A Colorful Christmas Salad

Salads are not something that we normally think of as a Christmas food, however, a salad is really any combination of foods combined together and served as one. I made this colorful Christmas vegetable salad before we left to go to Hays, KS for the Billinger Christmas, and added the bacon and creamy garlic dressing right before we served it. It traveled very well and it was very colorful and full of vegetables. There were no leftovers, so I will take that as a good sign that it was enjoyed by all.

I steamed all the vegetables and tossed them all together before we left. I was going to add radishes as well, but decided to leave them on the side instead. A key ingredient to a good salad is the freshness of the ingredients used. Salads are most often served as a cold side dish, but they can be hot as well. This was a cold salad, but I suppose if you wanted to, you could also serve it warm. It is just cooked vegetables after all.

Hearty Christmas Vegetable Salad with Creamy Garlic Dressing

The Dressing

I made the dressing before we left as well and brought it with us to add to the salad right before we served it.

1 cup maytonnaise

2 tsp either white wine vinegar or lemon balsamic vinegar. I used the lemon balsamic vinegar.

1 TBSP garlic

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning or about 1/4 tsp of each oregano, basil, thyme and marjoram

1/4 tsp dry mustard

a dash of salt

2 TBSP milk

Whisky everything together until smooth and creamy and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

The Salad

1/2 head of cauliflower cut into bite-sized florets

1/2 head of broccoli cut into bite-sized florets

1- 1 1/2 cups green beans, cut into pieces about 1 inch in size

1- 1 1/2 cups carrots, sliced

1- 1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, cut in half

4-5 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled

Steam all the vegetables together for about 7 minutes or until they are mostly tender, then immediately chill in an ice bath to prevent them from cooking any more.

Toss them all together and add the bacon crumbles and tomatoes as well.

Add the dressing right before you are ready to serve the salad and enjoy. It was a big hit and disappeared very quickly.

Merry Christmas Everyone and to all a safe and Happy Holiday season. ‘Til next time.