our family’s favorite salad
Happy New Year, everyone!!!
After a month of tons of amazing giveaways, I’m so excited to get back to sharing some great favorite with you! And this first recipe definitely falls in that category.
For lack of a better name, this is pretty much my family’s favorite salad. (And coming from a family of cooks who are far more talented than me, that means a lot!) I absolutely love it.
What’s more, it’s one of those family recipes that immediately brings back fun memories — from my aunt serving it to our extended family every Christmas Eve, to my mom making it upon special request for my band in college whenever we’d swing through town, to now, great times shared whenever I make the salad for my friends. It is definitely my version of comfort food. And since it seems like everyone is currently in healthy-eating-resolution-season, there’s an added bonus that this comfort food happens to be a fresh salad!!
So read on to find out all of the “secret” family ingredients. And cheers to a delicious new year ahead!
Ingredients
- 1 head red-leaf lettuce, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 1 small red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
- 1 (4 oz.) jar pimientos, drained
- 2 (14 oz.) jars artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
- optional: extra grated Parmesan cheese for serving
- 1 package Kraft Good Seasons "Zesty Italian" dressing mix (**family tradition, but you can see see a homemade alternative below**)
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup red-wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Method
Toss together first five ingredients with the dressing just before serving. Garnish with extra Parmesan cheese if desired.
http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/our-familys-favorite-salad/Ali’s Tip:
If you would like to make a similar seasoning mix “homemade”, here is a great mix:
- 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
- 1 Tbsp. cajun seasoning
- 2 tsp. garlic salt
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- pinch of celery salt
Source:
My mom!
I made this salad last night, minus the pine nuts, so delicious! This salad must be a mom thing, she would always make this for me growing up, which was passed down to her from her aunt. We forgot how good it was! Thanks for the recipe!
Ahh, this I need! :)
This sounds delicious!!! I love anything with artichokes and pine nuts!
Um, yum! I love a good salad and this one sounds delish! I can see why it is a favorite!
any recipe you post is fantastic. And I really enjoyed the giveways during December, even if I didn’t win anything.