On Sunday I returned home after a ten-day visit with my mom. My mom lives to feed her family, a trait, that much to Bill’s chagrin, I did not inherit. My mom likes salads as much as I do, so last week since it was just the two of us, we ate a lot of salads! We had a field day creating a variety of delicious dinner salads that would make a carnivorous rabbit pleased. 

Friday/Saturday – I arrived in Southwest Virginia on Friday afternoon and by 6 PM, Mom and I were at the neighborhood community center for her side of the family’s annual reunion. It’s a two-day affair with Friday evening’s dinner at the community center and Saturday’s lunch and dinner at my uncle and aunt’s picnic area along the North Fork of the Holston River; however, rain kept us at the community center both days this year.

Much to my delight, my aunts had set up a salad bar at the end of the table just past the variety of pastas and spaghetti sauces they’d made for Friday’s dinner. I failed to take a picture of my plate piled high with salad, but it’s fair to say that I had a little bit of everything on there! I was pleased to see the salad bar return for both lunch and dinner on Saturday, but let’s face it, chili dogs always take precedent over salads.

 

Sunday – Still in a food coma from my chili dogs (yes, plural), I kept it on the low on Sunday. I had some fruit and a sandwich for lunch, and can’t even remember what I had for dinner.

Monday – Monday morning my mom and I drove into town. I had promised her that we would park and walk up one side of Main Street and down the other and stop in any of the shops that she wanted to explore. For lunch, we would hit my husband’s new find from a previous visit, Sisters’ Cafe. Once at the restaurant, I chose a southwestern chicken salad with cilantro-lime dressing and Mom got a chef salad. 

 

Tuesday – One of my mom’s and my favorite salads is this Mandarin Orange and Almond Chicken Salad with homemade tangy orange dressing. The recipe can be found on my Healthy Recipes tab. After a long day of painting, this hearty salad hit the spot!

 

Wednesday – A chef salad is something I never think about making, but Mom’s chef salad from Monday’s lunch looked so good that I asked if we could make one for dinner. To keep it simple and easy to make, we used turkey and ham from the deli and bottled ranch dressing. I might have gone overboard with the shredded cheddar, but I was famished from a second day of painting. 

 

Thursday – Planning ahead on Tuesday, Mom prepared extra chicken for our southwestern chicken salad on Thursday which has become a recent favorite. In addition to my usual salad ingredients, I added avocado, Santa Fe style tortilla strips (affiliate link), a freshly squeezed lime, and a little South of the Border dressing (affiliate link). 

 

Friday – There was a restaurant in our neighborhood that closed almost as quickly as it opened, but it was open long enough for me to discover this delicious salad combination. It’s simply a bed of baby spinach or mixed greens topped with shrimp, roasted red peppers, red onions, pine nuts, and a little drizzle of ranch dressing.

 

Saturday – Perhaps saladed out, Mom and I had burgers Saturday evening!

Sunday – I didn’t have a salad for breakfast before leaving my mom’s house, but I would have stopped at Panera on my way home for a Strawberry Poppyseed and Chicken Salad had I not been driving past the two towns where I know Panera is located close to the interstate too early for lunch… 

 

  • Questions:
  • Do you like salads? If so, what’s your favorite salad?
  • What’s one thing your salad must have? ~ Scallions, except I prefer red onions on my shrimp salad… 
  • What’s one thing you don’t like on salads? ~ Chopped egg for me.

 

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