Candied Pecan Salad

Ingredients:

Salad:

2 heads of leafy greens (Either romaine or bags of baby spinach)

3/4 c. Craisins

2 crisp apples (Granny Smith are best, but anything will work)

1 orange or orange juice (enough to toss apples in to prevent browning and add a little flavor)

2 oz. Gorgonzola crumbles (You can use blue cheese but I prefer Gorgonzola-- it's milder!)

3/4 c. chopped pecans (or walnuts if you prefer them)

1/3 c. sugar

Honey Red Wine Vinaigrette:

1/2 c. red wine vinegar

1/2 c. honey

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped or pressed

1 tsp. Kosher salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 c. vegetable or canola oil

Recipe:

For vinaigrette:

1. In a blender, combine vinegar, honey, garlic, salt, and pepper. Place lid on blender and blend on high. While blender is running, add oil in a steady stream. Store in refrigerator for up to 2-3 weeks. Shake well before serving.

For Salad:

1. Wash and chop lettuce. Set aside to dry.

2. To candy the nuts, combine walnuts and sugar in a small skillet over medium heat. Stir constantly. After a few minutes, the sugar will start to liquefy. Be very careful to stir constantly at this point so the sugar doesn’t burn. The syrup will begin to darken and will coat the nuts. As soon as they start to reach a golden brown color, remove from heat. Careful not to burn them! Stir occasionally as the nuts begin to cool. After a few minutes, spread candied nuts onto a greased piece of parchment or wax paper and allow to cool completely. Set aside.

3. If your cheese didn’t come crumbled, chop it very finely. You want small crumbles, not chunks. (On a side note, I am really not a fan of super strong cheeses, but this is a KEY ingredient in this salad. Since the crumbles are so tiny, you never bite into a huge chunk of cheese.)

4. Slice apples very thinly and toss in orange juice to prevent browning (I LOVE using OJ for this—It adds tons of great flavor).

5. When you’re ready to serve, toss lettuce, cranberries, walnuts, apples, and Gorgonzola in a large bowl. Add dressing if desired. It really is better all mixed together rather than on top, but the dressing will wilt any leftovers.

Rating: TBD

Once again, this is a recipe I didn't try. But, I looked delicious and I will be trying this one.

Source: Mary Baldwin

All-American Apple Pie

Ingredients:

~Crust~

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. vegetable oil

2 T. cold milk

1 1/2 t. white sugar

1 t. salt

~Apple Filling~

3/4 c. white sugar

3 T. all-purpose flour

3/4 t. ground cinnamon

1/2 t. ground nutmeg

6 Fuji apples, cored and sliced *

~Topping~

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. white sugar

1/2 c. cold butter (MUST be cold!)

* I always peel my apples. I'm not a fan of cooked skin.

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a large bowl, mix together ingredients for the crust until evenly blended. Pat mixture into a 9-inch pie pan, spreading the dough evenly over the bottom and up sides. *

3. Mix together the apple filling ingredients. Sprinkle over apples and toss to coat. Spread evenly in unbaked pie shell.

4. Using a pastry cutter, blend together the topping ingredients until evenly distributed and crumbly in texture. Sprinkle over apples.

5. Put pie pan on a 10x15 jellyroll pan to catch the juices that may spill over. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until golden. Let stand before serving.

*I normally do this, but today I decided to make individual servings by placing the crust in a muffin tin.

Rating: 4.5 of 5 (as a pie) and 4.75 of 5 (as individual servings)

I really like the straight up apple pie version of this recipe, but one thing I didn't like was who soupy it would turn out. I'm not sure how to avoid that since it's just the juices from the apples. I rated the individual servings slightly higher because it eliminated the juice problem for me. Either way, this is a super delicious recipe.

Source: AllRecipes Dinner Tonight, pg. 86