Tuesday, October 6, 2009

A Fall Salad

Crisp. Bright. Cool. Colorful. Crunch. These words say "fall". And so does this salad. With its crisp leaves of spinach or romaine, bright colors of dried cranberries and red apples, a cool and refreshing lemon juice dressing, the addition of cheese and some extra crunch added with nuts, this salad (or one of its many variations) is perfect for this time of year.

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Spinach or torn romaine leaves (or both)
1 apple, thinly sliced (or substitute pear)
dried cranberries (or raisins, golden raisins, dried cherries, dried blueberries)
toasted pecans (or walnuts, slivered almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, or candied nuts)
shavings of parmesan (or crumbled feta or Gorgonzola)

Dressing:
1 lemon, juiced
canola oil (twice the amount of lemon juice)
salt & pepper to taste

Mix the salad greens and place in a salad bowl. Mix together the lemon juice, oil, salt & pepper (I use a little jar with a lid). Shortly before serving, slice the apple into the greens, toss in some dried cranberries, a handful of toasted nuts, and some parmesan shavings. Toss salad with dressing and serve immediately.

4 comments:

  1. I love raisins on salads. If I make my own at home I add raisins, crunchy oriental crackers with seaweed, sunflower seeds, and some time shredded cheese. Many people despise cottage cheese, but I love it and put it on my salads as well. I top it with a sweet poppy seed dressing (my favorite is at Trader Joe's ...so good). See what you think.

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  2. This salad looks wonderful! Will be trying it tonight (pork roast and sweet potatoes also on the menu). Thanks, Heather

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  3. Interesting tidbit...
    While at the local apple orchard, I asked what apples were "in season" and found out a lot...

    Poor storage apples - meaning it is better to cook and they must be kept in the frig:
    Lodi (Early/mid July), Jersey Mac (mid/late July), Earligold (Mid/late July), Paula Red (Mid/late July), Akane (Late July and Aug.), Mollies Delicious (Mid Aug early Sept.) and McIntosh (late Aug mid Sept.)

    Good Storage:
    Ginger Gold #1 good eating apple (Early to mid Aug), Gala #1 sweet eating apple (Mid Aug/late Oct.), Golden Supreme (Mid to late Aug.), Honey Crisp (late aug/late sept.), Early Fuji (late Aug/mid Sept.), Grimes Golden (Sept.), Jonathan (early sept/mid nov.) Cortland (early sept/late oct), Red and Golden Delicious and Jonagold (mid sept/mid nov)

    Best storage apples:
    Melrose (mid sept/late oct), Ida red (late sept/mid nov), Scarlet beauty, Turley Winesap and Mutsu/Crispin (late sept to mid nov), Braeburn Late Sept/mid Oct), Stayman, Granny Smith and Fuji (Early Oct to mid nov), Black Twig (mid Oct/mid Nov)

    How about them apples? haha!

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  4. Salad update: I made this salad, but added cooked chicken (had some leftover from fajitas last week) for a quick late-night supper Monday night w/hubby. We both loved the fall flavors combined on the salad. Weren't sure we'd like the lemon juice dressing, but we did!

    Plan for Sunday night: make the salad, add leftover grilled pork tenderloin (lemon and garlic seasoned) for another quick main-dish salad. Sunday night suppers are simple affairs around here.

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