Looking for salads that will keep for 2 days

[A R Price]

Help! I volunteered to make some salads for a friend's wedding reception on a Saturday. I later discovered that I have another obligation that will occupy me all day and evening on Friday and right up to the wedding on Saturday, so I have to make the salads on Thursday. The ones I usually make keep fine for 24 hours but 2 days might be stretching it. I am going to make some marinated vegetables and a three beans salad but does anyone have any other suggestions?

(This is not a CL crowd so light and healthy is not a requirement.)

Anne

[lindrusso]

Hi Anne.

Would you have time to just assemble the salad right beforehand? I have a recipe from Epicurious that receives rave reviews - it involves mixed greens, goat cheese, dried cherries, caramelized almonds and an awesome apple cider dressing. If you kept all the ingredients separate and just tossed it together at the end, it would work just fine.

If you think that would work, I'd be happy to post the recipe or to direct you to a link.

[Denise]

Hi Anne!
Try the Fresh-From-the-Garden salad from the Aug issue. Its easy and very tasty and I had it all week for lunch and thought it was fine. It has bell peppers, green beans, carrots and minced onions in a mustard sauce.

[Jasmine-Rose]

Hi Anne,

I like to eat salads for lunch but the typical salad with lettuce and tomato always gets soggy too quickly for my taste so when I make salad I leave them out!

I make a big salad on the weekend and it lasts all week. The ingredients are all chopped vegetables and the color combinations made me famous in the office. Broccoli, cauliflower, european cucumber, red cabbage, red pepper, yellow pepper, carrots, feta cheese and some green olives. Next time I think I'll add some chick peas and perhaps black olives instead of the green ones. It really is pretty to look at and since I enjoy the chopping process it's fun for me to make. I've never had to pick anything out because it was past its prime, though if I add pine nuts I do that at the last minute so they won't get soft.

This may be more work than you have time for but perhaps I'm the only one who thinks a salad should already be in bite-size pieces when I put it on a plate. I hate having to take a knife to my salad while I'm eating it.

Good luck!

[Alisa]

Here's an excellent recipe which I got from the BB - sorry I forgot to note who posted it - maybe mamasue? Anyway, I've made it numerous times and the longer it chills, the tastier it is.

Broccoli Salad
3 crowns broccoli
1 small red onion (sliced thin)
1/2 cup golden raisins
8 strips bacon (cooked and cut up in small pieces)
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar

Chop broccoli peeling stem if necessary. Combine with onion, raisens and bacon. Blend mayo, sugar and vinegar in small bowl. Pour over broccoli mixture. Do not stir. Chill for several hours or overnight. Mix just before serving. You may add 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds before serving

[AndreaU]

The Oriental Salad from CL keeps for several days no problem. I made double the amount of dressing because it didn't seem like enough for 11 cups of veggies! I also used more sunflower kernels in place of the almonds.

Oriental Salad

1/3 cup rice or cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 T. vegetable oil
2 T. honey
2 T. low-sodium soy sauce
1 T. butter or margarine
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
2 T. sunflower seed kernals
2 (5 oz) pkgs. Japanese curly noodles (Chuka Soba), crumbled
8 cups shredded Napa (Chinese) cabbage
2 cups shredded carrot
1 cup thinly sliced green onions

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Spoon mixture into a bowl; cover and chill.
2. Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add almonds, sunflower kernels and noodles; cook 3 minutes or until lightly
toasted, tossing occasionally. Spoon mixture into a large bowl; cover and chill. Add vinegar mixture to noodle mixture; let stand 15 minutes (*I left
mine overnight to soften the noodles- they were still very crunchy after just 15 min.).
3. Add cabbage, carrot and onions, tossing to coat.

[A R Price]

Thanks to all of you. There are some great ideas here. Unfortunately I won't have time to even assemble anything before hand, but there are several possibilities here for making and having my DH transport for me that day.

Thanks again!

Anne