Picnic salad ideas (living, fashion, around)

[lovebrentwood]

Originally Posted by evaofnc

It's funny because I always hated that "salad" as a kid. I assumed it was a holdout from the 50s that refused to die lol.

I never liked it much. But my mother used to make it, and everyone loved it, and whenever I made it, it was a hit. It's more like a dessert than a salad, of course.

[joyeaux]

Originally Posted by librarySue

WySiWyG!

[xylemphloem]

I have made this for picnics and it's always been a hit:

Black Bean-Mango Salad Recipe | Taste of Home Recipes

That recipe, doubled, with Scoops, easily fed 36 servings with leftovers at a family gathering for me last year.

But if you're going for easy, just pick your most convenient store, get 2 lbs of potato salad and 2 lbs of pasta salad, and be done with it. :-) If you really want to make folks happy, get a couple of buckets of fried chicken (KFC, or possibly grocery stores like Harris Teeter) to go with it!

[BoBromhal]

Originally Posted by evaofnc

Neomonde sells their salads by the pound and are super tasty.

my immeidate thought at "salads for picnics in bulk"

[GotHereQuickAsICould]

Originally Posted by evaofnc

Neomonde sells their salads by the pound and are super tasty.

Little more spendy, but so much better than the salads bought by the bucket at Sam's, etc. Those often leave sort of a chemical aftertaste in the roof of my mouth.

Another salad you might want to make is a tortellini antipasto salad filled with chunks of salami, provolone, various olives from an olive bar (be sure and get the pitted kind), artichoke hearts, roasted red pepper from a jar, cherry tomatoes, etc.

There are recipes all over the place for the red wine vinaigrette to pour over or you can use a store bought vinaigrette. It's easy to put together. Not much chopping and fussing required. I drain the various items, chunk the salami, provolone, cherry tomatoes (zucchini if I have it, and carrots. I cook these two briefly so that they add a bit of crunch to the salad but are easier to chew. This takes a bit more time and I often skip them and no one notices the difference but me. Not broccoli ever. ) Then I whisk up the vinaigrette while the tortellini is cooking and draining. (I like to use the tri-color tortellini for color.) Throw it all together and in the fridge it goes.

When I bring an antipasto salad to a potluck, I never bring any of it home.

I also like to serve crusty bread with a salad picnic. Lately, I've been in love with LaFarm Bakery's big round loaf. Alas, not enough bread eaters around here to justify more than a half of a loaf at a time, and even then I need to freeze part of it.

But a picnic for 40 would be a great reason to buy a whole one. Imagine a table of bread boards with one of those huge round loaves, a couple of their hand rolled baguettes, maybe a loaf of the walnut sage... bowls of olives and a few chunks of cheese and you could forget all about the salads as far as I'm concerned.

But if you insist, a fun and safe way to present salads at a picnic is to use a blow-up kiddie pool, filled with it with ice.

We have a round patio table that holds one perfectly. We pour in five or so bags of ice and nestle the salad bowls in. Then stick in cold bottles of beverages here and there for a festive look.

You gotta watch out for people putting ice down the back of your shirt, though.

Have fun.

[ginacal]

GotHereQuickAsICould - I'm inspired by your kiddie pool idea.

And great recipe ideas everyone else. I should have clarified -- I'm l-a-z-y and prefer to buy my salads. I like to "subcontract" out the work.

I had forgotten about Neomonde. Good idea.

[peperoberto]

You're going to feed all 40 people? Then I'd say about 4oz per head on pasta salad, or about 10 lbs total. The 4 lbs recommended before won't be enough.

[GotHereQuickAsICould]

Originally Posted by peperoberto

You're going to feed all 40 people? Then I'd say about 4oz per head on pasta salad, or about 10 lbs total. The 4 lbs recommended before won't be enough.

Is 4 oz per person enough? Is it 4 oz per salad?

[peperoberto]

Originally Posted by GotHereQuickAsICould

Is 4 oz per person enough? Is it 4 oz per salad?

4 oz per person as a side. If you're going to do only salads, then I'd say get 3 kinds, 3 oz per person. This won't fill everyone up, but most people don't want to get full on just salad.

[mjb24]

I don't know much about purchased salads, as we don't like them and so never buy them.

One thing that goes over really well with our large family is seeded and thinly sliced cucumber, very thinly sliced white onion, white vinegar and olive oil mixed with together with a bit of sugar and salt and pepper and then poured over the cucumbers and then allowed to sit for about an hour. You can slice the cucumbers a bit thicker and add halved grape tomatoes with the same sauce. It's excellent and won't spoil when left out.

I also make a salad of broccoli and cauliflower florets mixed with raisins, thinly sliced red onion, bacon pieces, and sunflower seeds and then dressed with a very nice dressing of a bit of sour cream, mayo, vinegar, dill, little bit of sugar, salt and pepper - just enough to thinly coat the veggies and then refrigerate it for at least an hour.

As others have said, I wouldn't worry about commercial mayo these days - unless you have the food sitting in the heat and direct sun for hours upon hours.