Here is a fruit-filled, festive, jello salad. It can be eaten with or without the topping. Here’s what you’ll need:

The sour cream and cream cheese are for the optional topping.

Mix:

6 oz. pkg. raspberry jello
1 cup boiling water

(You may have noticed a few stray walnut pieces in the 9 x 13 casserole.

These things happen when you have little helpers.)

Add, stir, and chill:
16 oz. can whole cranberry sauce
2, 8 oz. cans crushed pineapple
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
3/4 cup cranberry juice

See the whole cranberries? Make sure you get the can that says whole cranberries in sauce. Just so you know–the canned cranberry sauce without whole cranberries will work, too. I tried it once and it tasted great. But it looks so pretty with the whole cranberries, and I love all the crunch and texture in this salad.

Look how pretty that is. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for four to five hours.

It is delicious served like this, or you can make the topping.

Topping:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
chopped nuts for sprinkling

Mix the softened cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar with an electric beater until smooth. (This will take at least seven minutes and likely longer if you forget to soften the cream cheese.)

Spread over chilled jello salad and sprinkle with nuts.

Cut into squares, serve, and enjoy!

Cranberry Salad

Mix:
6 oz. pkg. raspberry jello
1 cup boiling water

In a 9 x 13 dish, add the following ingredients and stir:
16 oz. can whole cranberry sauce
2, 8 oz. cans crushed pineapple
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
3/4 cup cranberry juice

Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for four to five hours.

Topping:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
chopped nuts for sprinkling

Mix the softened cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar with an electric beater until smooth. Spread over chilled jello salad and sprinkle with nuts.

Yet another delicious way to use all that zucchini in your garden–along with the tomatoes and an onion.

Peel zucchini and cut in halves or thirds. Then cut each section into fourths and thinly slice 4 cups of zucchini.

Next chop enough tomatoes to equal four cups.
Now it’s time to make the dressing. You’ll need a 1/4 of a medium onion, or 1/4 c. chopped onion and 1 peeled garlic clove. Place the garlic and onion in the blender with 3/4 c. white wine vinegar (or cider vinegar), and 2/3 c. vegetable oil, 2 T. sugar, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. dried basil, and a 1/2 tsp. pepper. Blend until onion and garlic are pureed.

Pour over zucchini and tomatoes, toss gently to coat. You can see the flecks of pepper and basil in the above picture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve with a slotted spoon.

Try this even if you think you hate zucchini. Many people think the zucchini tastes like cucumbers in this salad.

Zucchini Tomato Toss

(Plan ahead…this salad needs to chill for at least 2 hours.)

4 c. thinly sliced zucchini
4 c. chopped tomatoes
1/4 of a medium onion, or 1/4 c. chopped onion
1 garlic clove
3/4 c. white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
2/3 c. vegetable oil
2 T. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. pepper

Peel zucchini and cut in halves or thirds. Then cut each section into fourths and thinly slice 4 cups of zucchini. Next chop enough tomatoes to equal four cups. In a serving bowl, combine the zucchini, tomatoes and onions. Place onion and garlic in blender with remaining ingredients. Blend until onion and garlic are pureed. Pour over zucchini and tomatoes, toss gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve with a slotted spoon.

I wait all summer for fresh tomatoes and green peppers so I can make this salad. The recipe calls for cherry tomatoes but I prefer chopped fresh tomatoes from my garden. Garden tomatoes have so much more flavor than the grocery store variety. So here’s what you’ll need:

1 cup mayo
2 T. red wine vinegar (It has to be red wine vinegar for the best flavor. White wine and cider vinegars will fall flat. As you can see from the photo, I’ve grown weary of running out of red wine vinegar and bought a whole gallon this last time.)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 cups twist (Rotini) macaroni, cooked and drained (I prefer the spinach and tomato mix for color.)
1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes–or some fresh from your garden (Okay, so the ones in the pic aren’t from my garden. I was actually going to make it using cherry tomatoes from the grocery store so you could see how it should look. My local grocery store only had two cartons left and the cherry tomatoes were all wrinkly–yuck! Plus, we’d already eaten most of our ripe garden tomatoes that day. These vine-ripened tomatoes were on sale for the same price as romas so I bought them.)
1/2 cup chopped green pepper (The ones in the photo really are from my garden.)
1/2 cup sliced ripe olives (1 small can)

Cook and drain the pasta according to package directions.

Then combine the first six ingredients and when your two year-old says, “Mom! Gook!” put him on the counter and let him cook for goodness sakes.

Combine the sauce and noodles.

Chop the vegetables and add to the noodles. Stir together and chill before serving.

And there you have the best-tasting pasta salad with help from your garden peppers and tomatoes.

Enjoy! I like to serve it with parmesan bread. Place sliced and buttered bread on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and place under the broiler until very lightly toasted. I ran out of parmesan cheese the day I made this salad so there are no pics of parmesan bread. Use your imagination, or better yet, make some yourself for dinner tonight with this salad.

Creamy Italian Pasta Salad

1 cup mayo
2 T. red wine vinegar (It has to be red wine vinegar for the best flavor.)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 cups twist (Rotini) macaroni, cooked and drained (I prefer the spinach and tomato mix for color.)
1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes–or some fresh from your garden
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup sliced ripe olives (1 small can)

Combine first six ingredients. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover, chill. Makes 3 cups.

My sister in-law Brittany brought this salad to a family dinner a year ago and I immediately requested the recipe. It’s that good. It tastes nothing like coleslaw and all my children eat it. My ten year old son has even requested it for dinner before. It’s true. Promise.

There ‘s Brittany learning to preg-check a cow. Okay sorry. This is supposed to be a post about food and that’s certainly not appetizing. So back to the cabbage.

The cabbage in my garden is starting to head, but is not yet ready. Maybe you’re a little luckier and can use your own fresh garden cabbage. I’ll get there in a couple of weeks. Right now my family is trying to eat as much romaine lettuce as humanly possible. And I’ve decided to let the pigs enjoy the remainder of the kale. I’m never planting that again. It was my new salad green to try this year. If something is so bitter you have to disguise its taste with lots of other stuff, I’d rather not bother with it.

So here is my new favorite cabbage recipe:

Cabbage Salad

1 c. slivered (toasted) almonds
1 c. roasted & salted sunflower seeds
1 pkg ramen noodles (crushed)

Mix together. Save Ramen season packet.

Chop 1 head cabbage. (I use the coarse shred attachment on my food processor.)

Dressing:
2 T sugar
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tsp accent
1/2 c. oil
3 T vinegar
Ramen seasoning packet

Mix all ingredients just before serving.

Hint: I add more almonds and sunflower seeds than it calls for. I think it tastes better.

How to toast almonds:
Spread slivered almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 350°for ten minutes (or until almonds begin to brown).

My ten year old son insists on following the hint whenever he  is present during the preparation of this salad. I hope you enjoy it.

This is one of my favorite spinach salads. I use the dressing for another salad I’ll have to share later.

FOR THE SALAD:

1 bag or bunch of Spinach
1 small head of lettuce
(Since I’ve had so much spinach in the garden, I’ve left this out and added more spinach.)
1 1/2 cups craisins
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
2 small (or 1 large) cans mandarin oranges, drained (optional to reserve some liquid for the dressing)
1 can chow mein noodles (or a couple of handfuls)

Mix only the first 5  ingredients.

POPPY SEED DRESSING:

Blend in blender:
1 cup oil (olive if I have it, canola or vegetable if I don’t)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp dry mustard (I’ve squeezed in some wet when I’ve been out of dry.)
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup vinegar
a little juice from the mandarin oranges, if desired
2-3 green onions, optional (It’s good both ways, with this salad I usually omit it, but with my other, I add it)

Stir in:

1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
Important: Do not run the blender after you add the poppy seeds. Trust me on this. You don’t want a drab gray dressing to pour over your salad.

Drizzle a little dressing over the salad and stir. Don’t pour it all in at once. You can always add more. I only ever use 1/3 to 1/2 of the dressing for this salad. I store the unused dressing in the fridge for another salad later.

Sprinkle with chow mein noodles and mix. Ready to serve.