I love cooking for a crowd, and this past weekend I gathered the troops for my son's 16th birthday celebration.  My talented sister Kerri snapped photos of the food I prepared, which inspired me to share the recipes.  

A variation of this beautiful salad anchors the meal at just about every family function.  There are a few non-negotiable ingredients, but they vary with the season and what's in the refrigerator. For us, the non-negotiables are mandarin oranges, grapefruit, sliced red onion, avocado and some kind of berry.  You can see from the picture, there are no strawberries here, in spite of the name - Strawberry Salad!  The key is the dressing which is whipped up in the blender.  It's sweet, but as you can see, the salad is more fruit than vegetable.  The dressing has a SECRET INGREDIENT - red onion.  It gives the dressing a pretty pink color that people guess is from berries!

STRAWBERRY SALAD

To a bowl of romaine lettuce mixed with baby spinach leaves add any or all of the following: grapefruit, mandarin oranges, pomegranate, sliced strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, tomatoe, mushrooms, red onion, diced apple, avacado, grated cheese, sugared nuts. 

Dressing (makes 3 cups): 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp dry mustard, 2/3 C cidar vinegar, 3 TBS chopped onion, (I use about a half cup of red onion) 1 1/2 C sugar, 1 1/2 C light olive oil, 2 TBS poppy seeds.  Blend everything except the oil and poppy seeds until liquified.  Gradually add the olive oil until blended.  Stir in the poppy seeds.  Enjoy!

If you are looking to cook up a real estate deal in Coeur d'Alene Idaho or surrounding area, give me a call today!