pkg chicken Ramen noodles (save seasoning packet for dressing) - noodles go in salad uncooked and broken into pieces

Dressing:
3 TB vinegar
1/2 cup Safflower or vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
Ramen seasoning packet

It's a good idea to keep the ingredients separated until just before serving so all the yummy crispy stuff doesn't get soggy. :)
I've never used the seasoning packet in the dressing, I'll have to try that. I always hate throwing it away! lol

[Diane]

Here you go! :)

1 bag shredded cabbage
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup slivered almonds
3 green onions chopped
1 pkg chicken Ramen noodles (save seasoning packet for dressing) - noodles go in salad uncooked and broken into pieces

Dressing:
3 TB vinegar
1/2 cup Safflower or vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
Ramen seasoning packet

It's a good idea to keep the ingredients separated until just before serving so all the yummy crispy stuff doesn't get soggy. :)

They all sound so good. I guess I'm going to be making a lot of salads... :) Thanks for all the recipes. :)

[RCT]

Gosh guys, these all sound great. I love the ramen noodle salad Karla. I have seen a recipe for snicker salad, but never tried it, have you had it? I love the strawberry salad too Pam, but I've always used spinach. Now I have so many I want to make I may do several! Renee - Do you use cheese tortellini? Except for the olives that sounds fabulous.

yes, sorry..... it's Cheese tortellini, I like the tri colored ones but either are great.

[RCT]

Here you go! :)

1 bag shredded cabbage
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup slivered almonds
3 green onions chopped
1 pkg chicken Ramen noodles (save seasoning packet for dressing) - noodles go in salad uncooked and broken into pieces

Dressing:
3 TB vinegar
1/2 cup Safflower or vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
Ramen seasoning packet

It's a good idea to keep the ingredients separated until just before serving so all the yummy crispy stuff doesn't get soggy. :)

that sounds so good...

[angie r]

I ended up going with both Karla's suggestions, Oriental salad, snicker salad and broccoli salad that I was originally going to make. I also packed up a big bowl of grapes. It all looks so good. Thank you for all the suggestions! The snicker salad is so yummy, I can't wait to see what everyone thinks!

[Melody]

Sil made a pasta salad on the weekend to bring to other sil's. Anyhow, it was sooo good I knew I had to come and share it here. Here's the link.

http://salad.allrecipes.com/az/SpinachPastaSalad.asp

[KarlaB]

I ended up going with both Karla's suggestions, Oriental salad, snicker salad and broccoli salad that I was originally going to make. I also packed up a big bowl of grapes. It all looks so good. Thank you for all the suggestions! The snicker salad is so yummy, I can't wait to see what everyone thinks!

:yippee: Hope everyone liked them!!! :)

[angie r]

:yippee: Hope everyone liked them!!! :)

They were all big hits! My bil actually said the snicker salad was the best "potato salad" he'd ever had, rofl... Uh, B, it's pudding and snicker bars!

[Diane]

They were all big hits! My bil actually said the snicker salad was the best "potato salad" he'd ever had, rofl... Uh, B, it's pudding and snicker bars!

So it ends up thinker like potato salad? Somehow I pictured it thinner... not as full of ingredients. LOL

[Diane]

They were all big hits! My bil actually said the snicker salad was the best "potato salad" he'd ever had, rofl... Uh, B, it's pudding and snicker bars!

So it ends up thicker, like potato salad? Somehow I pictured it not being as thick... :)

[KarlaB]

So it ends up thinker like potato salad? Somehow I pictured it thinner... not as full of ingredients. LOL

The pudding mix is sort of fluffly and then the 'fullness' depends on how many apples and snickers you add, so yep it can be 'thicker'. :) Make sense? LOL

[KarlaB]

They were all big hits! My bil actually said the snicker salad was the best "potato salad" he'd ever had, rofl... Uh, B, it's pudding and snicker bars!

ROFL!!!! Well, my excuse to eat it is the apples have to make it at least somewhat healthy....who cares that the snickers wipe that value right out! ;)

[Diane]

ROFL!!!! Well, my excuse to eat it is the apples have to make it at least somewhat healthy....who cares that the snickers wipe that value right out! ;)

LOL... :biglaugh:

[angie r]

ROFL!!!! Well, my excuse to eat it is the apples have to make it at least somewhat healthy....who cares that the snickers wipe that value right out! ;)

Ds said he loved it except for the apples, rofl!!

[Diane]

Ds said he loved it except for the apples, rofl!!

LOL... Sounds like something my kids would have said when they were little. :biglaugh: They would have been picking the apple out and eating all the Snickers. :licklips: