Hi Friends, I am back from vacation! I went out west to Utah and Jackson Hole and....I....LOVED....it! It was a blast to be back on the west coast! It was also super fun to surprise my mom!! She had no idea that I was stopping by for a visit. She thought she had to sign for a package so imagine her surprise when she hears my not-so-quiet voice booming across her dining hall!
Anyways, I got to thinking that it's been awhile since I have blogged about a good Recipe Renovation. I had an idea while preparing dinner the other night about how fantastic salads are for cooking projects!! Salads come in great varieties, can be big or small and can be customized to fit anyone's kitchen skill repertoire. My other win-win of salad making is that it is a healthy choice and doesn't usually require the use of a stove, microwave or oven.
A few of my fave ideas for salads:
The Waldorf Salad (a great mix of grapes, yogurt, apples and cranberries). Perfect for the "non veggie" salad kind of kid. You can hit up allrecipes.com for some great ideas on Waldorf salads.
The pasta salad--okay, I know I said no stove but this one is for the more experienced chef. I found tons of super easy pasta salad ideas from kraft.com. Simple recipes that include basic stove skills--great for the student who needs intro to cooking skills!
The Seven Layer salad. I actually thought this one would be fun for kids because I thought they might get a kick out of making the layers. Plus the layered salads can be easy for some students because they are quite prescribed as you need only do one layer at a time. 
I loved this idea! Now, make sure you cut yourself some slack and realize that your kid might not make it this pretty. I just thought the cone idea (maybe even with some yogurt) would be fun for kids. You can also make fruit salad in a bowl. This is also a great idea as an alternative for dessert!
The other fabulous part of salad making is that if you allow your kiddo to go to the grocery store to buy ingredients, it allows them to explore an area that is quite hands on. Salad making utilizes kitchen skills that can go from basic---just mix and serve to using slicing, peeling and mixing skills (even cooking if you prepare pasta or chicken). If you are teaching a life skills class, have the students do a salad taste off and let them prepare then sample a variety of salads (then vote on students favorite). It's a simple skill that can work as a side dish or a main dish. How cool is it if your kid prepares the salad for the next family BBQ? It would be great to see our kids preparing something other than brownies (healthy too!!)
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