Rabbit Vegetable Salad with Apple and Cheese Bites - A colorful raw vegetable salad dressed with a touch of creamy sweetness
Rabbit Vegetable Salad - A flavorful salad like no other - Great as a side dish, lunch or snack
The core essence of this salad was shared with me many years ago by my good friend, Jeanne; and I merely added a few ingredients and changed up a few measurements. Because it is so hearty, I find that I don’t need a very large serving.
While each ingredient is simple by itself, the combined ingredients develop a powerful impact with the crunch of the veggies, sweetness of the apple, peppery flavor of the radish, and soft chewy cheese blanketed in the Ying/yang sweet-tang dressing. You can also choose to use an alternate salad dressing such as a bottled poppy seed dressing, ranch or honey mustard.
Vegetable Rabbit salad makes for a wonderful anytime snack, or as an accompaniment at lunch or dinner. It is a recipe you can prepare well before you plan to serve it. If I have little time to prepare dinner, I've been known to make only this vegetable salad and then pick up some already prepared fried chicken and potato salad. Of course, I always feel the need to doctor up or enhance the store-bought potato salad with home-made touches. All this adds up to less stress and less cleanup. Best of all, I believe you will find this salad's blend of flavors and heartiness is very satisfying.
Serves: 4 – 6
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Suggested Tools:
· Cutting board
. Medium mixing bowl (for salad)
. Small mixing bowl (for dressing)
. Measuring cup
. Measuring spoons
. Chopping/slicing knife
. Large stir spoon
. Small stir spoon
. Peeler
Salad Ingredients:
Note: The raw veggies and fruit below should be cut into bite-size pieces so that the person(s) eating it does not need to do the cutting which makes the salad much more enjoyable.
· 1 cup carrot, roughly chopped to about ½ inch to varying angular cuts (see video) below
. 1 cup apple (type of your choice) cored, and cubed to ½ inch - keeping skins on
. ¾ cup red skinned onion, chopped to ½ inch
. ¾ cup red or green pepper (I used red here) cut to ½ inch pieces
. ¾ cup celery, chopped to ½ inch
. ½ cup thinly sliced radish (if particularly large, cut in half and then slice)
. ¾ cup cubed cheese, typically cheddar (your desired strength, i.e., mild, medium, sharp) or jack cheese, from a cheese brick. Cubes should be about ½ inch in size.
Optional: 1/4 cup dried cranberries (I included them in this version).
Watch video carrot cutting demonstration here:
Preparing the Salad –
1. Chop one vegetable type at a time and place cut pieces in a medium mixing bowl. Chop the apple last to avoid discoloration and then mix all of the vegetables together. The vinegar ingredient in the dressing recipe keeps the apple from discoloring once the salad is dressed.
Salad Dressing Ingredients:
. ½ cup mayonnaise
. ½ cup sour cream
. 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar
. 1 ½ teaspoons white vinegar
. ¾ teaspoon celery salt
. 1/8 teaspoon table salt
Preparing the Salad Dressing -
1. Mix all of the dressing ingredients together in either a small bowl or a measuring pitcher.
2. You should then pour and mix the dressing with the vegetable mixture any time prior to serving. I recommend leaving the combined mixture in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes prior to serving, but you can even serve it the following day after you make it.
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