In the Midwest we'll call anything a salad.

[xmas74]

I'm watching Girl Meets Farm and she's making Snickers salad. I grew up with ham salad, Heavenly Hash salad, glorified rice salad and Watergate salad.

What crazy sounding things do you have in your area?

(Is this a Lounge thread? Probably but let's have one fluffy thing here today. Maybe someone will want to cook after this!)

[underpants]

1. To me, if it's got lettuce it's a salad.

[xmas74]

2. I can put lettuce

On a ham salad sandwich

[underpants]

23. There ya go

Ham salad ......uh salad

[xmas74]

26. Hey, it's a spread!

It has onions and pickles. They're veggies so it must be a salad!

[leftieNanner]

3. My Mom, rascal that she was

was very clever with salads. My Dad was a vegetable fiend - and since she hated to cook, she ate what he prepared. When they moved to a senior facility that provided meals, she didn't have to eat turnips and potatoes for dinner any more. So she decided anything green was a vegetable - including green M&Ms and mint chip ice cream.

Problem solved!

I told you she was a rascal!

[xmas74]

7. I hope I can be so clever

When I'm older.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Candle salad.

No, really.

When I was a teenager my mom decided to surprise the family with this lovely fruit salad, which consisted of a banana placed upright on a pineapple slice and topped with a dab of mayonnaise and a Maraschino cherry. My brother and my dad and I gave each other the side-eye and commenced snickering. Mom accused us all of having dirty minds.

[xmas74]

8. I attended a retro dinner party 2 years ago.

This was on the menu.

[3catwoman3]

10. I remember the previous time you posted this, and I laughed until I cried then.

I am snickering right now.

I'm sure you, your dad, and your brother are not the only ones who thought what you thought. Kinda difficult not to. I was going to say kinda hard not to, but that seemed to obvious a set up for puns. Oh, what the hell, why not?

[MineralMan]

17. My mother made that one time.

I'm pretty sure it was from Family Circle Magazine, back in the early 1960s. We ate many things featured in that magazine when i was a youngster. Once, in most cases.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. You would probably appreciate "The Gallery of Regrettable Food,"

featuring unintentionally awful and hilarious recipes of that era. https://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/

[MineralMan]

19. I have a book like that. It displays, and discusses, the food

we all grew up with, and included the garish photos of each dish. I believe the book and the website are related.

There were some ghastly ideas put forward in those days. I remember a tuna salad in gelatin that was particularly execrable.

[underpants]

24. Clown Pickles

[jmbar2]

30. OMG I won't be able to sleep tonite

Terrifying clown pickles

[xmas74]

27. This where we got our retro dinner party ideas.

So awful but so much fun.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Yeah, Pretty Much

Though for me, it needs lettuce or spinach.
That said, I'm a fan of pasta & seafood salads, and there's no lettuce in those!
So, yep, we'll call anything a salad.

[xmas74]

9. I love pasta salad.

Is that seafood salad or seafood salad spread? Idk, I'll eat both though I've really cut back on meat consumption this year.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. It's Not The Spread

Crab and faux lobster (usually, better with real) with a dressing like creamy Cole slaw.
Killer.

[xmas74]

14. I love that stuff.

I make it a couple of times every summer.

[cyclonefence]

6. Ribbon Salad for Christmas!

We made it with orange instead of red for Thanksgiving. Ours contained chopped pecans in the middle cream cheese layer.

recipe at: http://theculinarycellar.com/christmas-ribbon-salad/

[xmas74]

11. It looks good.

Far better compared to several jello salads I ate growing up.

[Tech]

13. So jello shots might be considered a salad.

[xmas74]

15. Why not?

Use fruit juice with the vodka and they're possibly healthier than many of our salads.

[Tech]

16. Lol, I am all for it.

[xmas74]

21. I bet I could make a fruity jello and mayo salad

With vodka.

If I were back home it would definitely be brandy.

[underpants]

25. Oh that all me this Christmas. Bookmarking

Maybe with cheese cake in the middle

[Ms. Toad]

41. lots of jello salad - not necessarily layered

Lots of stuff in it - walnuts, carrots, marshmallows, etc.

[cyclonefence]

49. The grandmother of them all

Perfection Salad, from 1905, third prize winner in a Knox Gelatine contest:

[Ms. Toad]

51. Looks familiar -

cabbage, carrots, mandarin oranges, and celery?

(Although ours tended to be made in a 9x9 square pan.)

[cyclonefence]

55. No oranges

Nothing that might elevate this into "tasty." Lots of celery, and I think some pimento?

[Ms. Toad]

61. I am talking about the canned variety . . .

which showed up in tons of jello salads.

Pimento - only in pimento spread in celery sticks, or in olive loaf.

[Coventina]

56. I made that once for a church potluck when I was a kid.

I think I was 12 and was serious about becoming a homemaker.



I remember I got a lot of compliments on it!!



Now, as a vegetarian, I won't touch Jello with a 10 foot pole!!

[LakeArenal]

20. Salads in Costa Rica with every meal

Salads have little lettuce. My fav has
a bit of lettuce. Palm hearts carrots corn avocado tomatoes and very little salad dressing.

[xmas74]

22. Sounds wonderful.

Very light dressing lets the natural flavors shine.

[jayschool2013]

28. Strawberry Pretzel Salad

It was at every holiday dinner, potluck, summer picnic, and family reunion in Nebraska. Still is if you're in the right family.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/20338/strawberry-pretzel-salad/

[xmas74]

32. I made some a few months ago.

I forgot that I preferred cutting the sugar just a tad.

[jayschool2013]

35. It is WAY too sweet

Of course, everything in the Midwest generally is.

[xmas74]

36. Ikr!

We eat lots of sugar and carbs to facilitate our winter coats of fat. Gotta stay warm in the cold!

[asiliveandbreathe]

29. Pear half (canned) over cottage cheese on a leaf of lettuce..mix some pear juice with

Mayo or Miracle Whip..pour over salad...one of my favorite...Mom would serve at Thanksgiving before the big meal..looked so pretty when set at each sitting..

I still have Moms Betty Crocker Cookbook..binding loose, and full of newspaper recipe clippings from 50s..I have added newspaper clippings to book..now recipes on line...

[xmas74]

33. I haven't had it in years.

Pears always looked so fancy on their lettuce leave.

[Ms. Toad]

47. Definitely! n/t

[gibraltar72]

31. Carrot salad is a staple at my house.

[xmas74]

34. With or without raisins? Nt

[gibraltar72]

37. Without

Carrot, onion, saltines, salad dressing, little vinegar. Saltines through the grinder last to clean it.

[xmas74]

38. Sounds interesting.

I'm used to the mayo/marshmallow/carrot/pecan/apple/raisin bit.

[Ms. Toad]

39. Nah, carrot salad is shredded carrots, miracle whip, and raisins. n/t

[gibraltar72]

40. Not in my house. Thems fightin words.

[Ms. Toad]

43. Only if we can fight from 6' apart!

[xmas74]

57. That's my carrot salad!

I like nuts in it sometimes.

Here's one for you: ever have treetop salad?

[Ms. Toad]

59. Yup. Not by that name, but my grandmother made something with the same ingredients. n/t

[xmas74]

66. I was never a big fan

But I'll eat it when someone brings it to the potluck. Not doing so would be rude.

[Ms. Toad]

70. Agreed. n/t

[Arkansas Granny]

42. When I was growing up, salad was mostly iceberg lettuce, tomato and Wishbone Italian dressing.

There was also tuna macaroni salad and Jello salad.

[xmas74]

68. I've had all of it

And then odder combinations.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

44. Is it a Midwest thing?

I assumed it was nationwide.

Grew up with:
Pasta salad (usually macaroni)
Chicken salad
Ham salad
Tuna salad
Egg salad

All of them had mayonnaise as a main ingredient, or as part of the “dressing” as my mother would call it.

Had leafy salads too. Those usually didn’t include mayo, however.

In regard to different cultures and food, I’ll always remember a married couple with Eastern accents who were confused by white gravy at a restaurant buffet. The guy kept ladling it, wondering what it could be. Someone else finally explained it was white gravy made with pork sausage, and he replied, “WHITE gravy?!”

[xmas74]

46. Lol.

If you're a Buckeye you're a Midwesterner. I've been assured by others that the sheer amount of mayo or Cool Whip or marshmallow in a salad identifies me as from the MW.

[Ms. Toad]

45. Anything with Dorothy Lynch -

And if you know what I'm talking about, I know some of your roots, connections, or current location . . .

[xmas74]

48. I had a craving for Dorothy Lynch

I was in the dressing section but couldn't find it. All I saw was Hidden Valley, Kraft, The Walmart brand and Ken's.

Now I want it again.

[Ms. Toad]

50. My SIL (from the DC area) is now addicted.

She usually gets some for Christmas from my parents.

You can order it online now!

[xmas74]

52. Yummy.

I probably couldn't find it because the shelves were pretty bare at the time. I should find it again in the future. I rarely buy it because it's a common dressing option in restaurants.

[Ms. Toad]

53. Not where I live now . . .

If I asked for it, they would look at me like I had three eyes, or something. (Pretty sure I have a bottle in my refrigerator, though.)

[xmas74]

54. I worked for a catering company where

All dressing was made from scratch except one: Dorothy Lynch. We had too many requests for it so we started buying it.

[Ms. Toad]

60. I have not found anything even close. n/t

[EllieBC]

58. In Ashkenazi Jewish homes everytihng is kugel.

You put it in a baking dish with some eggs to bind it together and bake it, it's a kugel. Onion kugel. Matzah kugel. Potato Kugel. Noodle kugel. Carrot kugel. Apple kugel. Zucchini. The options are endless.

[Mosby]

62. My mom made a great lokshen kugel

Hers wasn't sweet, no cinnamon or raisins. It made a better side dish imo.

During pesach now I think about the new guidelines for קִטְנִיּוֹת? and whether my parents would have approved. I love it but while I think they may have agreed, they wouldn't take advantage personally. Sure would have been nice when I was a kid, I used to lose weight during the holiday because of the food limitations. You can only eat so many eggs and gefilta.

[EllieBC]

63. Free the kitniyot!

Every year I swear we are just going to eat it. Every year my husband and I chicken out.

[Mosby]

64. Peanut butter on matzah is pretty awesome.

And a healthy snack.

I actually like matzah, eat it year round.

During pesach I could have lived on pb, hummus, beans and weenies.

[xmas74]

67. Sounds fantastic.

I should make one soon.

[Demovictory9]

65. in southern California, our salads are proper salads. Mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots, avocado,

etc. some add chopped chicken breast.

[xmas74]

69. It is ok

But sounds boring without brightly colored jello salads!