Salmon ceaser

What is better than a ceaser salad? Almost nothing, right? For dinner last night, I was trying to think up a way to use some salmon that we don't normally do, and I decided on the salmon ceaser. Nothing original, I know, but its not anything I ever make. I would say this turned out pretty professional looking!

Its that time of year again....

Salad time! Well, I eat salad almost every day, but now its time for the unhealthy, wonderfully delicious kind. The kind that I only let myself make a few times a year, preferably when I have a number of people fighting me for some, because otherwise I will eat the entire thing on my own. My family-famous 7 layer salad. I have turned on a few of my friends to it as well, but its a holiday staple for my family. I've fully explained the makeup here before.
For Thanksgiving #1 this year, the one I didn't have to cook for, my only assignment was to bring the salad. As my aunt put it, "nobody makes it as well as you". And by you, she meant me. Duh. I have tried to make it slightly better for everybody, by using organic lettuce mix, uncured bacon, and mayo that is made with olive oil, but there is not really any getting around the fact that this is a total treat. I was only able to escape with about 2 bowls worth of leftovers. They may be gone already at the time of me writing this. Exactly 24 hours after the actual meal. I won't be making the salad for Thanksgiving #2, the one I do cook for, but I think it will make another appearance at Christmas time, before going away again until the next holiday season.

Copycat pasta salad

There is a certain boxed pasta salad that I LOVE. But since I am trying to eat less processed things, I decided to make it myself. And I must say, it wasn't too far off! I diced some carrots and cooked them with peas in one pot. In another pot I cooked some noodles. While all that was going, I cooked bacon in the microwave. Once it was all ready, and cooled down, I mixed it together. The sauce is a ranch sauce. Since we make our own ranch anyway, I just did what I usually do (and by that I mean what K does since he makes it) and it turned out pretty well! It wasn't exactly better living through chemicals, but good enough to take away my craving

The Salad

Thanksgiving is my favorite meal of the year. It is basically perfect. All of my favorite things, all in one belt-loosening meal. I wanted to cook it this year, last year I even cooked it twice! But, alas, there is a baby in my house this time. And my husband and I can't usually manage to get a regular dinner on the table before 8:00 at night. So we went to my mom's house instead. And I just had to bring two things: mashed potatoes and The Salad. 7 layer salad, to be exact. It is like the equivalent to crack in my family.

I learned how to make it from my mom, but I am not sure where she got it from. I can remember my grandma making it as well, but I think she learned it from my mom too. It wasn't one of those things that was passed down, like say, the family lasagne recipe. It's gotten easier over the years, because you can cheat with things like pre-packaged salad mixes, but overall, its the same old thing.

The 7 layers are: 3 kinds of lettuce, onion, swiss cheese, peas and bacon. The dressing is just mayo (real mayo! I accidentally used miracle whip once and it was a disaster) mixed with a tiny sprinkle of sugar, salt and pepper. You make it in sets of layers in the biggest bowl you can find. And then you let it sit in the fridge for at least a few hours, so everything gets kind of wilty. Writing it down this way makes it seem sort of disgusting, but believe me, my mouth is totally watering just thinking about it!