Monday, February 26, 2007

Is it a Salad? Or Dessert?

Or both?

One of the many jobs I had was working in a grocery store deli. I really enjoyed that job. I worked in Green Bay at Festival Foods, so it was always busy. It was a high volume deli, so we were constantly busy helping customers and making food. Oh my, we had so many wonderful salads. One thing we excelled at was our prepared foods, the salads, the broasted chicken, and the rotisserie chicken, all wonderful. I actually learned quite a bit working there. I learned a lot about making food in quantity, and I also got a feel for what kind of foods would go together to make salads and such. And I have to say, that is one job that has really stuck with me. If there's one thing that I make well, and people always enjoy eating, is the many varieties of salad. Seriously, if I actually wrote down every salad I've ever made, or have in my head, I could write a cookbook on salads.

A staple of potlucks and church picnics, salads can be humble and the can be spectacular. They can be a main meal all by themselves or they can maintain side status. They can be composed of fruits, vegetables, pasta, grains, meats, the possibilities are endless. Today's salad actually features something completely different, and happens to be one of the many salads I took away from my time in a deli. And that salad is the over the top Snickers Salad. As in Snickers Candy Bars.

This salad contains one of those "controversial" ingredients, in that it contains Cool Whip, but by golly, it's so worth it. Cool Whip, cream cheese, and powdered sugar combine to form your base, and then diced apples and crushed Snickers Bars are mixed in. I've also had it with pineapple tidbits instead of the apples, and it's good that way as well. It's an excellent salad to take to a gathering where you know there will be plenty of pasta, potato, and veggie salads, because it's just a little different. Honestly, you could also spoon this mixture into a graham cracker pie shell and top it with more Cool Whip and a caramel drizzle and call it a pie. So is it a salad or a dessert? It can be whatever you want it to be. Either way, it really is delicious and worthy of company. Try it. Snickers Salad, your friends and family will love you.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I vote for dessert!

Erika W. said...

I agree Claire!

Rachel, I just knew that my nephew was needing this... don't forget the apples!

Unknown said...

That sounds so good — I've heard of it, but never tried it.

Festival Foods — West Side? I lived in Ashwaubenon, not far from Cormier, so we had Sure Fine, Sentry, Copp's, Kohls, Cub Foods and something in the Stein Mart Mall all within an easy drive. But Festival Foods was one place I never tried.

Erika W. said...

Yup! When I worked there the East side store wasn't in existence.

I remember that grocery store in Stein Mart Plaza, I don't remember what it was, but I do remember when it closed and an Osco drug moved in.

Cub Foods may be closing it's doors soon. The one in Appleton is closing for sure- it will be interesting to see if the GB store makes it or not.