Carrot Walnut Salad

Carrot Walnut Salad, adapted from Flat Belly Diet by Liz Vaccariello.

1/2 cup golden raisins
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon canola oil
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 large carrots, grated (or 1 bag preshredded carrots)
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley (I omitted this and it was just as yummy)

Soak the raisins in hot water for 20 minutes to plump them.  Drain.  In a small bowl whisk together vinegar, oil, lemon juice, honey and salt.  Combine the remaining ingredients and dressing in a medium bowl, toss to coat. 

Three-Bean Salad

I adapted this recipe from Cheap. Fast. Good.  by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross.  It is listed as one of their "Super Cheap" meals.  This came together pretty quickly and I would say since I purchased 2 of  the beans for around $.49 per can at Aldi and the corn  and white beans were in my pantry.  If I was a betting woman, I would say this is a meal served for under $2.50, if you play your cards right.  It made a lot.  We ate it as a side dish but it could have been a main dish, easily.  Gosh I have got to figure out how to do an excel spreadsheet or something. 

The 3 Main Beans...

Now for the bean salad...

1 can red kidney beans, drained
1 can small white beans, drained
1 can green beans, drained
1 can corn-I used white because it was what I had, drained
1 small onion, diced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Place all the beans and corn in a colander, drain and rinse.  Drain well.  Place beans and corn in a medium sized bowl.  Peel and chop the onion, adding it to the bean mixture.  Toss everything together.  Pour oil and vinegar in a small bowl.  Whisk in garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  Pour dressing over the bean mixture and stir until well coated.  Serve at once or cover and chill to serve.

7-layer salad

Most of us have had this at a gathering or two, I have eaten it but never made it until recently.  For the most part, all the ingredients were readily available to me in my home...I had some lettuce that looked slightly droopy in a few places and as we are really working to "tighten our belts" I was not about to throw it away.  When I made this I expected my kids to LOVE it and my husband to HATE it, boy was I wrong.  My father in law was also over and he seemed to enjoy it.  See the kids are salad people, I mean what 6 year old cheers when salad is his plate?  The kids didn't like it and Scott loved it...he ate seconds...of SALAD...I know it was shocking.  I was going to add onions but I knew that everyone would turn away.  A recipe that I consulted suggested using celery but I didn't have any. I also made a few other adaptations. 

1 head lettuce
1 package thawed pea & carrots
4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
1 small package of bacon bits
1 cup of mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Cut lettuce into shreds.  Layer the lettuce, peas & carrots, eggs and bacon bits in a large pan.  Mix the mayo and sugar, layer on top of the lettuce mixture.  Sprinkle cheese on the top of the salad.  It was suggested that this be refrigerated for at least 24 hours prior to sering, I made it about 4 hours before serving and it was good.  It was still good the next day.  Serve to your family or bring to a pot luck.