Sweet & Sour Dutch Salad

Sweet & Sour Dutch Salad

Dorcas Annette Walker

Once a year we got to see our grandparents as growing up we lived out of state. So each visit to our grandmas made an unforgettable impression. Our holidays at my Grandma Landis’ house were more formal than on my mother’s side, but one dish I always enjoyed eating was her Sweet & Sour Dutch Salad that she made. Another dish I was sure to have was her partially frozen tart applesauce. When my mother discovered how much I loved my Grandma Landis’ Sweet & Sour Dutch Salad, she began making it at home. Soon I was able to make the Sweet & Sour Dutch Salad myself.

My father grew up on a large Mennonite farm in Pennsylvania where Pennsylvania Dutch was spoken. Grandmother Landis put out large vegetable gardens that she maintained yearly. Produce and meat was taken to the market each week to sell. Hearty breakfasts were cooked; the main meal was eaten at lunch, with a supper consisting of sandwiches and salads. During the summer a variety of cold fresh fruit and vegetable salads were prepared making a meal itself.

As the weather warms up this month salad greens will appear in home gardens. There is nothing like the taste of new garden greens that have been handpicked. Sowing lettuce seeds or putting out plant starts is easy to grow and always produce a bountiful reward. There are all kinds of greens that one can plant in the garden as well as wild dandelions greens that can be harvested out of the yard. Not only are salads nutritious, but they can easily be created to cater to each family member’s individual taste buds. Using a base of greens you can construct either a vegetable or fruit salad by mixing various fresh vegetables or fruits with your greens. Today there are numerous salad greens, vegetables, and fruits available year round making for a healthy diet.

Both my children love the Sweet & Sour Dutch Salad and often requested that I make one when they had friends visiting. My Sweet & Sour Dutch Salad is very simple to make using lettuce and a boiled egg adding a colorful healthy dish to your menu. Preparation time for the Sweet & Sour Dutch Salad is five minutes and this recipe makes enough salad dressing for two medium salads.

Sweet & Sour Dutch Salad

2 c shredded head or leaf lettuce (your choice)
1 peeled hardboiled egg
Divide the lettuce into two salad bowls and slice the hardboiled egg over the lettuce.

In a small bowl mix together:
1 tb vinegar
1 tb mayonnaise
1 c sugar
1 c evaporated milk
Beat until thickened and pour the salad dressing over the lettuce and sliced egg. Garnish the salad with a sprinkle of paprika and serve!

Weekly tip: To keep lettuce and salad greens fresh wrap them in a paper towel, place in a plastic bag folding it over until the bag is air tight, secure, and then refrigerate!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com