salad dressing
I really enjoy a nice crisp salad especially in the fall with an apple thrown in! I served this salad as a side dish at Thanksgiving. It really brought such a nice, fresh, crisp dish to the table. Sometimes the holiday meals are so rich and heavy this was a nice change of pace. It also makes you feel a little better about that piece of pie you’re going to eat a little later!! I did not measure any of the salad ingredients. I just tossed it all in to my taste, so feel free to do the same!
INGREDIENTS
Romaine hearts, chopped
Baby spinach leaves
1 Granny Smith apple, diced
Candied pecan pieces (I found them by the salad dressings in the grocery store)
Goat cheese, crumbled
Pomegranate perils
APPLE CIDER DRESSING
2 Tablespoons honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup good quality olive oil
Salt
Pepper
DIRECTIONS
For the dressing, simply mix everything together shaking well to incorporate all of the ingredients.
For the salad, mix the amount of greens you want in a bowl and add the diced apple, pecans, goat cheese and pomegranate. I let everyone add their own amount of dressing.
Enjoy!
This salad is so good! I ate a lot of salad over the summer and when school started back up, I went right into comfort food. Not really the best thing to do. But I wanted to make something for Craig who is a good friend who took some time out of his day to custom make something for me. (You will be seeing and hearing about that a little later) . Craig asked me to make him a dessert so I did that, but also wanted to make him something a little more so this was it! He and his shift at the fire station were able to enjoy this delicious fall salad.
INGREDIENTS
Pomegranate infused craisins
Granny Smith apple
pear
Romaine lettuce
Goat cheese
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 clove garlic
1 lime, juiced
salt
pepper
Pumpkin Pie Spiced Pecans (recipe below)
2 cups pecan halves
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 Tablespoons maple syrup
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with non stick foil and spray with non stick spray. Put the pecans on the prepared baking sheet, sprinkle with pie spice,chili powder and sea salt. Drizzle with olive oil and maple syrup. Mix well coating all of the pecans. Bake for 15 minutes stirring every five minutes. Remove from oven, stir and let cool. Store in air tight container.
Poppy Seed Dressing (recipe below)
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup milk (I used 1 percent)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
pinch of salt
Combine all dressing ingredients and whisk until well blended. Store in the refrigerator.
DIRECTIONS
The chicken will need to marinade for 2-4 hours. Add the vegetable oil, rice vinegar, sugar, garlic, lime salt, and pepper to a heavy duty resealable plastic bag, mix well and add the chicken. Keep in fridge for 2-4 hours, remove from bag, then bake (keep covered with foil while baking) in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or until cooked completely through. When the chicken is done and cooled, chop the chicken into bite size pieces.
To assemble the salad start with the romaine lettuce and add the craisins, apple, pear, prepared pecans, goat cheese and the chicken. Top with the dressing and serve. I like the chicken to be slightly warm when I serve this!
Enjoy,
It’s maple season! I could not resist another maple syrup recipe, and a delicious one! There is nothing better or easier than homemade salad dressing’s. They are so much better than most store bought dressings . Don’t get me wrong, I buy plenty of dressing’s but if you look in my fridge right now I have three mason jars of home made dressing’s… I just might have to go buy more salad fixing’s!
INGREDIENTS
2 minced garlic cloves
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
Juice from 1 medium lemon
1-2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon salt
fresh ground pepper
Put all ingredients in a mason jar and mix well to combine.
NOTE
This recipe came from Food Network Magazine
Enjoy!
This is a great summer salad! I know at this point in the winter we are all ready for a fresh salad! This salad has a couple steps but I would highly suggest DOUBLING the recipe for the sugared pecans as they are so tasty, we could not stop eating them!
I added chicken to this recipe and used the same chicken marinade and cooking method I did in the Thai chicken salad.
It made a wonderful lunch!!!
INGREDIENTS
Fresh baby spinach
Sliced strawberries
Fresh blackberries
Sugared pecans (recipe below)
Creamy poppy seed dressing (recipe below)
SUGARED PECANS
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups pecan halves
1/4 cup white sugar
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the pecans and stir to coat well.Sauté the pecans until they are fragrant, about one or two minutes. Sprinkle with sugar and continue stirring as the sugar melts and coats the nuts. This should take about five minutes. Remove from heat and place the pecans on parchment paper. Let cool and store in an airtight container.
POPPYSEED DRESSING
3/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup milk (I used 1%)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of poppy seeds
1/2 teaspoon of dry mustard
pinch of salt
Combine all ingredients and whisk until smooth. Transfer to a mason jar or other container and store in the fridge for up to one week.
Enjoy!
Slightly adapted from barefeetinthekitchen.com
The title says it all! This is hands down our favorite salad! BIG FLAVOR!
This salad does take some time for the chicken marinade, chopping, dressing AND a peanut sauce! All of that for just one salad! It is well worth the effort!
CHICKEN MARINADE
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons of rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 clove of garlic
1/2 bunch of cilantro
1 lime, juiced
salt
pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
SALAD
2 Hearts of romaine, chopped
2 or 3 handfuls of already made coleslaw mix
1 cucumber (peeled and chopped)
1 red bell pepper
5 scallions
1/2 bunch of cilantro
1 cup salted peanuts
DRESSING
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
salt
pepper
PEANUT SAUCE
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
4 Table spoons reduced sodium soy sauce
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup water
DIRECTIONS
In a ziploc bag , combine all the ingredients for the chicken marinade. Mush it around, then let marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Cook chicken on the grill until done or bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Allow the chicken to cool slightly and cut into bite size pieces.
Combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl.
Mix dressing ingredients together .
Mix peanut sauce ingredients together
To build salad individually, place salad ingredients in a bowl , add some of the dressing and mix. Add chicken and drizzle with peanut sauce.
Notes: I like to make the dressing and peanut sauce in medium size mason jars mixing well.
Add water to the peanut sauce cautiously , you want to be able to drizzle it over the chicken. If you make this after the peanut sauce has been in the refrigerator warm in the microwave slightly to drizzle easier.
Recipe adapted from wwwtasteandtell.com
