Salad Bar Birthday Party

It’s time to throw my baby a first birthday party! I normally love to have a party at my own home. I can cook, decorate all the goodies, get up early and set up the party in my PJs. I love to make use of our backyard and home whenever possible. This year, it’s just not possible. The kitchen flood forced us to change plans and move the party to a park. No big deal except I usually make all the food for our parties. Without a kitchen, I needed to change gears. I started to look up catering options, but the prices were out of our budget. Especially for a one-year-old’s birthday party. So I brainstormed and came up with a salad bar theme.

I settled on some tried and true favorites. Quinoa Sourdough Bread Salad, Southwestern Pasta Salad, and Mediterranean Salad kit from Costco (a personal favorite). When making food for a crowd, it’s important to have time management and make as much food in advance as you can. The night before, I cooked the quinoa, pasta, toasted the croutons, prepped all the remaining vegetables, and made the dressings. The next morning I assembled all the salads right before we left for the park. Of course, it was the hottest day of the year so far, and I was super worried about keeping the salads chilled, so I took 3 8×8″ disposable aluminum pans, filled them with ice, and set the salad bowls inside each one.

On a side note, another way I’ve kept salad chilled outside is to take a bowl bigger than the salad bowl you’ll be using, fill with water, and set the empty salad bowl inside the bigger bowl. Then place in the freezer and the water will freeze in the shape of the bowl. You’ll need to weigh down the smaller salad bowl in order for it to form the frozen bowl shape. Then you’ll have a solid ice block to keep your salad chilled.

The quinoa sourdough bread salad (see recipe below) is hands down my favorite salad I’ve ever had. It is so fresh, delicious, and healthy. Once I start eating it, it’s hard for me to stop. Sometimes to make it even more hearty, I’ll add some grilled chicken. The combination of fresh herbs is what really makes this salad spectacular and the addition of the homemade sourdough croutons puts it over the top. The magic to the quinoa salad is that the dressing soaks up into the sourdough croutons and retains a Panzanella salad consistency. Trust me, once you try it, you’ll be making it over and over again. This delicious recipe is from the blog Grown to Cook.  The recipe measurements are metric, which I’ve converted and I tend to go by my personal taste when adding the herbs.  I feel this is a great recipe to tailor to your personal tastes.  If you want it more veggie forward, cook less quinoa and vice-versa.  If you feel it needs more mint, tomatoes, lemon or less oil, garlic, dill – then change it up!  It’s a perfect salad to play with proportions.

The next salad I made is a southwestern pasta salad with avocado dressing from Two Peas and Their Pod. It’s a unique spin on a classic pasta salad. Black beans, red onions, and bell peppers give the salad it’s southwestern feel. When you top it with the creamy avocado dressing, it becomes ultra amazing. Plus, the dressing is made by throwing all the ingredients in your food processor. Super easy! I love dishes that seem complicated to your guests, but you’ve actually spent no time making it.

I added a delicious bagged Mediterranean salad from Costco and my salads were all set to eat. With exception to the quinoa salad (because you want those croutons to suck up the dressing), I always leave the dressings on the side. I added some rotisserie chicken from Costco, fresh fruit, and freshly baked bread from Prager Brothers Bakery (sourdough and walnut to be exact) to complete the salad bar. It was super easy and very low stress. At the party, I could concentrate on celebrating and not worrying about the food. Needless to say, the salads were a hit!