Surprising Summer Salads

Posted on August 2, 2010 by bob in GPlenty

Photos by Margaret Ann McGregor

(Click here to watch Patsy on WSFA-TV)

It was another page for the memory book, though Jayne chided that it would certainly make a short chapter because we went to bed way too early.  My husband and I have recently returned from spending a couple of days on beautiful Lake Martin with friends with whom we’ve shared our married lifetime of experiences.

More fun than a barrel of monkeys and a lot more precious, my friends are my treasures. We share each other’s confidences, hopes, joys and sorrows. We enjoy the company of all our children.During that two-day respite we laughed easily, talked endlessly, and did it all without a hint of makeup or well-planned wardrobe.  Not needed.  Not with this group.  It was just time to catch up.

Patsy Smith (far right) at the lake with friends, fixin' salads.

Jayne and James caused it to happen.  They opened their lake home and showered us in their easy way with such gracious hospitality they could have schooled the White House.  The friends kept tables full to overflowing with cool summer fare lest we actually slow our conversations long enough to eat.  Or in the event that we needed fortifying after treading water for amazingly shorter periods than we remembered we could.

I’m paying forward the generosity shown to me by sharing our recipes with you.

August is here and summer is full blown in the River Region.  Let’s whip up a couple of these cool salads, find respite in the shade, and enjoy conversation with the people we love. Memories are made of this.

Tart Dried Cranberries

Wild Rice

Wild Rice and Cranberry Salad
Yield 6-8 servings

Chopped Broccoli

6 oz. pkg. long grain and wild rice mix
1 c. Craisins or dried cranberries
1 c. fresh broccoli flowerets, chopped
4 green onions, thinly sliced
2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
2 oz. jar diced pimento, drained
1/2 c. Old Dutch dressing (Publix normally has this.)
1 c. toasted pecans, coarsely chopped  (Jayne used peanuts instead with great results.)

Old Dutch dressing adds a bit of zing

Prepare rice according to package directions; cool.

Combine rice, cranberries, and next 4 ingredients.  Add dressing and stir gently.  Cover and chill at least 2 hours.  Stir in pecans just before serving.

Chop, don't stomp, the grapes.

Chicken and White Grape Salad

Chicken! Meet the Grapes.

4 c. cooked, deboned and chopped skinless chicken breasts (I boil or use a pressure cooker to cook the chicken, and then I use a food processor, using the pulsing function until chicken is just coarsely chopped.)
1/2 c. sour cream, or more, if desired, to 1 cup. (You may use plain yogurt.)
1/2 c. mayonnaise (You may use lowfat.)
2 chopped boiled eggs
2 c. white grapes, cut in half
1 c. chopped celery
1/2 t. Mrs. Dash (or salt and pepper to taste)
1 t. dried tarragon, optional but good
1/2 c. sliced almonds

Stir all ingredients together in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

These guys are TOAST!

Toast sliced almonds by placing them evenly on a cookie sheet and baking in a 350°oven for @ 8 minutes, or until lightly browned.

To serve, mound chicken salad onto a bed of lettuce.  Top with toasted almonds.

It is also pretty to fill the center of a scooped out pineapple half when serving as the main course at a luncheon.  Accompany this salad with fruit and poppy seed dressing.

Those are, indeed, chopped pretzels.

Strawberry – Pretzel Salad
A dessert in a salad
Yield: 18 servings

Pretzels, sugar, butter. What's not to like?!

First Layer:
2 c. coarsely crushed pretzels (I pulse mine in the food processor.)
3/4 c. melted margarine (I melt mine in a glass cup in the microwave.)
3 T. sugar
1/2 c. chopped pecans (You can buy these in ½ cup packages.)

Pretzels ready for the oven.

Baking the pretzel mixture.

Mix together well and press mixture firmly in the bottom of a 9×13” Pyrex dish.  Bake for 8 minutes at 400°.  Take from oven and cool completely, until crust is firm.

Second Layer:
8 oz. Philadelphia cream cheese
1 c. sugar
8 oz. nonfat sour cream (I use Breakstone’s.)
8 oz. Sugar Free Cool Whip

Cream cheese takes a beating...

Beat cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar.  Fold in Cool Whip.  Spread evenly on top of pretzel layer.

Third layer:
1 large box strawberry Jell-o
2 c. boiling water
1 qt. fresh strawberries, sliced (or you may use 2 [10 oz.] pkgs. frozen strawberries)

Almost ready. Gentlemen, start your forks...

Dissolve Jell-0 in boiling water.  Pour over strawberries and stir mixture.   Let this mixture chill until it starts to thicken.

Pour strawberry mixture over cream cheese mixture.  Distribute strawberries evenly, but carefully.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until top layer is firm and you are ready to serve.

Cut into squares and serve with a spatula.

Patsy Smith, a Montgomery native, is the author of two cookbooks:
A Cookbook for My Southern Daughter and A Southern Daughter Entertains.
These books may be purchased at Capitol Book and News, Rosemont Gardens,
Southern Homes and Gardens, Jo’s Hallmark, Richardson’s Pharmacy,
and other fine book and gift stores, or through her website at
southerndaughtercookbooks.com