Great SALADS!!!

[suzy_homemaker]

Another favorite salad of mine is Taco Salad, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian.

Head of leaf lettuce
Tomatoes to taste (at least 2 good-sized ones)
Hass avocado, 1 full one, diced
Sliced black olives
Cucumbers, cubed or diced
Can of dark red kidney beans, rinsed (for the vegetarian)
1 lb ground beef (or mince), browned and rinsed/drained
Dressing (mayonnaise, Miracle Whip, or even Ranch) seasoned
with Taco Seasoning
Your favorite tortilla chips or Fritos added just before serving

This is really good with any Mexican-American type of meal. When I was a vegetarian, I often would serve this with bean burritos and/or Spanish rice, or simply by itself, as it's plenty filling.

[HollyElise]

here Suzy...

i found a recipe for Tabouleh. This is out of More-with-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre (highly recommended! From a Mennonite perspective. The book is now out of print i think, but it was so popular its not difficult to still find copies)

Tabouleh serves 6-8

Pour 4 c. boiling water over 1&1/4 c. raw bulger wheat or cracked wheat. Let stand 2 hours, or until wheat is fluffy. Drain well. Mix with:
1 c. cooked chick-peas (garbanzos), drained
1&1/4 c. minced parsley
3/4 c minced mint
3/4 c minced scallions, or 1 onion, finely chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
3/4 c lemon juice
1/3 c oil (preferably olive oil)
1 t. salt
Chill at least 1 hour. Serve on lettuce.
Alice and Willard Roth, Elkhart, Indiana. Helen King Stork, Ventura, California

[suzy_homemaker]

Thanks bunches, HollyElise. There were definitely some ingredients I'd forgotten to include, i.e. scallions, lemon juice, salt, etc. But the recipe you gave actually shows a measured amount for the mint, which I'm very grateful for. That will add a very nice flavor, I'll bet. It sure sounds like it, anyway. It's been so long since I last made Tabouleh.... but it's a nice, refreshing summer salad and SO good for you, too. Chock full of fiber and lots of good things.

[HollyElise]

I don't think there is only one, true, recipe for anything!!! I've seen other Taboule recipes, like i said always with some mint. But after i told you i'd never seen one without mint i'd suddenly remembered when my friend Sue took me to meet some of her friends... this is a funny story, actually...

my friend Sue loves horses, particularly Arabians. So when she was driving down a road in the country one day and saw a homemade sign that read, "Arabs" she pulled in the driveway to see if any were for sale... LOL! They did not have any horses... they were Palistinian refugees! Why they had a sign up advertising it i never learned, but anyway, that is how Sue met this really wonderful family who came to the U.S. with less than $200 and only the clothes on their backs. I got to meet them too and one day when i was over at their house they made something they called "parsley salad"... but it was really taboule... and i remember there was LOTS and LOTS of parsley and no mint. It was very good! What also impressed me about them is how they made so much of so little, and like so many American immigrants, worked very hard to create a better life. The very first day here they all went out to look for work... they kind of had to! And negotiated how to get an apartment without any money down, etc. By the time i met them they had a comfortable home and were giving their daughters piano lessons on a piano my friend Sue was able to tune for them.

[HollyElise]

...going to a BBQ today so i made this one up, YUM!

GREENS AND CHERRY SALAD

Mixed greens (red lettuce, bibb, escarole, oakleaf, etc)

VERY thinly sliced and chopped red (Burmuda) onion

chopped walnuts

Port Salut cheese (very soft), broken into half-teaspoon dollops

pitted and halved sweet cherries

raspberry-walnut vinaigrette