We Do Salads and More Salads

Girlfriends, fashions, salads, and fancy tables. What a fun way to spend Saturday.  P.E.O.'s benefit luncheon for the local Relay for Life, happened today. Fifteen tables decorated with themes from casual Hawaiian picnic to formal black tie were presented for dining enjoyment. Three tables of salads offered many favorites and ended with a luscious coconut cake. Followed by a fashion show  provided by a new-to-most-of-us store from another town. And the best part? A few thousand dollars to donate to the American Cancer Society for cancer research. As several of the cancer survivors present evidenced, medical research has made great advances, with more to be made. We support that!




The salad buffet included many of my favorites and some new ones. It was hard to remember which I was sampling as I enjoyed the plate of flavors. Especially tasty was the cheese roll. Sweet dough like a cinnamon roll, but with butter, Italian dried herbs and shredded cheese filling and topped with shredded cheese slightly melted. I'll try that for a later blog.



My salad bowl was empty when I picked it up after the luncheon, so it must have been a hit. It is a recipe I enjoy and will take to other covered dish events. Thanks to recent weather in California, the price of cauliflower made some of my favorites impractical to make, but broccoli didn't seem to be affected as much. This salad combines sweet and tart flavors of Granny Smith apples, dried raisins and cranberries, red onion, Greek yogurt and apple cider vinegar. I think you'll enjoy it also.

BROCCOLI APPLE SALAD

 4 cups small-diced broccoli florets

2 Granny Smith apples, cored and diced

1 cup walnuts

1 cup matchstick carrots, roughly chopped

⅓ cup golden raisins

⅓ dried cranberries

⅓ cup thinly sliced red onion

Dressing:

¾ cup plain Greek yogurt

⅓ cup mayonnaise

1 ½ Tbs. apple cider vinegar

¼ cup honey

pinch of kosher salt

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together yogurt, mayo, vinegar, and honey; season to taste with salt.

In a large bowl, toss together broccoli, apples, walnuts, carrots, raisins, cranberries, and red onion. Drizzle with desired amount of dressing, tossing to coat. Serve at once. (Since this was to be a luncheon and I needed to do the prep the evening before, I waited until time to set the salad on the serving table to mix in the dressing.)

Lots of chopping. I did this the evening before.
The chopped apple was rinsed generously with lemon
juice to prevent browning. 

Mixed salad ingredients ready to refrigerate. 

Dressing ingredients ready to refrigerate for
mixing the next day. 

Our table was elegantly set. Thank you Robin
and Teresa!

Fighting Cancer with Salads

24 Feet of salads!

Health professionals tell us that eating healthy, including salads with lots of fruits and vegetables, will help lower our risks for developing cancer. Last Saturday our local P.E.O. Chapter used a salad luncheon to help raise funds for the Greenwood County Relay for Life, these funds go toward research to help find a cure for cancer.
The array of salads was staggering. Not only did chapter members bring salads, but many other community members as well. Picture 3 tables of 8 foot each laden with salads! Thats 24 feet of salads, and quite a variety was available.
I tried a new recipe for the day. It seemed like a strange combination of foods - apples, pears, onions, and mustard? But turned into a tasty crisp salad, that is healthy also. This recipe is from Taste of Home, but I did a little tweaking. (I reduced the onion and added dried cranberries)

Fresh Apple & Pear Salad       

Fresh and Health salad

4 medium apples, thinly sliced (Granny Smith, Fuji, or Royal Gala)
2 medium pears thinly sliced (green or red Anjou, or Asian)
1 medium cucumber, seeded and chopped
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup apple cider or juice
1 Tablespoon snipped fresh dill or minced fresh tarragon (I used 1 tsp. dried)
1 Tablespoon olive oil (I used Persian Lime infused olive oil - definitely good!)
1 Tablespoon spicy brown mustard
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

In a large bowl, combine apples, pears, cucumber, dried cranberries and onion. In a small bowl, whisk remaining ingredients until blended. Pour over apple mixture and toss to coat. Refrigerate until serving.
I made this the evening before the luncheon and the apple juice kept the fruit from turning brown. But after bringing the left overs home it did turn brown on the second day. We ate the remaining salad, it still tasted good, just wasn't pretty. 

Mix the chopped ingredients with the dressing

Besides the salads, some members were also asked to bring cakes made from the same recipe. The recipe chosen was simple to make and low fat. No oil or butter is used, the juice from the pineapple is the liquid. The cake was good when fresh, but we did have some left over which we refrigerated and served at coffee time at church the next day. By then it had gotten tough (without fat/oil or butter to keep it tender and moist). So, I'd recommend this recipe as a good cake for a dinner when it can be completely served.

Pineapple Sheet Cake                                            

Pineapple sheet cake served the next day

2 eggs

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

20 oz. crushed pineapple

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions: Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased and floured 11-inch x 17-inch cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions: Beat butter, cream cheese and vanilla together until creamy. Gradually mix in powdered sugar. Frost cake while still warm. Garnish with additional nuts on top. 

A friend and I decorated this table with
the theme "The Language of Flowers"

A fun table with a Fishing theme

Simple and elegant

We got to model several outfits from
a popular clothing store - and to shop
later!