Thanksgiving Salad for 8

As far as quantity the general rule for a tossed salad is about one cup per person. With all that other food I certainly wouldn't plan for much more than that. In our family we have always done individual salads that were placed on salad plates before people sat down. My favorite (though a bit labor intensive when I would make it for 20) is as follows.

Ingredients:

Mixed salad greens (torn in bite size pieces...I used to buy Byerly's mix that you bag yourself)
Ruby red grapefruit (peel and then peel the "skin" off each section...this is the time consuming part but the results are worth it)
Pomegranate seeds (peeling the pomegranate does take a little time too)
Honey

On each plate place a scoop of lettuce and three grapefruit wedges. Sprinkle on pomegranate seeds and drizzle with honey.

One note, if there are tons of younger kids it is best to substitute oranges on their plates instead of grapefruit.

If you want to go with something a little different, I have a great recipe for an apple-celery salad. It has no lettuce in it, but does have apples, celery, and toasted pecans or walnuts in a slightly creamy dressing. Very healthy and low-fat. I'd be happy to e-mail it to you. The apples and celery are a little "harvesty," perfect for fall.

Also, I know Olive Garden sells their signature salads "to go," that serves that many people. I only say this because my husband picked some up when he threw me a surprise party one year to take care of the salad, and since all my friends LOVE that salad, it was a hit. Just thought I'd throw that out there...kind of lame, but if your family likes that salad, it's easy.

A good salad we always have around the holidays is a winter fruit salad. It's got romaine, diced pears, diced apples, craisins, shredded swiss cheese, and cashews with a store bought poppy seed dressing. If you go to allrecipies.com and type in winter fruit salad, it will give you the exact amounts of everything, and there is also a recipie for a homemade poppy seed dressing, but I always use the store bought (refridgerated) dressing.

We just had the best salad!! It was strawberry vin. Thin sliced red onions, feta or blue cheese, cuts of strawberrys, and spinnich. The dressing was a secret ( My sister in law is not sharing). But it was amazing!!! I am sure you could google a Strawberry vin dressing!! We had 10 people and I think she used 2 large bags. Good luck!

Here's a recipe for a salad that I love and make all the time...
The salad dressing:
3 T Olive Oil
1.5 T Cider vinegar
0.5 T Lemon juice
2 t Honey
1 t Dijon mustard
(or use 3 t honey dijon mustard)
1/4 t crushed garlic
salt and pepper
***I use either Boston or Bibb lettuce, toasted, carmelized walnuts, gorgonzola cheese (on the side for groups) and Granny Smith apples. Yum!
As far as quantity, maybe 3 of the regular sized bags of pre-washed lettuce, 1 cup walnuts, 3 apples...
The salad dressing you'll probably have to triple.
Good luck!