Summer Salads and Dessert Ideas

Having trouble deciding what salad to make for lunch/dinner? Or are you in a rut with your summer picnic menu? Well, I've done some researching and hopefully some of my finds will be helpful to you in the salad and dessert department.

Salads:

I'm always up for Thai food so when it comes to salads I go for Yum Woon Sen. There are little things you can add and tweak when making this salad and I have my own recipe I go by but for this blog I send you to Joy's Thai Food blog's recipe. So far I've liked what this particular recipe has to offer. For the Chinese Celery it requires, do not fret, instead use celery leaves. It's pretty close to the same taste of the Chinese Celery and more accessible.

If you like the taste of curry and carbs...try Food Network's Duff's Curried Pasta Salad. I don't see how you can go wrong with elbow macaroni, mango chutney, curry, scallions, broccoli and of course, mayo.

Mmmm avocados, shrimp, artichoke hearts, cucumber, anchovy, cherry tomatoes...you can't go wrong with Eating Well's Green Goddess Salad (love the name btw). One of the many things I like about Eating Well's recipes are the nutritional facts they post. I don't always count my calories but when I need to it's always nice to have that info available.

And of course you can never go wrong with a tasty Caprese Salad. Juicy tomatoes, fresh basil leaves and of course, fresh mozzarella. I like to drizzle it with some olive oil and sprinkle kosher salt and ground black pepper. So fun, easy and gone before you know it. Here's Tampa Tribune's take on Caprese Salad.

Desserts:

My husband and I are currently on a Rice-Krispies-treats-kick. So naturally something I would be putting in my menu for desserts will have to be Frozen Yogurt Sandwiches or just replace the frozen yogurt with some ice cream. Yeah, I think my man will reach for the ice cream before the healthy stuff.

Bringing back the old into the new...Whoopie Pies. According to the user reviews it is easy to make and delicious too. I'm not a whoopie pie expert so I'll make it and leave it to my friends and family to tell me what they think of it.

How about Thai Desserts anyone? This link is from About.com and dog-namits Darlene Schmidt is pretty good when it comes to Thai food recipes. Here's her list of easy Thai desserts. I miss Thailand now....

Finally something that both kids and grown up toddlers might like...Chocolate-Dipped Orea Pops. These are easy to make, entertaining to consume and it's no-bake. Whew! Get away from that oven it's Summer!

"Wicker Picnic Basket Grass 6-1-09 1" courtesy of stevendepolo from Flickr Creative Commons