New favorite salad.

I took my inspiration from this salad on allrecipes: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Strawberry-Spinach-Salad-I/Detail.aspx

But I added a whole bunch of stuff :)
(Mark it down folks, I actually have a picture of something)

Summer Spinach salad

Ingredients
dressing:
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced onion

salad:
10 ounces fresh spinach - rinsed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces
1 quart strawberries - cleaned, hulled and sliced
1 pint raspberries - cleaned, I cut the big ones in half
1 can mandarin oranges - drained and big ones cut in half
1 cup cooked chicken, diced (or dino nuggets cut up - yes I've done this)
1 cucumber, cleaned & diced
couple handfuls of matchstick carrots
1/3 cup almond accents butter toffee glazed almonds
crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, to taste

Directions
In a liquid shaker (like this Tupperware one I love), shake together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and onion. Chill for one hour.

In a large bowl or gladware container, toss the salad ingredients.

If serving right away: toss dressing with salad
If making for multiple servings (what I do when Chris is out of town), just add the dressing with your portion. Hence that wonderful shaker with a spout.

yummy blueberry crumb bars

It's Michigan blueberry season, so last weekend we picked up 2 pints at the little farmer stand downtown. I am not a huge raw blueberry fan, but like to cook with them so I searched for something I could make (other than the usual muffins) that my husband could take to his day long meetings in a hotel conference room this week.

I found this blueberry crumb bar recipe on allrecipes, then edited it to my own baking preferences :) so here is my version, italics where I changed ingredients.

Blueberry crumb bars

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shortening (I used butter flavored Crisco)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons cornstarch
grated lemon peel

DIRECTIONS (changed with my ingredients)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
In a medium bowl, stir together sugars, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and cinnamon. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the shortening, vanilla, and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.
In another bowl, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Gently mix in the blueberries and sprinkle in some lemon peel (I used probably about 1 tsp). Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Grilled 'tater salad

This Grilled Potato Salad from Southern Living was OMG amazing the other night (make sure you do the rub and the dressing) :) oh and put the bacon on LAST not while stirring the potatoes and onions in the bacon grease. Oh yes, it involves bacon grease. Baaaaad for you but tastes so yummy.

edited to add recipe, in case the interwebs eat it ;)

Grilled Potato Salad

Yield
Makes 4 to 5 servings

Ingredients
8 bacon slices
4 medium-size red potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch cubes (about 5 cups cubed)
1 large white onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips
Potato Salad Dry Rub
Potato Salad Dressing
Garnish: chopped fresh parsley
Preparation
1. Preheat grill to 350° to 400° (medium-high) heat. Cook bacon, in batches, in a large skillet over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes or until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving drippings in skillet. Crumble bacon.

2. Add potatoes, onion, and Potato Salad Dry Rub to hot drippings in skillet, tossing to coat. Remove potato mixture with a slotted spoon.

3. Grill potato mixture, covered with grill lid, over 350° to 400° (medium-high) heat in a grill wok or metal basket 30 minutes or until tender, stirring every 5 minutes. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Add Potato Salad Dressing, and toss to coat. Stir in bacon. Garnish, if desired. Serve warm.


Potato Salad Dry Rub

Yield
Makes about 2 Tbsp.

Ingredients
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary
1/8 teaspoon celery seeds
Preparation
1. Stir together all ingredients. Store in an airtight container up to 1 month.


Potato Salad Dressing

Yield
Makes about 1/2 cup

Ingredients
5 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Preparation
1. Stir together all ingredients. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.

Purdue Strawberry Pretzel Salad

I clipped this out of our alumni magazine awhile ago, I love this stuff and lived on it in college on weeks where the food was scary but this was in the salad bar ;)

Yes I realize "salad" is not really how one would describe this, but its so good, lets pretend its a good for you salad.

Purdue University Residences Pretzel Salad

9-oz bag of pretzel sticks, broken into ¼ inch pieces
½ cup margarine, melted
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
8-oz package of cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
8-oz container whipped topping (thawed)
.6-oz package strawberry gelatin
2 cups boiling water
16-oz package strawberries, frozen and sliced

Mix pretzels, margarine, and first amount of sugar. Press into a 9x13 pan. Bake 10 minutes in a 350 oven. Let cool.
Mix cream cheese and second amount of sugar until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spread over crust. Refrigerate.
Combine water and gelatin until dissolved. Add strawberries (do not drain) and refrigerate until partially set.
Gently pour strawberry mixture over cream cheese layer and chill until set, about 4-6 hours.