Chantell's Christmas Salad

1 head lettuce
1 head green leaf lettuce
1 head red leaf lettuce
8 oz sliced almonds, lightly browned
1 lb bacon fried crisp and crumbled
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

Wash, dry and tear lettuce into bite-size pieces. Combine other ingredients and lay on top. Mix right before serving.

Dressing:
1/2 cup chopped red onion
4 tsp dried mustard
1 cup red wine vinegar
2 cups sugar
3 tsp salt
2 cups oil

Place all ingredients, except oil, in blender.  While blender is mixing, slowly add the oil.

Seriously this salad is sooo delicious.  Obviously it makes a ton with three heads of lettuce so if you are making it for a smaller family size, I would quarter the recipe.  No matter what, you have to try the dressing...it is AMAZING!!!

Jamie's Cranberry Spinach Salad

1 T butter
3/4 cup almonds, blanched and slivered
1 pound spinach, rinsed and torn
1 cup dried cranberries
2 T toasted sesame seeds
1 T poppy seeds
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp minced onion
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil

In medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook and stir almonds in butter until lightly toasted. Remove from heat, and let cool. In a large bowl, combine the spinach with the toasted almnds and cranberries. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, paprika, white wine vinegar, cider vinegar, and vegetable oil. Toss with spinach just before serving. 

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and it is so delicious. They gave it 5 stars and I would do the same.  I cut out the poppy seeds because I didn't have any and used red wine vinegar instead of white for the same reason.  We also really like feta cheese so I put some of that on as well but it would be good without. This is definitely going to be my new go to salad! 

Chinese Chicken Salad

1 head of lettuce
green onion to taste
parsley (optional)
2-3 chicken breasts, cubed and grilled
wontons, fried and cooled

Dressing:
1/2 cup oil
2 cups vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

*this makes a lot of dressing so I usually half it and still have plenty.

Chop up the lettuce, green onion, chicken and parsley. Mix together in large bowl. Cook wontons and then crumble on top. Most of the time I just serve the dressing on the side so my lettuce doesn't get all soggy. If I am serving for a large group then I just mix the dressing in with everything else.

My SIL made this for us a few summers back and it was so nice on a hot day to eat a cool refreshing salad. I obviously got the recipe and so now we make it every now and then. Sadly it isn't that healthy for you so we don't make it lots but it is still delicious with lots of flavor!