Search Results for: grape salad

Low-fat Grape Salad with Pecan Topping

August 3, 2011 · by Janelle · 11 Comments

I tried this amazing dessert for the first time at a recent family gathering. I took my first bite with a bit of caution because I didn’t really know what it was…to my surprise it was one of the most delicious treats I have ever tasted!!!!! In this recipe, I scaled down the calories and used low-fat sour cream and lite cream cheese. If the thought of putting sour cream over grapes makes you question this recipe…think of old-fashioned cheesecake. Trust me you are going to love this one….I just made this for guests at our house and we all had seconds around the table!!!!! I am SOOOO excited for you to try this…..it is DEVINE! (no pun intended! haha)

Red and Green Seedless Grapes, Low-Fat Cream Cheese, Lite Sour Cream, Sugar, Brown Sugar, Vanilla, Chopped Pecans

In a medium bowl add cream cheese, sour cream, white sugar, and vanilla

Beat with mixer until well combined and smooth

Remove grapes from stems and rinse…aren’t these beautiful?! MMmmm!!!!!

Combine brown sugar with chopped pecans

Place over top of grapes (you may also place on the side if you desire) Note: While I was at the store I looked at the calories on the 1/2 Splenda 1/2 brown sugar box and regular brown sugar has less calories.

Stir cream cheese mixture with the grapes and place in a serving dish

Low-Fat Dessert – Grape Salad

1 ½ lbs green seedless grapes

1 ½ lbs red seedless grapes

8 oz lite sour cream

8 oz low-fat cream cheese

½ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Topping

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup chopped pecans

Remove stems from grapes and rinse. Beat sour cream, cream cheese, granulated sugar and vanilla with mixer. Stir grapes into the mixture and place in a serving dish. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over top.

Filed Under: Comfy In My Jeans, Dessert ·

Low-Fat Grape Salad

January 8, 2011 · by Janelle · 2 Comments

Come visit me over at www.womenlivingwell.org where I share a delicious “Comfy in my Jeans” recipe! You are going to LOVE this one!!! ~Janelle

Filed Under: Comfy In My Jeans, Dessert, Food Allergy Friendly, Seasonal ·

Winter Berry Salad Wreath w/ Lemon Poppyseed Dressing

December 16, 2013 · by Janelle · 8 Comments

I’ve gotten SO many requests to post this -it was an original given to Candace Cameron when we had Roomag. So, here it is ladies 🙂 Enjoy!

This is one of the most beautiful salads you could ever prepare for such a time of year as this. Be as creative as you wish turning this winter berry salad into a beautiful Christmas wreath. The mix of textures along with the sweet and savory flavors make this salad as delicious as it is pretty. Your guests will be ranting and raving all evening. Enjoy!

In a round dish (generally used for chips and dip), add iceberg lettuce.

Lay mixed greens on top of iceberg like so.

On each side, create a circle pattern with spinach leaves (this is for decoration)

Thinly slice pears for decoration ( chop additional pears to place in salad) Add a bunch of grapes and whole strawberries to sides of wreath for additional decoration.

Chop apple and place on salad

Add chopped pears and apples, then strawberries, dried cranberries, cashews, blue berries and gorgonzola cheese. Decorate the sides of the “wreath” as creatively as you wish.

For dressing, squeeze the juice of one lemon ( approximately 1/2 cup lemon juice)

Add juice to a blender or food processor along with honey, onions, prepared dijon mustard, poppy seeds, and olive oil.

Blend well on medium speed until well combined.

Place dressing in the center for serving. Is this not the most beautiful salad you have ever seen? Not to mention delicious AND festive!

Bringing a dish? This one is perfect to wrap up and take! (Everyone will ask , “Who made this beautiful salad?!”)

Filed Under: Salads, Seasonal, Uncategorized ·

Whipped Cream Fruit Salad (Waldorf Salad)

November 19, 2013 · by Janelle · 7 Comments

This is a staple on my family’s dinner table every Thanksgiving and Christmas! I hope you enjoy 🙂 Mmmm….I just love homemade whipped cream.

Whipped Cream Fruit Salad

Prep time: 30 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 20

Ingredients

3 lbs seedless red grapes (cut in half)
8 bananas (sliced)
6 red apples (peeled and chopped)
2 cups chopped walnuts
1 bag (10.5 oz) small marshmallows
4 pints of whipping cream (liquid, by the coffee cream in the grocery)
cup sugar
3 Tbsp vanilla
Prep all of your fruits..halve grapes, slice bananas, peel and chop apples..and place in a large bowl. Add marshmallows and chopped walnuts. In a separate large bowl pour in whipping cream and beat it with a mixer on high speed until it forms soft peeks. Add sugar and vanilla and beat. Combine whipping cream with fruit mixture and serve along side of your meal. Delicious! (I love the leftovers too!)

Instructions

Prep all of your fruits..halve grapes, slice bananas, peel and chop apples..and place in a large bowl. Add marshmallows and chopped walnuts.
In a separate large bowl pour in whipping cream and beat it with a mixer on high speed until it forms soft peeks.
Add sugar and vanilla and beat.
Combine whipping cream with fruit mixture and serve along side of your meal.

Filed Under: Cooking For A Crowd, Dessert, Food Allergy Friendly, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Uncategorized ·

Wild Berry Salad

August 1, 2011 · by Janelle · 7 Comments

A friend and I went out to lunch a couple of weeks ago and ordered the MOST delicious salads. We literally did everything but lick our plates clean..lol.

The funny thing is, that week, we both re-created this salad because we hadn’t had enough. Here are some photos of our “Copy Cat” Wild Berry Salads! YUM!

Katina’s Creation!!! YUM!!!!!!

My take, with chicken!

Do great minds think alike or what?

Mixed Berry Salad

(Per 1 salad)

2 cups of mixed greens

a small handful of:

blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, cranberries,raw almonds

1 Tbs goat cheese (you may use blue cheese or feta)

Light poppy seed dressing on the side

1 chicken breast marinated in Italian dressing overnight and grilled

Filed Under: Comfy In My Jeans, Salads, Uncategorized ·

"That" Chicken Salad

June 1, 2011 · by Janelle · 16 Comments

Oooooo Ladies, we love a good Chicken Salad, don’t we?! It is just such a treat when this dish is served. Why? Because typically it takes a bit of time to make, is expensive, and yes…most times is deeeelicious (if you have a good recipe of course).

Because this recipe calls for an already roasted chicken (which at my store is $5), it reduces the time and price it takes to make this delicious salad! Sound good? It is…

The mixture of sour cream, mayo and Marzetti’s Slaw Dressing makes the texture lighter, the grapes add sweetness and the nuts add a crunch. A mixture of utter yumminess.

Feel free to be adventurous with your sweet/savory items and different ways to add texture.

Beware, make this just once, and everyone will ask you how to make “That” Chicken Salad!!!!

Enjoy!

Chicken, pecans, celery, onion, mayo, sour cream, grapes, Marzetti Slaw mix.

Pound pecan halves

Quarter grapes

Dice celery

Dice onions

Place it all in a bowl

Slice white meat off of chicken (you may add the dark meat if you like!)

Cut into bite sized chunks

I typically save the legs for the children for lunch the next day.

Add all wet ingredients

Mix well

And serve! (This chicken salad wishes it was on a croissant, but I didn’t have one! lol still YUMMY!)

“That” Chicken Salad

1 Roaster Chicken
1 cup quartered grapes
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
2/3 cup Marzetti’s Slaw Dressing
2/3 cup sour cream

(you may change fruit to apples, pineapples, or red grapes. You also may use water chestnuts and Chinese noodles in place of nuts)

Pull chicken off of breast and dice. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Serve on lettuce, croissants, or bread…also very pretty in phyllo cups!

Love to you, Janelle

Is this not completely adorable!!!!??? LOVE it!

Check out how you can turn your Chicken Salad Croissant into a cute little Crab by visiting Family Fun!

Filed Under: Entrees, Salads, Wraps ·

The Beautified Banquet

May 27, 2012 · by Janelle · 16 Comments

Hi Ladies! Wow…what a busy weekend. I just got home from a full day of baseball {tournament weekend} but I wanted to share with you how yesterday’s banquet went!

Needless to say, it went according to God’s plan and it was a huge success! Praise the Lord!

Drum roll please…..

The first thing we had to do yesterday when I got to the church was to put the flowers in water. We used the lemons we cut from the day before to brighten up the vases. I just loved how these turned out. Beautiful.

The tables were set from the night before….so only the centerpieces were needed! Easy.

Then, it was time to heat up those pots and pans! Here we have 2 large pots of water boiling with macaroni, the cheese sauce in the top left and in the center is the poppyseed dressing that goes over the ham and cheese sandwiches. It’s so different cooking in larger quantities- everything is SO BIG! The pots, pans, stoves, ovens….they all seem giant.

Seriously…this may not look pretty, but it is SO tasty. Sauce is ready to pour over top of the sliders now!

And there they are! I bought 5 pounds of brown sugar chipped ham and 3 lbs of baby swiss cheese. This made plenty for 75 people.

For some reason, I have come to find out that the little ones prefer cucumbers, carrots and dip to an actual salad. Give em what they want- it’s a special evening!

I thought these turned out so cute. It’s “dirt” pudding topped with oreos and gummy worms. I found these adorable glass flower pots at Pat Catans for cheap! I am sure I will reuse them for this same purpose over and over again.

My cousin Jen made these sweet little flowers. The theme of Beautified was “to grow in beauty” – love.

Here we are in the midst of it all! lol.

Pouring the sauce on all of the sliders…oh dear, did I honestly put a hair net over my sunglasses? Yeah. I did. This is me with a few days of less sleep and more to do, lol. But, I wouldn’t change it one bit.

Getting the drinks prepped…sweet tea, water with lemon, lemonade. Can you guess which one went out first? lol…the lemonade. I will remember that!

We had the pineapple fluff made, we just had to add the pretzel topping…

Who could forget the “Better than a hug cake”….I only needed to make one tray of this. Boo…I don’t like when I misjudge by that much. But, the jr. high kids will be happy to eat this tomorrow morning! haha.

Setting up…you see the grape caterpillars {thank you Alice}, veggie tray, PB&J heart sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches and strawberry spinach salad.

The cucumber sandwiches were assembled and sprinkled with dill weed. We didn’t do this the previous night because they would have been soggy. Fresh…fresh is good. Love the little signs…again, thanks to my cousin Jen!

Always a hit with the ladies.

Drinks are out! I purchased plastic cups because we had a lot of little ones…and straws, you simply must have straws when you are serving “ladies”… 😉

The candy buffet is ready!

Pink chocolate dipped marshmallows with sprinkles {thank you Julie and Kalie}

I love the new rolling warmers our church has now! We used to have to keep things warm in crockpots/roasters, etc. These make life so much easier! Yea!

Mmmm….Mac n cheese.

My daughter got dropped off at dinner time to enjoy the festivities! She got a huge kick out of trying on all the dress up clothes for the photo booth. Isn’t she a cutie?

Kara and me…she led the Beautified program this year… what a busy servant for the Lord she is! We also co-lead Summer bible studies together. {I am cracking up looking at this photo…my shirt is crooked, one leggin is higher than another- I guess I had an excuse, I was a little busy!}

Our ladies!

Kara, Julie and Me….remember when I told you I have a mentor? This is her! I LOVE her so much and am so grateful to have her as a friend and neighbor. I will be talking more about her in later posts 🙂

Kara and her sweet daughter.

So, what do you think? Better than a hug or what?

Dad surprised their girls by a special appearance ….so sweet.

Yep! They were surprised alright! Adorable.

The “Mom and Daughter Newlywed Game”

Crafts!

Oh, what a fun event this was to be a part of!!! Again…I feel so blessed God chose to use me in this way. So many people ask “How do you do it? How do plan, shop and cook for that many people?” My answer is always “God”. Before I had him in my life, I would honestly get nervous cooking for just my family…

God also always provides just the amount of helpers I need…thanks to all the ladies who showed up the night before and the night of! What a blessing YOU were!!!! Thank you SO much.

Now, off to get some Zzzzs before we have to get up for church!

Love ya!

Filed Under: Cooking For A Crowd, Meal Ministry ·

Beautified Banquet {Continued}

May 25, 2012 · by Janelle · 5 Comments

Hi Again Ladies!

Well, today is day 2 of “gearing up” for the Beautified Banquet!

It is going to be such a fun event! Games, a modesty fashion show, crafts, a dress-up photo booth, a mom/daughter “newlywed” game, food, and fellowship. The best thing? Dads are making a surprise appearance and will be on stage reading letters they have written to their daughters about what they love about them. How. Awesome. Is. That.

So, we did some prep work for the event today…some at home and a lot at the church. Here is what we have done thus far.

For all the recipes- see yesterday’s post– I will also be posting the conversions for “Cooking for a Crowd” soon.

I made up 2 “Better Than a Hug Cakes”- enough for 75 people.

I washed and skewered the “Caterpillar Grapes” and will be putting on their cute little faces tomorrow. They are chillin in the refrigerator 🙂

Loaded up the “Swaggar Wagon” with all the ingredients I needed to start cooking at the church and the decorations! This was a lot of stuff! {shout out to Thirtyone bags in the bottom right corner, haha}

And sweet Alice making heart shaped PB & Js!

Finishing touches on the cakes.

That’s a lot of Poppyseed Dressing!

Ive come to find out that commercial mixers scare me. This one could take my arm off. But, Pineapple Fluff is worth that expense.

Cucumber sandwiches prep work done. Cucumbers are sliced and in the refrigerator! I’ll put them together tomorrow.

Lemons are sliced for the centerpieces, cakes are done, pineapple fluff is done, salad is made.

Moving on to the “Family Life Center” for decorating! Here is our beverage station…lemonade, sweet tea, and water with lemons.

Check out these adorable little signs my cousin Jen made for me. LOVE.

We “prepped” the candy buffet.

Another adorable sign my cousin Jen made.

We started setting tables….aren’t those the cutest little cookies? I have to remember to pick up the flowers from the florist tomorrow for the centerpieces!

The dress-up photo booth!!!! The girls are going to LOVE it! Thanks to Melissa and her hubby!!

Ill be back to show you the finished product of “The Beautified Banquet”!

No “Feasting in Fellowship Friday” today…I am off to get some Zzzz’s.

Tomorrow is a big day!

Filed Under: Cooking For A Crowd, Meal Ministry, Uncategorized ·

Gearing up for the Beautified Banquet!

May 24, 2012 · by Janelle · 14 Comments

Hi Ladies!

Today was a fun, yet busy day! I spent the majority of the morning grocery shopping for a Mother/Daughter banquet at our church this weekend. My dear friend {and Summer study co-leader} Kara was the hostess of this awesome program this year called Beautified. It has come to an end and now it is time to feast in fellowship! I am so thrilled she called on me to help…I can’t wait.

What is Beautified? It’s a faith-based monthly gathering where moms and daughters {ages 8-12} go over the book “8 Great Dates for Mom’s and Daughters” by Dannah Gresh. Speakers are invited in to encourage and talk about modesty, true beauty and world pressures on young women. This year was the first year of “Beautified” at our church and from what I hear…it was a HUGE hit. It will be offered every other year. I can’t wait until I can take my girls!

So…here’s what I am planning for the banquet…It’s a mixture of what the Ladies and the little Ladies would like..

Baked Ham and Swiss Poppyseed Sliders

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing

Homemade Oven Baked Mac n Cheese

Cucumber Sandwiches

Heart shaped PB & J Tea Sandwiches

Grape Caterpillars

Baby Carrots with Ranch Dip

Pineapple Pretzel Fluff

Better Than a Hug Cake

I’ll make a “Cupcake Tower” out of these little Dirt pots…so cute! I found really cute ones at Pat Catans that are pink, orange and yellow. So excited about this! lol.

And of course a candy buffet! My sweet cousin Jen helped me replicate this one above! Thank you SO much Jen!!!

We are adding these adorable Pink Chocolate Dipped Marshmallows {My neighbor Julie is making these for me- Thank you Julie!!!}

I’ve ordered these flowers and bought a bunch of lemons today to make these centerpieces! I have the vases already {$1 each at Marcs}

Here’s what I gone done today:

A shout out to my fav meal ministry store GFS! Food in bulk, wohoo!

One packed Swaggar Waggon!

SOOOO Thankful for our SPARE refrigerator!!!!!

I didn’t take a photo of my dining room, but should have…it is just as packed with all the non-refrigerated items and decorations. It’s a sign of fun and fellowship in the making!

Do you know what I think of all of this? That It’s all one huge blessing.

Why, you ask? Because I am needed…God has qualified me even though I am not qualified on my own. It’s a beautiful ministry and I am overjoyed to be a part of it!

I’ll be baaaack to show you the finished result after the show!

P.S. Thank you to my sweet neighbor Heidi who watched my 3 year old today so I could get this accomplished. What a blessing!!!!!

Filed Under: Cooking For A Crowd, Meal Ministry, Uncategorized ·

Feasting in Fellowship Link UP

May 11, 2012 · by Janelle · 6 Comments

Happy Friday Ladies!
Oh it’s a beautiful day here…the sunshine is such medicine to the soul! We have some delicious recipes today that would work perfectly with a Mother’s Day Brunch!

My friend Courtney at Women Living Well is featuring this delicious Grape and Pecan Chicken Salad….serve on croissants , in pastry puff cups, or over lettuce leaves. You will be asked for the recipe over and over again.

Top 3 Recipes of the Week…

{Mother’s Day Inspired.}

Berry Pudding Cakes

Made By: Cooking on the Front Burner

Adorable Handmade”Love you a latte” Mother’s Day Cards

Made By: Inspired By Family

Rustic Pear Tart

Made By: The 21st Century Housewife

Happy Mother’s Day Weekend!!! It’s a Feasting in Fellowship Friday LINK UP! Please link up as many recipes, Christian posts and/or posts of the season. All I ask is that you place my button {located on my sidebar} onto your post.

Thank you ever so much for sharing on FB, Pinterest, and Twitter! I love having more friends…it really is a blessing.

Filed Under: Fellowship Fridays ·

Gluten Free Treat for Christmas: Fruit Snow

December 16, 2011 · by Janelle · 6 Comments

(Photo Credit: Taste of Home)

Today the girls and I were invited to a play date. I woke up early to make quiche for my girlfriends then ran through a drive-thru to pick up a salad for myself (I am a bit of a black sheep at social events, lol!). But low and behold my sweet friend Kimmy made this delicious dessert that I COULD EAT (doing a little jig)!!!! I picked at my salad …then had 3 BOWLS of this heavenly stuff! I called it “Fruit Snow”and decided right there and then that I would be making this for Christmas so that I don’t feel left out when everyone has dessert…it is deeeelish! Hope this helps anyone else struggling with the urge to purge!

Fruit Snow

Author: Recipe from www.Allrecipes.com

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 12

Ingredients

3 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 medium bananas sliced
2 (11 oz) cans mandarin oranges
1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple undrained
1 (12 fluid oz) can frozen orange concentrate thawed
1 (10 oz) jar maracshino cherries, drained and halved (can substitute seedless grapes)
1/3 cup lemon juice

Instructions

In a saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil; cook and stir for 5 minutes.
Remove from the heat; cool completely.
In a 4-qt. freezer container, combine the remaining ingredients.
Pour sugar water over the fruit.
Cover and freeze for at least 8 hours, stirring once or twice.
Remove from the freezer 20 minutes before serving.

Filed Under: Breakfast, Comfy In My Jeans, Dessert, Food Allergy Friendly, Uncategorized ·

Sweet and Sour Lit’l Smokies

January 24, 2011 · by Janelle · 13 Comments

What a busy season of life I am in! With a 7, 5, and 2 year old some days seem to whiz right by me! I have this “one day” of the week that is especially busy (do you know what I’m talkin about?) So, that day, dinner gets less attention and is catered more towards the children…it makes it easier on Mom to get everyone fed and out the door for basketball! On our busy day this week, we had Sweet and Sour Lit’l smokies, mac n cheese, and a salad. A very simple yet palatable meal for the little ones…Don’t underestimate this recipe…is is goooooood…I also substitute frozen cocktail meatballs for appetizers when company comes over. I am sure many of you have made this over and over again, just like me! For those of you who haven’t…you are going to love it! Enjoy! ~Janelle