April's Family Recipes; Memories of Family, Food and Fun- And a Spinach, Romaine, Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Before I get to this delicious salad, I want to mention this months round up for Family Recipes; Memories of Family, Food and Fun! I am hosting for the month of April. Make a dish that is a favorite of your family's, whether it's yours, your moms, an aunt, cousin or whoever, and submit it to me, (Lynda), at whatscookin52 at sbcglobal dot net. Post it on your blog between now and April 30, 2010 (USA EST). All submissions must be in English, please. Provide a link in your post to this page. Email me with the recipe name and the URL of the post. I also need the URL of your blog and your location. New posts only please. You can send a photo, or I will grab a photo from your post. For complete rules, go here.
Now for this salad. When the weather warms up, I love having a large salad for lunch most days. Since it has been around 80 degrees for the past several days, a nice cool salad just hit the spot. I put together this main dish salad using ingredients I had on hand. I had some left over Rotisserie Chicken from Walmart, so I added it too. I love romaine lettuce as the basis for my salads, and then I pile on whatever else is in my fridge. The strawberries have been so good, so I decided to include them. There's not really a recipe as it depends on how many salads you are making and what ingredients you have. Here's what I did.

Spinach, Romaine and Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette:
from Lynda's Recipe box

Romaine lettuce, washed and torn or cut
baby spinach leaves, washed
toasted, sliced almonds
shredded rotisserie chicken
diced red onion
sliced strawberries
shredded Parmesan, or other cheese of choice

Balsamic vinaigrette: I only made a small amount to last a few days. I used 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, pinch of salt and pepper and 1 teaspoon sugar. I placed all ingredients in a jar with a lid and shook until well combined. Other vinegars may be subbed for the balsamic, and canola oil may be used instead of olive oil. This is a cool and delicious salad with the strawberries and balsamic vinegar. Hope you'll give it a try!

BLT and Avocado Salad with Homemade Buttermilk Dressing

I almost always have buttermilk on hand as I love to use it in pancakes, waffles, biscuits and baked goods. So, when I decided to make a BLT Salad and discovered that I was out of Ranch dressing, I decided it was time to try my hand at homemade Buttermilk dressing. I have to say that it is really good! The cool, creamy and tangy dressing was a perfect topping to complement this wonderful salad! I used Romaine lettuce and some homegrown cherry tomatoes along with some thick, smokey bacon and buttery avocado. This BLT Salad was quite a treat!

BLT and AVOCADO SALAD with HOMEMADE BUTTERMILK DRESSING

Dressing ingredients:

1/2 cup buttermilk (be sure to shake it first)

1/4 cup sour cream, reg. or low fat

1/4 cup real mayonnaise, reg. or low fat

1/4 tsp. dry mustard

1/4 tsp. pepper, or to taste

1/4 tsp. salt, I used Kosher

2 tsp. sugar, optional

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. cider vinegar

2 T. finely chopped fresh chives
Add all ingredients into a small bowl and stir well with a whisk. Make a couple of hours before serving to the flavors can come together well. Makes 1 cup.

Salad ingredients for 2 main dish sized salads: 6-8 cups torn romaine lettuce, divided among 2 plates

4-6 strips of crisp bacon, crumbled

cherry tomatoes, halved, or other diced tomato

avocado- I used 1/2 of an avocado for each salad

diced red onion
Arrange romaine lettuce on plates. Top with the bacon, tomatoes, onion and sliced avocado. Serve with the Homemade Buttermilk Dressing. Enjoy!

This was a wonderful salad! I love romaine because of it's sweet, crunchy taste, which was perfect with the sweet cherry tomatoes and the salty bacon. The avocado is perfect with this salad! The amount of chives in the dressing was about right. I think I may try a small amount of dill next time too. And maybe some parsley. My first attempt at making dressing turned out very well! Do you make homemade salad dressings?