Snicker's Salad

This salad is fantastic, period. My dad would eat all "10-12 servings" in one sitting if I'd let him. The ingredients are few and the prep is relatively easy --- 2 things that I love about it. It's a great summer dish for picnics, but I also make it around the holidays or for potlucks anytime of year at work [old job, not this one; we're not really a potluck crew at this job.] I just ran across it and am thinking about making this for the party on Saturday instead of the pistachio fruit salad. It still has fruit in it, so I think I'm good!

Snickers Salad

1 [5oz.] pkg. instant vanilla pudding mix
1 c. milk
1 [12 oz.] container Cool Whip, thawed
6 apples [peeled, cored and chopped]
6 [2.16 oz.] Snickers, chilled and chopped
¼ c. seedless grapes

Prepare the pudding using 1 c. milk and blend together with whipped topping. Add the apples, Snickers and grapes. Mix together and refrigerate until chilled. 10-12 servings.

See, how simple was that? And you could even serve this as dessert if you wanted to --- enjoy!

Update: I'm linking this to Life as Mom's Ultimate Recipe Swap for today, July 22, 2010. The topic is picnic recipes, and I can't think of anything better to bring along. Check out lifeasmom.com for more great picnic recipes!

Lemon Artichoke Romaine Salad

This salad was decent, although almost missing something in my opinion. It would be a good accompaniment to a meal that already has a lot of flavor components because it's really very mild in and of itself. I think I might add more garlic next time, but that's simply because I'm a garlic freak. Buppy and I enjoyed this on Friday night when we had good friends over for dinner. It accompanied slow cooker Italian beef and an Italian pasta salad. I'd like to think we all enjoyed it!Lemon Artichoke Romaine Salad
Adapted from Taste of Home's Light & Tasty Annual Recipes 2005

10 c. torn romaine
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 can [14 oz.] water packed artichoke heart quarters, drained
3 Tbsp. water
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. minced jarred garlic
1 tsp. salt
Coarsely ground pepper, to taste
1/3 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a bowl, combine the first 3 ingredients. Combine water, lemon juice, oil, garlic, salt & pepper in a small bowl. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Sprinkle with cheese.I'm not sure if I really had all 10 cups of romaine in my salad; I didn't measure and used what I had in the fridge. The original recipe called for black olives too [1-2.25 oz. can], but I omitted because a.) we weren't sure how much our guests did or didn't like black olives and b.) I already used a full can in the Italian pasta salad and we didn't want them to overwhelm the meal. Me? I could have done with the addition of the olives, but I really like them. Also, I think next time I'd add a little more tomato. The recipe called for 4 plum tomatoes, but I don't like plum tomatoes so I used regular tomatoes I had on hand. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I didn't have all of the lettuce it suggested using because I had salad dressing left over. I poured on about 3/4 of what I had made and decided that was enough. This, like darn-near all green salads, does not keep once the dressing is poured on. Enjoy!

Pistachio Fruit Salad

Simple? Check. Less than 5 ingredients? Check. Quick? Check. Tasty? Check. Chock full o' fruit so the whole family gets more of their daily servings? Check. Diabetic friendly? Check. Low-fat? Check. Low-sodium? Check. Meatless? Check. Wow --- this dish has a lot going for it!Pistachio Fruit Salad
Taste of Home's Light & Tasty Annual Recipes 2005

1 can [20 oz.] crushed unsweetened pineapple
1 pkg. [1 oz.] sugar-free instant pistachio pudding mix
1 can [15 oz.] unsweetened fruit cocktail, drained
1 can [11 oz.] reduced-sugar mandarin oranges, drained
1 c. reduced-fat whipped topping

Drain pineapple, reserving juice. In a bowl, whisk together reserved juice and pudding mix for 2 minutes [mixture will be thick]. Stir in the pineapple, fruit cocktail and mandarin oranges. Fold in whipped topping. Cover and refrigerate until serving. Yield: 6 servings.

I made this last night and had some with my tuna melt, which turned out to be open-faced on really good Italian bread 'cause it was on sale. I enjoyed it with dinner, then had some for breakfast here at work this morning. Buppy hasn't tried it yet, but we'll have some for dinner tonight. I'm hoping he likes it; my main concern is the mandarin orange segments --- he's not a fan. Hopefully they'll blend in with the pineapple and fruit cocktail enough that he at least won't feel the need to pick them out. Enjoy!

Creamy Fruit Salad, My Way

For Sunday's brunch with Buppy's family, fruit salad had to be part of the spread. Can you really host a brunch and not offer some type of fruity goodness? No, I thought not.

My inspiration came from Hannah’s Hangout; to be honest, I'm not even sure how I found her recipe. Bloghopping obviously, but from where? Oh well. I changed it up a bit using what I had on hand as well as what she suggested, and it was divine. I can't wait to play with other fruits and flavors of Jello. So simple, yet very satisfying. As I said in a previous post, Buppy's dad had 3rds! His brother wouldn't eat it because it had pineapple, but other than that, it was a success.

Creamy Fruit Salad
Adapted from Hannah’s Hangout

1 (14.4 oz.) fruit cocktail (a little smaller or larger would be fine; this was the only normal size I could find)
1 (20 oz.) can pineapple chunks
1 small pkg. peach Jello (peach passion fruit? it was peach-something anyway)
1 (8 oz.) carton reduced fat sour cream
1 (8 oz.) container whipped topping (thawed)
1 medium-sized apple
1/2 c. mini marshmallow

I first mixed together the sour cream and whipped topping, then added the Jello and let it sit overnight. I felt that this would help cut prep time in the morning and would allow the Jello to fully dissolve. In the morning, I drained the 2 cans of fruit and added them, along with the chopped apple (mine was red delicious because it's what I had on hand) and mini marshmallows. I mixed it all together, transferred to a nice serving dish and viola --- instant hit! Enjoy!

*Linked to Life as Mom’s  Ultimate Recipe Swap for 4/28/11 --- salads.