Growing up, it seemed like everything in my family centered around food. For instance, all holidays were geared around big elaborate meals. I always wanted to know when my next meal was. And, my mother, who is a wonderful cook and party hostess, always let me “assist” her in the kitchen. Now that I have my own kids, I’m not sure how much help I was to her at the time, but I thank her for allowing me to work alongside her. It really did instill in me a love of cooking and entertaining. As an avid reader, I also loved perusing my mother’s cooking magazines that arrived in the mail every month. I read them cover to cover, sometimes flagging a recipe that I wanted to make. Bless my mother’s heart for actually letting me make some of them, despite their complexity for a girl my age at the time.
Confession time…Around the age of 10, I started cutting recipes out of my mom’s magazines (shhh! don’t tell!) and the weekly cooking section of our local newspaper. How’s that for a fun, youthful hobby?!! I collected them in a metal box, and that box has traveled with me to every place I have lived since. Recently, I decided to look through the box, thinking it might be cool to make some recipes that I deemed worthy of keeping oh so many years ago. Let me tell you, the recipe box was a trip. It was a VERY interesting mix of recipes. I was astounded by the number of fish recipes in there as I’m not personally a huge fan of fish. For whom did I cut out all of these fish recipes?!!
Today, I’m sharing one of the recipes I pulled from the box. It’s called Southwest Pebble Salad. Printed in the May 19, 1993 edition of the Austin American-Statesman, the recipe note states this recipe is a reprint from its 1992 Christmas Cookin’ Contest courtesy of Deirdre Lee. Apparently, Deirdre’s salad was a pretty popular finalist in the contest. I would say it’s the perfect summer salad. It’s light and bursting with yummy pebbles of goodness…veggies and nuts. I could see taking it up a level with some additional pebbles like cheese and dried fruit. I tasted the dressing before I poured it into the salad, and I was like yeah, not loving this completely. That said, it did something wonderful when mixed into the salad and allowed to chill for a few hours. The flavors melded with everything else in the salad, and it was pretty tasty. I’m so glad I pulled it out of the recipe box to try. Hope you enjoy it, too!
Southwest Pebble Salad
Print recipe
| Serves | 8 |
| Allergy | Tree Nuts |
| Dietary | Vegan, Vegetarian |
| Meal type | Salad |
| From magazine | Austin American-Statesman |
Ingredients
- 1 6-oz package of long-grain and wild rice mix
- 1 can Mexicorn (11 oz, drained)
- 1 cucumber (seeded and chopped in small pieces)
- 2 carrots (scraped and coarsely chopped)
- 2 green onions (with tops, thinly sliced)
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro (chopped)
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1/2 teaspoon dill weed (heaping)
- 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard (rounded)
- 1/3 cup pine nuts (lightly roasted, or substitute sliced or slivered almonds)
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (dry roasted)
Directions
| Step 1 | |
| Prepare long-grain and wild rice mix according to package directions. Let cool in large bowl. | |
| Step 2 | |
| Stir in corn, cucumber, carrots, green onions, and cilantro into rice. | |
| Step 3 | |
| Combine oil, lemon juice, dill weed, mustard, and pepper in a small bowl. Mix well. Stir into rice mixture. | |
| Step 4 | |
| Cover and chill several hours or overnight. Stir in sunflowers seeds and pine nuts prior to serving. | |