I found this thread with some interesting recipes from SharonCb and thought it deserved to be revived. Also, I had not added my own favorite salads; here's my number one fave: Crab Louis 1 pound King Crab legs/claws, or 2/3 pound crab meat several leaves of green leafy lettuce, such as Romaine, Butter, Green Leaf, or Red Leaf 1 large Haas avocado, fully ripe, peeled and halved, with seed removed 1-2 tomatoes, depending on size 2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced 3-4 white or brown button mushrooms, thinly sliced 8-12 black olives, sliced in half, optional 1-2 green onions, minced (one large or two small) Louis salad dressing* Remove all crabmeat from the legs and set aside. Arrange two plates with leaves of lettuce, just enough to cover the plates. Halve the avocado and thinly slice each half, keeping the slices in place. Transfer each half to a plate with the cavity side up in the center of the plate. If you can’t keep the slices in place, you can arrange the slices like the spokes of a wheel. Place the crab meat in a heap in the center of the plate. Cut the tomatoes into wedges, approximately 8-12 wedges per tomato, depending on size. Arrange the tomatoes around the avocado halves in a spoke pattern. Arrange the hard-boiled egg and mushroom slices between the tomato wedges, and sprinkle with olive slices and green onion. Pour about 2-3 tbsp Louis salad dressing on top of the crab. Serve with garlic toast and Champagne or dry white wine, preferably sparkling. Note: you can substitute chopped, cooked asparagus for the avocado. *Crab Louis Dressing: 2/3 cup mayonnaise, 1/3 cup chili sauce, 1 Tbsp minced green onion, 2 tsp lemon or lime juice, 1 tsp prepared horseradish dash of hot sauce or cayenne Combine all ingredients and mix well. This is my number two salad, which I found here: Raw Tuscan Kale Salad 1 bunch Tuscan kale (for ex: black or lacinato) 2 thin slices country bread, or two handfuls good, homemade coarse breadcrumbs 1 garlic clove 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus a pinch 1/4 cup (or small handful) grated pecorino cheese, plus additional for garnish 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for garnish Freshly squeezed juice of one lemon (scant 1/4 cup) 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes Freshly ground black pepper to taste Trim the bottom few inches off the kale stems and discard. Slice the kale into 3/4 inch ribbons. You should have 4 to 5 cups. Place the kale in a large bowl. If using the bread, toast it until golden brown on both sides and dry throughout. Tear into small pieces and pulse in a food processor until the mixture forms coarse crumbs, or crumbs to your liking. Using a mortar and pestle or a knife, pound or mince the garlic and 1/4 teaspoon of salt into a paste. Transfer the garlic to a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup cheese, 3 tablespoons oil, lemon juice, pinch of salt, pepper flakes, and black pepper and whisk to combine. Pour the dressing over the kale and toss very well (the dressing will be thick and need lots of tossing to coat the leaves). Let the salad sit for 5 minutes, then serve topped with the bread crumbs, additional cheese, and a drizzle of oil. Adapted from the Raw Tuscan Kale Salad with Chiles and Pecorino recipe in Melissa Clark's In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite.

I have never had the one at WM but my MIL makes some every year for the holidays and we love it. This is the recipe she uses. Broccoli and cauliflower salad Ingredients: 1 head cauliflower 1 bunch broccoli 2 small onion, sliced and separated( I prefer red onion and I dice it, amount is up to you) 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/3 cup vegetable oil (I use olive oil) 1/3 cup vinegar 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled hand full of raisins chopped nuts can be added or optional Preparation: Wash and trim broccoli and cauliflower. Break cauliflower and broccoli into florets. Combine remaining ingredients except bacon. Toss gently till well covered with the dressing mix and chill several hours or overnight Garnish with bacon.

I love raw beans even the ones that taste like fresh mown hay, lol. Squeaky also. And split and cooked over-done but not watery and boiled. Boiled to death get a weird diesel fuel hint flavor. (can't figure that one out.) Mt aunt may have added a load of sugar/vinegar combo...or a bottled dressing. Cauliflower was re-introduced when i sliced semi-thick and roasted. Without much help from even butter it does get a nice caramelized flavor. Broccoli is still not allowed but i like it raw. Rabe is only good from our garden. And early Spring harvest, then gets tough and harsh tasting. (always a risk buying at the market). Just bought the best organic celery i have ever had from California. Thin stalks and big heavy greens and tops. Intensely rich celery flavor and minor strings.

We had our dinner today. The ham was the best part, Elery smoked it about 10 hours, after 36 hours in brine, then half was served with a pineapple sauce and half without. We had baked beans, broccoli/cauliflower salad, green beans with bacon, whole wheat/butternut squash rolls, and Nancync's gluten free brioche, which came out very well: The coconut cake was decorated with Peeps and filled with coconut cream, then frosted with a coconut/cream cheese frosting: The kids were busy eating the chocolate that they found inside the Easter eggs, so they didn't want any other dessert. We got out the special Easter deviled egg plate and Mother's old Easter tablecloth from the 50s, we use it every year. We also had blueberry crisp and chocolate cream pie, but no one ate dessert except the Princess, who had this piece of cake. Everyone else ate too much ham! The only fail, and there's always one, were those blasted potatoes. Even though I don't like cheese and the Princess doesn't like sauced anything, I made au gratin. Found a recipe that called for heavy cream, gouda cheese, butter, garlic. Gotta be good, right? Two hours at 350 and the potatoes were still hard. Cranked the oven up to 450 for half an hour, still hard. Put them in the microwave for 15 minutes, the microwave overheated and died and those potatoes were still hard. We gave up on the potatoes, even with $15 worth of gouda and cream, and ate everything else. The girls split up the potatoes and took them home, they are going to try to cook them some more. Ugh, I didn't even want to look at them again and was going to compost them, but the girls couldn't pass up all that cheese, LOL. And so Elery and I took a trip into town and bought a new microwave after everyone went home. Annie