How to Make Italian Finger Salad

Sometimes salads are so boring. Lettuce, tomato and dressing...ho hum! If you would like a salad that zings with flavor, try this Italian Finger Salad. Since it needs to be made earlier in the day, it's a great choice for a dinner party. It's tangy taste makes it a perfect choice for your favorite pasta dish. It takes 30 minutes prep time and 3 hours marinating time. Read on to learn how to make it.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Salad Bowl
• 2 Plastic bags (the kind you get in the produce department)
• Paring knife
• Vegetable peeler
• Celery
• Carrots
• Green onions
• Cucumbers
• Olives
• Cherry tomatoes
• 1 16 oz. bottle oily Italian dressing
• Twist tie
• Salad tongs

How to Prepare the Salad

1. Wash and peel--if necessary--all vegetables. Adjust the amount of each vegetable to match taste and the number of people being served.

2. Wash the plastic bags and place one inside the other. Set plastic bags inside the salad bowl.

3. Cut celery and carrots into approximately 3 inch sticks. Trim roots off green onions and trim green so that the whole onion is about 3 inches. Put carrot, carrots and onions inside the plastic bag.

4. Slice cucumber into thin rounds. Place cucumber inside the plastic bag.

5. Slice cherry tomatoes and olives in half. Place inside the plastic bag.

6. Shake bottle of Italian dress and pour contents over the vegetables. Twist the bag's opening to close and secure it with the twist tie.

7. Place bowl in refrigerator. Turn the bag upside down once an hour for 3 hours. When it's time to serve, pour vegetables and dressing into the salad bowl and toss with salad tongs.

Tips & Warnings

• Baby carrots may be used instead of carrot sticks
• Other vegetables that do not wilt easily may be added to this salad, such as green peppers strips, broccoli and cauliflower flowerettes or radishes.
• This is a finger salad, so forks are optional when eating this salad.
• Italian Finger Salad is easy for a child to make. However, they need to be supervised when using the paring knife.