I had an aunt, actually I was named after her, who loved to dress up salads. Here is the one I remember - a small plate with a few pieces of lettuce, a slice of pineapple, 1/2 banana to stand inside the slice of pineapple hole (get the picture?) and a little slice of maraschino cherry on top of the banana, sort of wedged in the top to look like a candle with a flame! Well, when you are young, it is really cool!
One of my favorites to this day is another one of hers; a few slices of lettuce on the plate, a half of a canned peach, a dollop of cottage cheese and French dressing sprinkled over the top!
I also like any flavor of Jell-O, mixed with 1C boiling water,1/4C sugar, 1/4C cold water or fruit juice. Mix it up, let it set and then add 1C of whipped cream (or you can use one packet of Dream Whip mixed up). Very pretty, very light for a hot day. I served it with Lime Jell-O for our son's graduation 1,000 years ago. I tripled the recipe and it all went. IT is called Basic Bavarian!
You want salad and Jell-O recipes, as a Minnesotan! I have a book called "Joys of Jell-O". Have had it for many, many years and still use it. It is dog-eared, messed up, stained, but a tried and true recipe book. If you need any, please let me know. There are even vegetable salad recipes.
Edie