But Chapter 3 stumped me.
The title was simply “Salads”.
Was Yeh trying to give us healthy food to balance out all of the sweets in the book?
Photo:Chantell and Brett Quernemoen
What Is a Sweet Salad?
Of course, the Upper Midwest doesnt have a monopoly on sweet salads.
Strawberry Pretzel Salad likely originated in Pennsylvania and is especially popular in the South.
Chantell and Brett Quernemoen
Marshmallow and Jell-O salads often grace Midwestern holiday tables.
Learning to Love Sweet Salads
For some of us, the salad descriptor might be a stretch.
We never saw cookie salad or a Snickers salad.
Photo: Chanetell and Brett Quernemoen.
I was like, what the F is this?
After repeated exposure, Yeh says that something clicked in her brain.
I realized all of these components by themselves are delicious.Fresh whipped creamis delicious.
Obviously cookies are delicious.
Fruit pudding, especially when it’s from scratch, that’s delicious.
Let’s try putting them together!
Now Yeh counts cookie salads and other sweet salads as her favorite bang out of Upper Midwestern cuisine.
Theyre also excellent to make ahead, simple to customize, and easy to transport.
Plus, sweet salads are frequently family recipes.
The method is simple: make the pudding according to package directions with buttermilk instead of milk.
Then fold in the Cool Whip, some crushed cookies, and most of the mandarin oranges.
Top it with more oranges and whole cookies, and ta-da, you have a Cookie Salad!
And she encourages readers to swap indifferent types of cookiesbased on what you might have hanging around.
Cookie salads initiate the door to so much creativity and can help prevent food waste.
Day old cookies that are a little dry are perfect for soaking up the pudding and whipped cream mixture.
A dessert by any other name would still taste as sweet, or something like that.
