When I married a man from Alabama, I threw myself into the world of Southern Cooking. I researched, bought cookbooks, begged for Southern Family recipes and so on. Irony of course is that I love Southern food more than my husband. In fact, he really only seems to eat fried chicken….of course.
In all of my research one thing I came to notice, especially in the Junior League and church based cookbooks, was that to most people in the South, salad means either being in a Jello mold or something with mayonnaise. Of course my salads that I grew up with of iceberg lettuce and drowned in Ranch dressing, probably wasn’t any better for you. 😛
So when Cath of A Blithe Palate asked me if I wanted to get a copy of The Lee Brothers Simple Fresh Southern, I must admit that it peaked my interest. She told me she had the idea of doing a pot luck, which I am always up for a pot luck, and said bring it on (she’s calling it The Complete Meal).
So I was excited, that was until of course, I was told dessert was taken. Hmmm. So I decided I would take the next thing I eat the most of next to dessert…salad. I was hoping that I wouldn’t be picking from a myriad of mayo covered veggies. So when the book arrived I was quite happily surprised. Now, there were a few recipes with mayo in there but those were mostly few and far between (I mean, potato salad kind of needs mayonnaise)…but I did not a Jello mold (though there is nothing wrong with a Jello mold).
I had many options. I thought about the Cabbage and Lime Salad with Roasted Peanuts. The Field Pea Salad with Gingered Beets and Lemon sounded lovely as well. But the minute I saw the Snow Pea and Carrot Salad with Ginger Dressing, I knew that would be the one.
For one thing, I can eat this on a daily basis…since I eat those weird fruits and veggies on a regular basis. And second, I was in awe of the dressing. It’s made with fresh ginger juice and cucumber. I have never in my life made dressing with cucumber in it. What is fantastic about the dressing is that after you put it in the blender and give it a spin it comes out creamy. So you think you are getting a creamy bad for you dressing, when really you are not. The original recipe uses iceberg lettuce, the next time I make this will be with butter lettuce. I am just not an iceberg girl, but I went with it for the first time making this. Sadly, I can’t give the recipe due to copyright stuff.
I must say that this is definitely one to ask for to put under the tree. You may be eating the goodies now, but we all know that when January rolls around you will be reaching for the fresher foods. Which this book has, but also still is nice and keeps bacon fat in some of the recipes….just not buckets of it. 😛 (though nothing wrong with buckets of bacon fat).
To see what our first course of the potluck was, head over to Phe/MOM/enon and see the what was made.
VeggieGirl says
Can I be a brat and say that I want to see a dessert? 😉
Sarena says
I too love seeing your desserts, but I love the sound of this one! I will have to try the cucumber trick in a homemade salad dressing. I have heard that it does make it creamy, so that sounds good to me since I can’t eat the creamy dressings that I used to love!
Rosa says
Nice salad! I love savory food as much as desserts…
Cheers,
Rosa
Kelly says
I love old church cookbooks. My grandmother has an insane stash at her house and some of the recipes are horrific and definitely good for a laugh, like a casserole that involves things like mushroom soup and the secret ingredient…rice crispies and a salad that is nothing but chopped apples, chopped snickers bars, and cool whip.
Nutmeg Nanny says
You gotta throw some healthy in there sometimes 🙂
deeba says
After such a sugar high blog hop, I’m ready for salad. Mmmmmm, does sound exciting!! I’ve been doing an overdose of ginger this winter, and love the creamy dressing. Love too the window on ‘Southern’. Typical hubs eh? fried chciken…LOL…how familiar does that sound!
Enjoy the party!
Mimi says
Salad is always so refreshing in the winter time. I love Junior League cookbooks, they give you a glimpse of the local food culture.
Mimi
ErinsFoodFiles says
Sounds delicious!
nina says
Gosh what a lovely surprise to see a salad on this site….I love your desserts, but your blog is making me fat……this salad gives me hope!!!! Jokes, love your desserts!!!
Lisa @ The Cooking Bride says
You are right about one thing! We Southerners really like our mayo and jello salads!
Barbara says
Love your post title. We are getting carried away with desserts, aren’t we? One would think we ate nothing else!
I do eat salads, veggies, meat or fish too, but you’d never know it to look at my postings this month.
Hurray for your salad!
Cate says
I was definitely shocked to see a salad in my google reader… I had to make sure it was really your blog! But I keep hearing great things about this cookbook and I’m dying to get my hands on a copy (hopefully for Christmas!)
Holly says
I’m so glad this is what you made for your course – I was really curious about that dressing. It does sound so good! Of course, you’re right about when January rolls around too (and people start complaining about all the desserts we’ll still be posting) 🙂 I love how prettily you arranged your salad too!
Lynn says
Salad? WTF? (Meaning, of course, Where’s The Fudge?)
This looks like a great way to balance out my sugar shock and the cookbook sounds worth getting just for the salad dressing recipe!
Diana says
Mmmm, that looks so tasty. Are those green beans or sugar snap peas? Longing for veggies to be in season already-guess we’ll just have to cope with holiday desserts for now.
Abby says
Alabama must be a bit different, because a salad is still a salad in N.C.! (I mean, they’re a part of every meal at restaurants.) But I have to admit I’ve never seen a dressing made WITH cucumbers so that’s pretty cool!
And yes. When I got here I was like … lettuce? At Peabody’s place?
sandi @ the whistlestop cafe says
I haven’t been by in a month of sundays… and here you are talking about Southern Food.
I need to pop in more often!
Merry Christmas y’all!
Elle says
Gorgeous photo Pea! Thats not easy to do with salad, either. Looks like a great book, too. Sleeveless weather will arrive long before my arms are toned, but fresh food like this will help.