Strawberry Spinnach Salad

This one is my favorite to do on the rigs. It is easy, fast and very good. I cannot count how many times I was asked for the recipe to my "special" dressing, so I thought I would share it with you all first :D

Needed:
Bag of Baby Spinach Leaves (or any Spinach Leaves you wanna eat)
Strawberries
Seeds or nuts (optional - I tend not to use them as there are allergies and a ton of picky eaters out there)

Steps:

1. Take your spinach and place in a bowl. Wash if you wish, just be sure to let it air dry before you mix salad together. I have found that this takes a lot of time, and there tends to be more wastage as the leaves that don't dry properly will wilt faster. This is why I love to use the "no washing needed" bags of baby spinach. (Plus the less work for me the better:P)

2. If you are so inclined, take the time to tear/cut the longer stems off the spinach leaves. These tend to be more bitter then the rest of the leaf and also tend to stick out of the mouth when trying to eat big bites. Again, I used to do this but also found that when in a large meal situation, there is not the time needed to do these things.

3. Wash your strawberries. Do do this as they can have either yucky pesticides, bugs or other squished strawberry guts on them.

4. Slice the strawberries into a decent thickness of slice. We don't want slices that are see through, and we also don't want berries that only get cut in half. A medium sized strawberry should give you at least 3 if not 4 slices, with larger berries giving up to 7 or even more. The trick is that the smaller the berry, the less sour they will be, but the larger the berry the less you have to use. This is up to you.

5. Layer the spinach and strawberries in a nice bowl. Glass ones give a way better appeal, and if the presentation is good people are more likely to want to try something you make. You could make the best food in the world, but if it looks like a pile of crap on a plate, people will not want to go near it.

A salad that is two layers of spinach and two of strawberries works nicely, but again it also depends on how you want it to look and how many berries you want to use. Remember that if you are using a glass bowl, you want the berries to line up against the outer edge of the bowl so the red and green contrast can be seen from the side.

Your top layer should be of strawberries, artfully arranged so they lay flat and almost fill the entire top of the bowl. One layer is best as it seems to give the most ascetically pleasing spread.

Now for the super secret dressing.

Dig into your fridge. Pull out a store bought bottle of coleslaw dressing or make your own. (Mayo, milk, salt, sugar, celery seed - all to taste).
Dig into your baking supplies and grab your red food colouring.

Add 2-6 drops of food colouring to the dressing, and either shake or mix it back up. The more you add, the darker the dressing. I like mine to be a rosy pink colour.

Peel the label off the store bought bottle, or put the dressing in a cream pitcher or something else equally fancy.

Voila! Special "Strawberry" salad dressing.

Honest to God people are so dumb that they will be complimenting you for months on your dressing and wanting to know your secrets. I get requests to make my "special" dressing for lots of other salads as well. The guys on the rigs especially cannot get enough of this!

This is my fav salad to make, and one of the easiest. It is a great summer salad, and very pleasing to the eye. Plus it is super-duper healthy.


Ill add pictures later!

Ac

Then there was one.

Hello.

I am the one writing this. Obviously. You are the one reading this. Again, obvious.

What isn't obvious is the content of this blog. It will be about food. Oh wait, again should be obvious from the title. Oh well.


I am writing this as a way to share my favorite recipes, tricks, tips and scrumdiddlyumpshish nummies. I like food. Most food anyways. I don't like to eat fish, mushrooms, raw tomatoes or many veggies for that matter. (I also happen to be allergic to bell peppers and hot peppers. Makes it interesting to work in a kitchen!) Even though I have these personal restrictions, I still cook these things, and still serve these things. I just have someone else do my taste testing :P

Hopefully I will be able to put pictures up as well for my recipes, as inspired by kaya. Some of these are old goodies. Some are ones I have modified to fit certain situations. Others might have to be modified for smaller groups. Most of what I make is in larger amounts.

I have experience cooking for children at summer camps, ranging in age from 8-16 and in numbers from 20-60. I have worked in rig camps for adults in remote wilderness locations ranging in numbers from 24 - 200. Currently I work at a daycare cooking for 53 kids from 18 months to school age.

I love to bake, like my food tasty but not bland, and love to share my knowledge with anyone who wants to know. So if you have something you want to know if I have any idea what you are talking about... just ask :)

That is all I think.

Enjoy

AC