Yummy Two-Minute Apple Salad

I make this salad quite often. It's one of my favorites, not just because it's so easy, but because it's truly delicious. I didn't have any pears today, so I used a variety of apples--Golden Delicious, Gala and Royal Gala.

If you have all the ingredients on hand, this literally takes two minutes. I almost always have fresh lemons in the fridge (they last forever...and I read this great tip in an old issue of the Rachael Ray magazine that said to zest the lemon, let the peels dry, then store that zest in a canning type jar, to keep it on hand for whenever you need lemon zest).

I've run the recipe before on the blog (it's on the left, under favorite recipes on this blog) but it's so stinking easy, I posted it again here:

Two-Minute Apple Salad (aka Apple-Pear Salad)

Dressing:

1 Tablespoon honey

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

dash salt

Salad:

3 apples, cored and sliced

1-2 pears, cored and sliced

1 bag salad mix (or 1 head lettuce)

1/4 cup candied walnuts (or you can use any kind of nuts you want--okay, technically if you have to make the walnuts (recipe below) this takes longer than two minutes, but read the note on storing them in the freezer)

Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the apple and pear slices and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for one hour. Serve over the salad mix and top with candied walnuts.

Candied walnuts are really easy--just roast the walnut pieces in a small nonstick pan for a minute or two. Then toss with butter and sugar and a dash of salt. You can roast them in the oven if you happen to have the oven on, but you have to keep a close eye on them because they burn easily. Most of the time I just let it cook in the pan, then drain them on a paper towel. I store the extras in the freezer, and pull them out to add to baked apples or this salad. If you don't have walnuts on hand, you can make candied pecans or use chopped honey roasted peanuts. Whatever nuts you want :-)

Shirley

OMG Good Spicy Shrimp Salad

You know how you make some things and you're actually sad, knowing that you will finish the plate and it'll be all gone? That's how I felt about this salad I made for lunch. OMG, so good, and definitely worth the little bit of prep work.

A tip--don't skimp. Fresh herbs are super cheap at farmer's markets right now (as are shallots and garlic). Once you start cooking from fresh, you'll notice a huge difference. This is one of those dishes that demands fresh because it creats a flavor explosion in your mouth.

This is from an Emeril recipe. The original made 4 servings, but it was just me today, so I edited it to fit one full plate.

Spicy Thai Shrimp Salad

1 cup mixed greens (I hate iceberg lettuce and used mixed greens)

1/4 medium cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
1 mango, peeled, seeded and sliced (the recipe called for one mango total but I love mangos so I used a whole one for one serving)
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice (about half a lime)
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1 teaspoon fish sauce
4 teaspoons Palm sugar, or light brown sugar (and here's where I diverted...I put half in the dressing, half on the shrimp. I also didn't have Palm sugar so I used light brown)
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, divided
1/2 teaspoon minced Serrano chilies
2-3 tablespoons peanut oil or vegetable oil
1/4 pound medium shrimp, peeled
1/2 teaspoon Emeril's Essence
dash salt
1 tablespoon chiffonade fresh mint, garnish

Lay the lettuce leaves across a large platter. Arrange the cucumber, mango slices and shallots over the lettuce.

In a blender, combine the lime juice, 2 teaspoons of the brown/Palm sugar, shallots, fish sauce, garlic, 1/2 of the minced cilantro, chiles. (Emeril called for adding the oil here; I didn't. I kept the dressing low fat). Blend on high speed until well combined and the sugar is dissolved.

In a bowl, toss the shrimp with the Essence, salt, and remaining sugar to coat. Heat a wok or large, heavy, skillet over high heat. Add the oil and when very hot, add the shrimp and sear until cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Remove from the pan.

Arrange the shrimp decoratively over the greens and mango and drizzle with the dressing. Garnish with the mint and reserved cilantro and serve.

SOOOOOOO good. Very fresh and very yummy. I only used a 1/2 teaspoon of Essence...I don't like it highly spicy.

Shirley

A Favorite Salad

Today, I made one of my favorite salads--so perfect for those crisp fall days. I didn't have any pears (well, I *thought* I didn't have any pears, then finished eating my salad and remembered I just bought pears yesterday. Duh. I need more sleep or coffee or something, LOL). I love the dressing--an easy, quick mix of 1 tablespoon honey, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Couldn't be easier to make.

This is an older photo of this salad, and doesn't show the nuts I usually toss on it. The candied walnuts are something I use pretty often, and so I keep a batch in my freezer. They add that little bit of yummy crunch :-)

Shirley

Guest Author: Blythe Gifford!

Today, my friend and fellow author Blythe Gifford is stopping by! She's got a FABULOUS new release out called IN THE MASTER'S BED. That is one HOT cover, if you ask me! She's got a great, simple recipe to include (and since there's a lot of fresh basil in my kitchen, I'll be trying this!), and even better, has a book for giveaway!

I’m Blythe Gifford and I want to thank Shirley for having me here today! I’m celebrating the release of IN THE MASTER’S BED, from Harlequin Historical. It’s a medieval romance featuring a heroine born on the wrong side of the royal blanket, the sister from my previous release THE HARLOT’S DAUGHTER. She runs away from home, disguised as a man, to study at the university, where women are forbidden. There, she meets a man who, for the first time, makes her want to be a woman. But what will happen when he discovers her secret and she’s discovered IN THE MASTER’S BED?

Let me say at the outset I will not be sharing a medieval recipe with you. The only recipe I researched for this book was ale. Turned out they brewed it with oats, something I’m not sure Anheuser Busch hasn’t tried yet.

But the truth is, I’m not much of a cook. I am in awe of Shirley and all of you who whip up tasty, creative meals night after night. Some famous author (Salinger? Updike?) said a writer should eat the same thing every day. As a result of my limited culinary range, I follow that advice pretty closely, though I haven’t found it to be any kind of secret to success.

My dinner virtually always includes a big salad. French kitchens may celebrate the sous (soup) chef, but I’m a premier salad chef, and the crowning glory of my dish is home made vinaigrette. It’s so easy and tastes SO much better to me than store bought. If you have an herb garden, or can buy fresh basil at the store, it works year round. As to how much basil to throw in, you’ll develop your own style. I like to use enough so it’s a little creamy and thick.

Blythe’s Basil Vinaigrette

Yield: ¾ cup (6-8 side salads)

Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons tarragon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 large clove garlic

Handful basil leaves (five to ten or more - experiment)

Salt, pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a mini-blender jar and blend on highest setting. Flavor mellows, so make it the day before if you can.

Thanks again to Shirley for the chance to drop by and say hello to all you talented chefs. Visit my website at http://www.blythegifford.com/ to learn more about the book, join my e-group, or check the schedule of my “Blog Until You Drop” tour.

What’s your favorite salad dressing: Ranch? Blue cheese? French? Thousand Island? Let me know and I’ll send a copy of IN The MASTER’S BED to one lucky commenter.
_____________________________________
Cover Art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ®and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Enterprises Limited and/or its affiliated companies, used under license.

Photo by Jennifer Girard

Dinner Party Success :-)

I love having people over for dinner. For one, as DH pointed out, it's a reason for both of us to finally do a few of those pesky chores we keep putting off (like planting new flowers in the front planters, or putting away the suitcases from our CA trip), and for another, it's an excuse for me to go nuts cooking :-)

We had two couples over the other night, and considering I've been away most of the summer, I was pretty excited to get out all those pots and pans and make a nice meal. I went with a healthy Italian theme (and yes, there is such a thing; meaning none of that drenched in cream and butter sauce kind of thing). I served shrimp as an appetizer, because it was quick and easy, and put the time into the meal.

Caprese Salad--using Roma tomatoes that my friend Marci gave me from her garden (so fresh and SO good), and some chunks of fresh Mozzarella I picked up at the grocery store, I assembled a Caprese Salad. It's pretty darn simple--drizzle a good quality olive oil on the bottom of the dish, top with a layer of sliced tomatoes, some freshly ground salt and pepper, and a few chunks of fresh buffalo mozzarella (the white kind, not the yellow kind). Chiffonade some fresh basil, sprinke on top. Repeat the layers. Let it sit for a little while--half hour or so--to let the flavors marry.

Then I made Roasted Broccoli, which again is very, very simple. Heat the oven to 500 degrees. Slice the broccoli florets in half (so they'll lay flat on the cookie sheet) and peel the stalks. Toss the chopped broccoli with a little olive oil, a teaspoon of sugar and a half teaspoon of kosher salt. Then roast for about 10-12 minutes, turning halfway through. Keep an eye on it--if your stalks are tiny, it might take less time.

The two dishes that took the most time were the main course and dessert (I followed Ina Garten's rule of thumb of only having one or two time-consuming dishes and making the rest easy to make so you have more time and aren't feeling insane kitchen pressure).

Chicken Saltimbocca: I used an America's Test Kitchen recipe for this one. Although they called for chicken cutlets (or pounding out chicken breasts, one of my least favorite things to do), I used tenderloins instead, making sure to cut out that one little tough tendon. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan and put the oven on 200 degrees. Dredge the breasts in a mix of flour and a bit of pepper. Chiffonade two tablespoons of sage, and slice pieces of prosciutto to fit the breasts. Sprinkle the floured breasts with the sage, top with a piece of prosciutto, and fry, prosciutto side first, until golden. Flip and fry on the other side until cooked through, then put in a pan and keep the cooked pieces warm in the oven as you cook the others. (I apologize that some of my pictures aren't the best but I was trying to get dinner on the table, LOL).

When you're done, use the same pan to cook the sauce: Pour in 1 1/4 cups of white wine, and boil it down until it's reduced to 1/3 cup. Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and 4 tablespoons of cold butter, one tablesoon at a time, stirring after each addition. At the end, add one tablespoon of minced parsley. Drizzle sauce over chicken and serve. This was REALLY REALLY good. Most of our guests had two servings, so I'm figuring they liked it too ;-)

My piece de resistance was dessert: Ina Garten's Mixed Berry Pavolva. I followed this recipe exactly EXCEPT for the sweetened whipped cream. I just used Cool Whip. ;-) Sue me ;-). This was AWESOME. AMAZING. So good, I would have eaten the whole thing by myself if it wouldn't have been completely rude, LOL (and if I could have stopped people from going back for seconds). I will DEFINITELY make this again. Highly recommend it. It also makes for a pretty stunning presentation, and is VERY easy to make (meringue isn't all that complex), so if you want to impress your friends, go for this dessert.

All in all, a great night. Makes me want to have another dinner party :-)

Shirley

A Perfect Lunch With Friends

[side note: for the writers out there, I'm starting a new workshop on my Just Write It list about conflict and emotion. Join if you write fiction and are interested!]

I had four friends over to the new house yesterday for lunch and it was wonderful. The company was fabulous (can't wait to have you all back, Julie, Cathy, Marci and Kayleen!) and the food turned out great, despite lots of stress on my part, LOL.

In case you're wondering, here's what I made:

Appetizer: Olive Medley Pinwheels (they were an award-winning Better Homes and Gardens recipe...the only problem I had was finding an olive bar at my local grocery store, so I ended up having to use canned olives. Sigh. Don't get me started again on my local grocery stores)

Beverage: Pomegranate Fizz: I saw this on Barefoot Contessa the other day and thought it looked good. I read the recipe on Food Network, then read all the comments and took people's advice. I added a full bottle of Pom Pomegranate Juice, to 3 1/2 cups of Sparkling Water (a one-third to two-third ration...the FN recipe has the wrong quantities; I saw that episode too and she did say and make 1/3 to 2/3s), then only squeezed in one half of a lime. I also added about a tablespoon or so of granulated Splenda (since I had that on hand and didn't see the need to buy Superfine sugar just for this). I didn't bother with the lime slices because I served it in champagne flutes.

Meal: Insalata Rustica (I totally love this salad. This time, I skipped the dried cherries, as people have said in the comments at Bon Appetit. I also didn't add mozzarella chunks because DH ate all the mozzarella, LOL. And...this time, I accidentally baked the grapes for like 40 minutes, and they were SO much sweeter. They were halfway to raisins and they were just SO yummy. Next time, I'll do them that long again. I had just enough salad left over for lunch the next day too and it was just as good the next day ;-).

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup with Spinach: this one was a recipe I kind of invented, after reading a "healthy" tomato tortellini and deciding it was too healthy, LOL.

French Bread with Parmesan Garlic Spread (I bought the bread and spread...had good intentions to bake from scratch but I ran out of time).

Dessert: Carrot-Cake Cupcakes...of course ;-)

A few tips for hosting something like this -- I did it up fancy, because...I wanted to. When my husband and I bought our dining room table, my daughter said it would be such a waste because no one ever uses their dining room except for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am SO not one of those people. I love eating in the dining room. Not just for parties, but with the family, too. We've eaten in there as a family a few times already, and after I get an easier-to-wash tablecloth, LOL, we'll be there more often.

I set the table the night before, got out the fancy silverware and the nice napkins. The wine glasses for ice water and the champagne flutes for the pomegranate drink. Really, how much more work is that? My dishwasher has wine stem holder thingies, so it's just as easy to wash those in there as it is regular glasses. And everyone gets a chance to feel special for an afternoon.

My friends asked me for the soup recipe (everyone had seconds and thirds). I haven't taken a picture of it even though I've made it twice, once for me to test the recipe I invented (I made it when I was sick and forgot) and then yesterday. I was going to photograph the last bowl, but then DH ate it, LOL.

This makes a big Dutch oven's worth of soup, so you have plenty of soup to eat. It's VERY good, IMO.

Don't skimp and use non-fresh ingredients in the places where it calls for fresh. The fresh makes a HUGE difference in the taste, believe me.

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup with Spinach

1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups chicken broth
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, Italian style
2 large basil leaves (fresh) or 4 small, chopped
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 small can tomato paste
1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, grated
8 ounces fresh Spinach leaves
8 ounces frozen Tortellini stuffed with cheese
1/2 cup heavy (or whipping) cream

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large Dutch oven (or similar pot). Add onion and garlic, cook and stir until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add chicken broth, tomatoes, basil, tomato sauce and paste. Bring to a boil and add Parmesan cheese. Add spinach leaves.

Using a hand blender (or a regular blender if you're not a clumsy person and can pour, blend, pour back), puree the soup in the pan. I know that sounds intimidating, but the trick to doing that is starting on low, with the base of the hand blender on the bottom of the pan. As you get more pureed and get more confident, you can turn up the speed. Puree until all the chunks of tomato are smooth, the spinach is minced, and the soup is well blended. Add tortellini and cook about 6 minutes, until tortellini is cooked through. Stir in heavy cream (add more if you want the soup to be creamier) and cook until heated through. Serve.

That's it! Start to finish, this soup takes...maybe 30 minutes, if that. It's really easy. And REALLY good. Not to mention good for you (except the heavy cream, but hey, life needs a little fat here and there ;-)

Shirley

Salad Cancels Cupcakes, Right?

Tonight, I was in a cooking mood (see what happens when I finish a book?) and decided to make Ina Garten's Carrot Cake Cupcakes. That's what I get for skimming an issue of Better Homes and Gardens just before I go to the grocery store ;-)

Anyway, because I decided to make something so rich and decadent for dessert, I had to cancel those out with something with less calories. Like salad. :-)

I had come across a recipe for Insalata Rustica in Bon Appetit--on that page where people write in about their favorite place they ate at, and ask for the recipe. I had most of the ingredients, but needed to go to another store to get the rest (remember, my Kroger doesn't carry anything as "unusual" as pine nuts). I ended up at Meijer. Which led to me finally finding polenta (!) and potato gnocchi (!) and so many other goodies I've been looking for (lots of fresh garlic! Sundried tomatoes! SHALLOTS!! Gruyere cheese!) that I spent three times my normal grocery budget there. Ummm...after already spending my regular grocery budget at Kroger two days earlier. Yeah. Had to tell DH I spent 4 times the normal amount this week. But I did use coupons ;-)

Anyway, long story short. The Insalata Rustica was AWESOME. The only change I made was adding chunks of fresh mozzarella cheese (not the soft white kind, the firmer kind you buy in a hunk). I like cheese and I like cheese with my prosciutto. So I added extra. It's a really good entertaining recipe, too. Looks GORGEOUS on the plate (my pic doesn't do it justice) and is just the right combo of sweet and savory.

The carrot cupcakes...I can't even begin to say enough good about them. They were worth every step. Even the little decorative carrot shavings on top (which get cooked in maple syrup!) were worth it. If you like carrot cupcakes or carrot cake, you MUST try these. I know my picture there is a bit blurry, but that's because I was in such a hurry to eat them ;-)

This was an Ina Garten recipe, as I said. The review on BHG said that person had burning issues with their stove. I had no such trouble, so I wonder if it was their stove, or what. Mine turned out perfectly, with just the teeniest bit of crunchiness on top. Perfection. Link to the recipe here.

FYI, the recipe says it makes 22. I got 24 out of the batter, and had extra frosting leftover. Yeah, I know, real bummer on the frosting. Really had to force myself to eat it ;-)

I think I can pretend these are good breakfast foods. I mean, they have raisins and carrots in them. Cream cheese is a dairy. That's good, right? :-)

Shirley

Two Quick and Easy Side Salads

I forgot to take pictures of these two before I brought them to a party. Sorry! Anyway, these are two quick and easy side salads, that you may have tried before.

Red Onion Broccoli Salad

1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
5-6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
3/4 cup Miracle Whip
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons vinegar

In a large bowl, mix broccoli, onion and half of sunflower seeds, along with half of bacon. In a small bowl, stir together Miracle Whip, sugar and vinegar. Toss dressing with broccoli mixture. Sprinkle remaining sunflowers and bacon on top of salad. Chill for one hour before serving.

Oriental Cole Slaw

1 pound package shredded cole slaw
1/2 of a small package sliced almonds
3 scallions, sliced
1 package ramen noodles, chicken flavor (or oriental works, too)
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used olive, BTW, and it worked out great)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons soy sauce
seasoning packet from soup


Break up the noodles into small pieces and mix in a large bowl with cole slaw, almonds and scallions. In a separate bowl, mix oil, sugar, vinegar, pepper, soy sauce and seasoning packet. Taste the dressing and add more soy sauce or sugar to taste. Toss dressing with cole slaw mix. Refrigerate at least 1/2 hour to let all flavors come together, before serving.

Both of these went over well at the potlucks I had to go to this week. And best of all, they were inexpensive and easy to put together :-)

Shirley

A Salad You'll Want Every Day!

A side note: I'm chatting online tonight, so be sure to stop by to win prizes and say hi!

I'm not a huge fan of the salad. I mean, I eat them. I have my favorites. Like Cobb. With lots and lots of bleu cheese dressing. And the Black and Bleu at O'Charley's. But most of the time when I'm eating salad, I feel like I'm being punished ;-) I'm a pasta girl, and I know pasta is the evil kiss of death for my hips, but I eat it anyway.

Then I came across this recipe, and after a few adaptations to make it more my own, because I wasn't happy with the dressing, I found a salad that I have eaten FOUR times already. And it's going to be my lunch today, too. :-)I've eaten it so often, and so quickly, that I kept forgetting to take a picture. Usually I have nice red Honeycrisp apples in it, but this day I had Golden Delicious in there instead, so you don't get to see the awesome contrast of colors as well. Honeycrisps are my favorite apples and they were all gone (because someone...er...me...ate them all). So I was stuck with my second favorite, the Golden D.

If you like apples and honey-mustard dressing, you have to try this. It was AWESOME. I highly suggest quadrupling the walnut recipe because I used them in other things, like my Candied Baked Apples.

Walnut Apple Feta Salad

Candied Walnuts:
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup walnut pieces
1 tablespoon sugar (or Splenda, that worked fine when I tried that, too)
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Salad:
3-5 cups salad mix of choice
1 apple, chopped
3/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Dressing: (and a tip--make this in a mini food processor if you want to save time. It makes life SO easy)
6 tablepoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon sugar


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Then, in a small skillet, melt butter and add sugar, pepper, and walnuts. Stir until sugar is melted and walnuts are coated. Spread onto baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes.

Assemble salad--lettuce, apples and feta. Mix the dressing, either in a food processor or with a whisk, until all ingredients are well incorporated. Drizzle over salad, then top with candied walnuts. Serve. Makes two servings, or one for a very hungry salad eater ;-)

If you don't want to eat all that right now, just cut the salad ingredients in half, throw the extra dressing in the fridge, put some lemon juice on the cut half of the apple and wrap it up, and put the extra walnuts in the fridge. It'll all keep for a day or two. :-)

Okay, now I'm hungry. Seriously. :-)

Shirley
PS: Look for Christmas Weddings in stores this month!

Apple Pear Salad and Peachy Pork Chops

I miss the Olympics already. Sigh. I have never watched so many sporting events in my life and now that the Olympics are over, it's like I don't know what to do with my TV. I ended up doing Pilates with Kathy Smith on my On Demand on Comcast this morning.

Now that's being desperate for sports. ;-)


Saturday night, I made Cola Barbecue Ribs from the Rachael Ray magazine. The ribs I had were not the best -- not sure what happened there because they sure looked good in the package and sure cost enough -- so the meal itself didn't turn out well, but the recipe was good. I do suggest, though, doing the sauce in like, half, because it took FOREVER to cook down. I found that taking half for the ribs for basting (it was thin, not thick), then using the other half to boil down into a syrupy sauce like you get in a rib place, was REALLY good. I just saved all the leftover sauce to put on a dinner later. Like on chicken or something.

I served the ribs with fresh corn on the cob (went back to the open-air market. YUMM-O) and an apple-pear salad.

Apple-Pear Salad

1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 apples sliced
2 pears, sliced
lettuce

whisk dressing ingredients together. Toss with apples and pears, and refrigerate for at least one hour. Top with nuts if you like those (I do :-) but I didn't have any on hand).

The night before, I made peachy pork chops. I know I'd said I was going to make pecan crusted pork chops, but the peaches I'd bought were just about to go bad, so I decided to use those up instead:


Peachy Pork Chops

4-6 boneless pork chops
1 egg
1 cup Bisquick
2 tablespoons corn meal (or if you don't have it, it's no big deal
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup butter
4 large peaches (I used two, I wished I'd doubled the recipe), sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix Bisquick, corn meal and salt and pepper. Dredge pork chops in egg, then Bisquick mix. Heat oil in pan, then fry pork chops on both sides until cooked through (about 6-8 minutes per side, if you have thin ones).

In a separate pan, melt the butter. Add peaches and brown sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved, peaches are softened. Spoon peach mixture over pork chops.

My kids LOVED the apple-pear salad. So much that they were eating it before it even hit the table. One kid isn't wild about peaches, but didn't mind them in "syrup" with the pork chops, so that meal was a pretty good hit. I served them with Asiago Red Potatoes, which I'll try to get up in a day or two. I didn't follow that recipe exactly, and maybe next time I will -- the real recipe was more work than I wanted, LOL.

Shirley

Layered Cauliflower Salad

A friend asked me for a good recipe to take to a potluck today and I realized I've never posted this fabulous and easy recipe a friend gave me ages ago. This might not be the exact recipe my friend gave me (you know how it is, you lose the exact recipe, so you just start winging it). I kind of add what I have on hand anyway :-)

Layered Cauliflower Salad
1/4 to 1/2 head cauliflower, chopped
1/4 to 1/2 head broccoli, chopped
1/4 red onion, diced
1/2 bag frozen peas, defrosted
4 green onions (scallions), chopped
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 to 6 slices bacon, cooked and diced

Dressing
1 cup Miracle Whip or regular Mayonnaise
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch mix

Layer the veggies in a deep bowl. Mix the dressing together. Just before serving, toss dressing with vegetables and serve. You can add other vegetables that you like to either replace or augment this salad. It's pretty much a what-you-like kind of salad :-). I've added sliced black olives when I've had them, too. And sometimes sunflower seeds. Sometimes croutons. Whatever is on hand and sounds yumm-o. :-).

I just got back from the Midwest Writers Workshop -- a lot of fun and VERY exhausting. More on that in a day or two when I get caught up!

Shirley

Decorating and Gorgonzola Cranberry Walnut Salad

Normally, I do all my Christmas decorations on the day after Thanksgiving but that Black Friday 4 a.m. thing (an hour earlier than normal) wiped me out. We were busy Saturday, so I had to wait until Sunday. Sheer agony for a Christmas freak like me, trust me!



But we got the decorations up, and my house was transformed from blah to holiday. One new addition to the decorations this year is my mother's manger set. When I visited my dad last year, he gave me her set, and we shipped it back home. She made this back in 1976, and we had it up at my parents' house every year after that, until she got sick. Everything made it okay, except the stable buildings, which shattered. I spent a huge amount of time puzzling them back into place with Super-Glue, and managed to get them all back together. My husband said it looked so wonderful, we should leave it up all year.


Now, I'm starting the planning ahead for Christmas dinners and dishes. All those ooey gooey calorie stuffed meals that I usually deny myself all year. :-) But tonight, I think I'll have salad again--a preparation for the cookies, and the candy cane bread, and the banana bread for breakfast (hmm...I do have bananas in the freezer, ready to go!).


Gorgonzola Cranberry Walnut Salad


1 bag Dole Lettuce Mix (any one you like, I prefer the 5 lettuce mix)
1/4 cup gorgonzola cheese (or blue, if you can't find gorgonzola), crumbled
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup Craisins
Kraft Rasberry Vinaigrette dressing (the Lite version works great)


Just assemble the salad and drizzle with dressing. It's as easy as that. This was awesome, though if you want to save some for the next day, don't put the dressing on, because it doesn't store well if it's soaking in dressing. My husband had one like this at Pizzeria Uno, and then they closed the one near us (sob-sob) so I had to improvise :-).


Now, where ARE those chocolate chips? And the sugar? I've got caloric room for cookies!


Shirley