Lettuce Coming Out of Our Ears

Earlier this week, I was asked to provide 6 heads of shredded lettuce for a dinner at our church.  So I filled one of those huge Tupperware bowls as full as I could get it.  I wasn't the only one bringing lettuce, but I was the only one who brought home...6 heads of shredded lettuce.  And there are only 2 of us at our house.  What does one do with 6 heads of shredded lettuce before it turns limp, then brown, then gooey?  Well, one has salad as a main dish every day until it is gone.  I thumbed through my recipe notebook and came up with 5 salad choices that would utilize all that lettuce.  I have already shared 2 of those recipes (Speedy Southwest Salad and BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad),  but I have 3 additional salads that are lettuce friendly.  (Terry)

This first salad does not specify a quantity for each of the ingredients.  Just toss "what looks good," according to the number of people you are serving, onto the lettuce.  I prefer a sweet raspberry vinaigrette dressing, but I will give you a poppy seed dressing recipe.  If you have a favorite raspberry vinaigrette, you can use it, use the poppy seed dressing as is or add sweetened raspberries to the poppy seed dressing.

LETTUCE AND PEAR SALAD

1 pkg mixed lettuce--top with diced pears, sugared nuts, feta cheese, red onion rings, raspberry vinaigrette or poppy seed dressing.

 Dressing:

Place in blender:  1/3 C sugar, 2 TB sesame seeds, 1 TB poppy seeds, ½ C extra-virgin olive oil, ¼ C white vinegar.  Blend.  Drizzle over salad and mix.

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This salad has a wonderful blend of crunchy, sweet, salty, and cheese.

BACON-SWISS TOSSED SALAD

4 C torn romaine

1 C (4 oz) shredded Swiss cheese

¾ C real bacon bits

½ C salted cashews

Dressing:  Shake well and pour over salad and toss to coat:

3 TB brown sugar, 2 TB water, 2 TB red wine vinegar, 2 TB olive oil, ¼ tp dried minced onion, ¼ tp poppy seeds, ¼ tp ground mustard, dash salt.

In a large bowl combine lettuce, cheese, bacon and nuts.  Pour dressing over mixture.  Serve immediately.  Serves 6.

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If you still have some of those 6 heads of lettuce left, here is the final recipe to finish it off.  Now we are getting to the real technical stuff.  Take good notes.

LETTUCE WITH MANDARIN ORANGES

Put lettuce in  a bowl.  Toss on drained mandarin oranges.  Serve with Catalina dressing.

(Shall I repeat the instructions to make sure you got it right?)