Well, ice cream sure got some time this week… those 100 degree days made that easy. With that in mind, the survey for this week will also involve a great summer food – salad!
What brought this poll to mind? Tough choices at lunch time! The choices included several salads that immediately made me feel a few degrees cooler — fruit salad, one with mixed greens & spinach and an orzo salad! And tabouli is a long-time favorite and my friend Kelly taught me a rice salad when we were in college.
For those of you reading this, you may want to meet a few of the people who help produce some of the yummy salads you eat. Check out:
- Farmers Tyler & Harriet Wegmeyer of Wegmeyer Farms, a u-pick in Virginia (website, Facebook & twitter) great strawberries now gone but raspberries on the horizon!
- Farmer Cannon Michael who grows tomatoes (twitter, twitpic)
- Your local farmers’ market (Memphis downtown on Facebook, Agricenter website, etc)
- Farm2U on Facebook and twitter
What’s your choice? And do you have a recipe you’d be willing the share?
[polldaddy poll=3394787]
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Thought I really should share the poll results. It was fairly easy to see homemade ice cream was favorite, and vanilla led the flavors, but lots of peeps, offered insight intone other favorite flavors. While a lot voted other, there was a lot of single votes.
Here’s what we had submitted:
- ALL ICE CREAM
- Mango
- chocolate chip (Braum’s is a really good vanilla with dark semi-sweet shavings)
- Brown Butter-Pecan-Bourbon Ice Cream
- Cinnamon
- Cherry Garcia!
- Choc Chip Cookie Dough
- Butterfinger
Now with a list like that, I should have anticipated I had a crowd of ice cream individualists. But I also got a lot of agreement with homemade ice cream making a resounding win with three times the closest competitors!
But that didn’t mean there was a collective voice. Little over one-third chose homemade ice cream! There were THIRTEEN other choices that got votes! Yes thirteen! Some national, some regional and some maybe best described as local.
This poll shows I have a lot of taste testing to do! And with the heat we’ve been having, I think time is a’wasting!
I make this wonderful Slaw Salad, shredded cabbage, carrots, dried cranberries, toasted almonds and Romain noodles with poppy seed dressing….we eat it all year, not just the summer!!
I love my aunt’s “salsa” recipe. It’s not really salsa, it’s a salad. I love making this, but it feeds a crowd! It’s packed with flavor and it’s just dice toss and serve. And if you have vegetarian friends, it’s the one thing I know how to make them! (just leave out the chicken!)
Black Bean Mango Chicken “salsa”.
1 can black beans (rinsed & drained)
2-3 chicken breasts cooked & diced. (grilled is best!)
1 bell pepper (I prefer red) diced
1 red onion diced
1 mango diced
10 oz. frozen corn (or 2-3 leftover ears cut off the cob)
as many tomatoes as you can stand
1 envelope “Good Seasons” italian dressing mix (use it dry, NOT prepared)
Juice from 1-2 limes (2 if small, or 1 large)
Cut everything up, juice the limes, toss on the dressing mix, toss and serve. Yum!
Had a whole convo with a twitter friend who works for John Deere on this one… hope I can find some good mangoes soon! (I’m so picky after having the world’s best in the Phillipines in February).
Spinach Salad
Today I made a Spinach Salad with fresh Raspberries, sliced almonds, cheese & onion.
There aren’t rules! Strawberries, orange segments and any nuts work well! I live in the middle of nowhere-I adapt recipes and it ‘ALMOST’ always work Great!
Our Favorite Spinach Salad Dressing
(keeps well in refrigerator)
Wisk well in bowl or shake well in jar.
1/2 cup Olive Oil (vegetable works well too)
1/4 cup White Vinegar (distilled or wine, whatever you have)
1/2 cup White Sugar (or splenda)
1 T. Poppy Seeds
2 T. Sesame Seeds (which I never have)
1 T. Minced Onion (I’ve used dried & fresh, it’s all good!)
1/4 t. Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 t. Paprika
Toss to coat
Yummy! I think you are right! I love lots of fresh fruit in my salads in the summer months especially!
Realized I had a regional specialty to add to the list. It was pretty common in Central Pennsylvania, but it gets me weird looks elsewhere.
I’m not sure this is a recipe or a checklist, but here’s how you make a steak salad.
– One plate full of french fries (steak fries are best!)
– A whole heap of salad makings on top of the fries
– Thinly sliced steak on top of the salad
– Cheese! Lots and lots of cheese.
– Dressing of your choice, but the usual is ranch.
My favorite salad for the summer:
Dark mixed greens
Yellow/Orange Bell peppers
Raspberries (usually red, although yellow are sweeter and milder)
Strawberries (optional, but delicious)
Pecans
Mandarin Oranges
Raspberry vinaigrette
You can obv. mix-match other things into it, this is just the basic starting point of a tasty summery salad. Add some grilled chicken breast and you got a pretty healthy main dish there, or leave out the meat and it goes well with pork and chicken dishes.
Yummy.
I agree Kelly! You can never go wrong with fresh fruit in season!
I love me some fresh fruit this time of year. Great post, Janice! There’s some fabulous sharing going on!