Anyone who knows me personally, knows that one of my favorite meals ever is the cold food buffet at the Oasis Lounge in the Hershey Spa located inside the Hotel Hersey. I’ve done blog posts about my visits to the hotel and the spa before, so if you haven’t read any of those you’ll definitely need to check them out once you are finished reading this beautiful post that you’re already engrossed in. The reason I brought up the Oasis buffet is because that’s exactly what I created at home to celebrate this holiday weekend. It is a cold buffet where everything is served chilled, even the meats or grilled vegetables. You might not think that sounds very appetizing until you actually try it and pair it with everything else that’s served on the buffet. The only thing that’s served hot would be their soup of the day that you ladle into a bowl out of a plugged in kettle. Soup is the one thing you will always find on their buffet that’s hot, but you won’t find here on mine. I just felt like with all of the other goodies and ingredients that I was filling the countertop with, it wasn’t quite needed. The way I set the buffet up and the order I put the food in is the exact same way that they do it in the Oasis, which I firmly believe is the proper way! Not only is a cold food bar perfect after a long morning of pampering, it’s beyond perfect to celebrate a holiday such as this one!
Let’s Build This Buffet:
At the Oasis they normally serve some type of white meat which is usually chicken or turkey breast. Then they give you the option of smoked fish or red meat. Their skirt steak with a silky shallot sauce is the absolute best. However, I changed it up and served grilled sausages, as well as marinated herbed chicken breast. As for the grilled vegetables they serve everything from halved tomatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, squash, eggplant, all of those great things. For my family and I this holiday weekend, I chose to grill up multi colored bell peppers and zucchini!
A bowl of mixed greens or your choice of lettuce will always be a necessity for a salad or cold food bar. I tossed some red leaf lettuce with some crispy, leafy greens. All of the good stuff you need as your base to build your dream salad!
The next step to building your best bowl of salad are the toppings of course! What would a salad even be without their rainbow choices of toppings?! I mean, come on!
Let’s start from left to right!
I don’t know why or what the reason behind this choice of mine is, but the first topping I always go for when building my very specific, colorful, stunning salad is the cheese. I do not discriminate either! If there are multiple cheeses to choose from, I will absolutely put all three on top of my greens. Cheese is something I love in this life and will never ever give up. Maybe that’s the reason, huh?
- Shredded cheddar
- Shredded Colby jack
- Shredded mozzarella
The perfect trifecta!
- Mandarin oranges– These are something I just long for on my salads. Even if the salad is supposed to be super savory and I’m tossing in a creamy or cheesy dressing, I adore that pop of bright sweetness. It’s a flavor and texture profile you didn’t know you needed.
- Pickled red beets- These speak for themselves if you love beets, like my family does.
- Shredded raw carrots- I love the color and crunch it brings to my salad bar.
- Raw broccoli- I feel like these always need to be on a salad bar. If you would rather cauliflower, you could add that on instead. I love broccoli for the color.
- Little grape tomatoes.
- Tomato and mozzarella salad that I threw it together with good olive oil, sea salt, and freshly cracked black pepper..
- I put a seed and raisin mix together for a little garnish and nutty crunch to end your salad topping with!
- I put out butter balls pair with the bread basket I have next to the chips which you will see in an upcoming photo.
- I put together my famous cowboy caviar that I make every single summer to serve with our favorite tortilla chips. (The recipe can be found here on my blog!)
- In my opinion, the most important part to a salad bar is the dressing! I served a homemade ranch dressing which I have definitely shared on here before. I really make it all different ways and adjust each ranch recipe I create depending on what I’m serving it with or what the theme of the dinner is going to be. This one is an authentic ranch that’s extremely savory, creamy, and filled with dill. That’s my perfect kind of ranch.
You can choose to serve whatever kind of bread or dinner rolls you’d like with this cold food bar inspired by my favorite buffet on planet Earth! You can even go as far as serving some hot pretzel bites with honey mustard or a homemade cheese sauce. Like I said, it depends on the theme and what kind of vibe you’re going for when serving your guests or family members. Obviously, I am a huge foodie. My life has always revolved around it. Learning how to cook, learning where food comes from, and learning the art of food has always been a really big priority of mine since I was very little. Building buffets such as this one makes me feel so whole, so creative, and it allows me to show the love I have for my craft to all of the people I love around me. This not your average MDW buffet and that’s exactly why I am obsessed with it. I always want you to come to my website to be able to find something that you won’t find anywhere else, which is the reason I wanted to share this salad bar for Memorial Day for all of my amazing Diamonds. I know you’re going to see burger bars, hot dog boards, seafood boils, and corn on the cob served with all of the creamy salads that everyone piles on their plates at BBQ’s. That’s the reason I wanted you to be able to click on my post and see something different and unique, yet still feels summery enough that you’ll want to share this salad bar with your family as well!
Deepfrieddiamonds 
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