Fall Grape Salad with Blue Cheese and Walnuts (or Pecans)

In my area of the Pacific Northwest the weather is really lovely  as we transition from summer to fall. 
 Vegetable and fruit gardens are giving their best and  we seem to appreciate their bounty more ~ soon it will be time to put the garden beds to rest for the winter, the trees will drop their leaves and become dormant.
Although the days can warm up to the 80's and 90's ~ the evenings cool down to to low 60's making sleep comfortable.
Still spending lots of time outdoors during the day we look for easy, light meals ~ salads always seem fit the bill.

The first one I'm featuring this week is one I've made for several years, you've probably seen one like it or a variation ~ it goes well with grilled food, or as a salad meal by itself.





No recipe needed, just wash and slice your favorite combination of seedless grapes in half, slice some celery, tear some romaine lettuce into  bite-size pieces (I used baby romaine), crumble some blue cheese (can use feta cheese, goat cheese, or any cheese you like; if using a firm cheese, it works best if you dice it rather than shred it as it will hold it's shape and texture better.)
Instead of walnuts you can use whatever nuts you like. I always toast them in a 350ºF oven for a few minutes until lightly golden and fragrant.  As they cool they will become pleasantly crunchy and much more flavorful. 


Almost time to buy more.   (Hint: Always keep opened nut oils in the refrigerator,  they go rancid rapidly at room temperature.)

I always dress with a light vinaigrette  (I use Julia Child's recipe) just before serving.
If you have a nut oil that complements the nut you are using in the salad, by all means use it in your vinaigrette. But if not, grape seed oil or any neutral oil works well for this salad.
You can prepare this salad a couple of hours ahead (covered and refrigerated),  but do not add the toasted nuts, cheese, or dressing  until the last possible moment for best results.

I hope you're enjoying these final days of summer too.




Thank you for stopping by ~  your comments make my day!

~ Mari

The Novel Bakers ~ Gathering in the Garden ~ Part I

This time the Novel Bakers are cooking from "Gathering in the Garden", a cute book written by Shelley Snow and Elaine Husband.
Shelley and Elaine have been lifelong friends from the time they were young girls, growing up in much simpler times. If you're a baby boomer, you will easily identify with these two delightful women and some of  their experiences.
They had much in common then, (as we learn through the book),  and are still best friends some 50+ years later.
They and their families live in Tennessee ~  both women are recognized watercolorist;  their artwork is featured throughout the book.
This fun little gem of a book is filled with ideas for themed parties for today, and is interspersed with memories (at times hilarious) of their time growing up together.
~*~*~*~*~

I must say, this assignment has been a bit of a challenge for me since the forest fires around here drastically cut into the time we were able to spend outdoors ~ so this post was put together rather hastily (yesterday) on one of the first clear (ash free) and cooler days since the fires began in late July.

Ahem. I think I'm not so good at following 'themes' sometimes (that's just me...) So I skipped around and chose recipes from the book that fit in with what we normally eat.  I fudged a little and tweaked the recipes to suit our tastes. 



Not many cherry tomatoes this year, so I picked other tomatoes from the garden and made the Pickled Shrimp recipe (I omitted the olives and substituted sliced baby cucumbers from the garden.) 



Cover painting "Still Life with Blue Goblet" by co-author Shelley Snow. (watercolor)





I took some liberties and made a Roasted Bell Pepper and Crab Bisque,  because it complements the shrimp (though the soup recipe is not in the book.)  You can serve it hot or cold.




We're relishing the last few days of summer  here . . .




I served the soup with some slices of Asiago cheese bread.

Roasted Red Pepper soup with Crabmeat, garnished with Cilantro.





Tomato Salad from the garden harvest, drizzled with herb vinaigrette and served with Pickled Shrimp. I used the same vinaigrette for both the tomatoes and the shrimp... (see below.)

I love the fresh  colors of summer on a plate . . .




Fishy ~  Crate and Barrel glass tumblers from years ago.



 Zebra striped green tomatoes ~ one of my favorite varieties, very sweet and mild.






Savoring every fresh vine ripened tomato from the garden . . .








. . . because soon they will be gone. 
We won't be able to enjoy these treasures until next year.





Okay.
Truth in recipes . . . 
I didn't use the bottled dressing as the authors' recipe instructed.   I made my old tried and true simple dressing/marinade for the cooked shrimp:

Your favorite minced herbs  (I used fresh parsley and chives from the garden),  minced garlic if you want ~ a bit of oil, your favorite vinegar,  salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar or  other sweetener  just to mellow it a bit. 

You can't beat it ~ it's FRESH. And the bonus is, no synthetic taste, no chemicals or preservatives  (and costs only pennies.)





You can serve a few shrimp on the tomato salad . . .





. . .  or serve each person a bowl of shrimp.  :)





I hope you, too, are enjoying these last days of summer for this year.
Thank you for coming by to visit!


Please stop by Wednesday for the next post from our featured book.

And please do check the other Novel Bakers to see their fabulous impressions of  "Gathering in the Garden"

Unlike me, I'm sure they followed the rules . . .  ;-)



a quiet life blog
Rattlebridge Farm
Home is Where the Boat is

Bon Appétit!

Kale & Apple Salad with Candied Almonds

That last bunch of kale I bought was huge; too much for my little household to consume in one recipe, so here's what I made with the other half.  
I've never been very fond of raw kale (unless a little is added to whatever I'm juicing), but I'm a FAN of this recipe adapted from "Oak at Fourteenth"  the restaurant located in  Boulder, Colorado.
I changed it around just a little bit; and it received great reviews and thumbs up here . . .
You can prep all but the sliced apples up to a few hours ahead, refrigerate, then right before serving slice the apples, toss with the dressing,  then toss dressing & apples to the sliced kale and serve.





The original recipe called for the following ingredients:
Candied almonds
Granulated sugar
Honey Crisp apple, cut into thin rounds
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1 1/2 cups finely sliced kale
1 lemon, juiced
olive oil
Togarashi chile powder *
Salt to taste


Here's what I did differently ~
I omitted the grated Parmesan Added the zest and juice of one very sweet orange Reduced lemon juice to 1/2 of a small lemon Added a scant 1 Tablespoon of organic vinegar If you cannot find a sweet apple and a sweet orange, add honey, sugar or other sweetener to make the dressing pleasantly sweet.


The first thing to do is to make the candied almonds (or you can use commercially prepared almonds like Honey-Roasted.) But I have to tell you the homemade candied almonds are very excellent (and addictive!) -- so you'll probably want to double the batch for munching while you're putting together the salad, and extra to serve alongside at serving time.  :)



The next step is to remove the tough stem from each kale leaf (discard), then slice each leaf crosswise into thin strips (about 1/4 to 1/8-inch), and give them a little chop to the kale pieces fork-managable.
I like to use my Kyrocera ceramic knife* for prepping this salad ~ it's razor sharp blade and makes quick work of the kale (and the thinly sliced apple.) 




Next prep the dressing~
Zest the orange, then squeeze the juice and pour into a small mixing bowl.




Then juice 1/2 of the lemon, (reserve the other half for another use.)



Whiskthe juices together with the vinegar, taste and add honey or other sweetener to taste, then whisk in the olive or grape seed oil. Season with sea salt  and freshly ground black pepper to taste.





Slice the sweet apple into thin slices and toss with the dressing. Pour dressing and apples over the sliced kale and mix thoroughly.
Plate up, scatter almonds over the top of the greens, pass the  Togarashi seasoning at the table for each diner to add to taste.






I hope you'll give this recipe a try, even if you're skeptical about raw kale, prepared this way even those who don't care for kale just may become converts!
Thanks for stopping by today, friends.
xo~m



Source List
Links to some ingredients and tools used in this post:
*Nanami Togarashi or Shichimi Togarashi

 Either of these two Japanese seasonings are what make this salad unique. Nanami Togarashi contains: Chili powder, orange peel, sesame seeds, Japanese pepper, ginger and seaweed. Shichimi Togarashi contains: Orange peel, sesame seeds; (black, white and toasted), cayenne, ginger, Szechuan pepper, nori (seaweed.)
OXO Good Grips Zester  (click to learn more)
Eco Friendly Glass Citrus Juicer
OXO Good Grips 9-Inch Whisk

Kyocera Knife
Spectrum Organic Brown Rice Vinegar
Eden Foods French Sea Salt

John Boos 18-by-12-Inch Reversible Maple Cutting Board

Arugula & Roasted Baby Beet Salad with Walnuts & Fried Sage

One of my favorite salads can be made all year around,  but it's particularly suited to fall and winter ~ I love the colors and deep flavors of this one. And if you've been following along with my blog for any length of time you know I love simple, delicious food preps which I can keep in my head (no actual "recipe" required!)
This is one of those:
Oven roasted (or steamed) beets ~ regular size beets (peeled and sliced after cooking) will do,  but this time I used baby beets.
Washed and drained arugula (you can use baby spinach, or romaine, butter lettuce, etc. if you like)
Crumbled Blue cheese, (can substitute your favorite cheese, or omit entirely)
Toasted nuts of your choice.  I used walnuts this time, but I've made it with hazelnuts,  or pecans before. Use the nuts you like, but do toast them lightly on a shallow rimmed sheet pan in the oven for a couple of minutes, then cool. Toasting really brings out the flavor.
Optional: shallow fry a few fresh sage leaves for a minute or two until crispy, set on paper towel to cool. Crumbled, crisp bacon works well with this one too.



Drizzle with your favorite vinaigrette ~ I particularly like this White Balsamic Vinaigrette . The dressing has just a touch of sweetness which pairs  very well with the components of this salad.
I alway finish the salads with a quick shower of  freshly ground black pepper.
If you give this one a try, I hope you like it as well as I do.
Have a wonderful week everyone!
Be blessed. ~m. xo

Ranch Dip & Dressing ~ the HEALTHY way

I was pleased to see that a version of very low fat "Lighter Ranch Dip" appears in the current edition of "Everyday Food" magazine because I practically gag on the synthetic taste of the commercial low-fat Ranch Dressing.  I made the EF recipe, and although it is simple to make and healthy it seemed to be lacking flavor, and understandably so ~ that version is seasoned with only thyme leaves, garlic and salt and pepper. That's not ranch as we all know it!

It looked like Ranch Dip/Dressing, but I found the taste quite disappointing. So I played around with the recipe a bit and arrived at my own version which I think is infinitely more flavorful. It requires just a couple of additional ingredients, but those don't add any calories, just more flavor.

While the original recipe called for low-fat Greek-style yogurt, and whole fat mayonnaise ~ I used 0% fat Greek-style yogurt (Fage brand), and Best Foods/Hellman's low fat mayonnaise, further trimming the fat to less than 30 calories, and negligible fat per each serving size (2 slightly heaping tablespoons each.) Of course you could still use the low fat yogurt and whole fat mayo, and it would still be much lower in fat than traditional Ranch Dip.

The additional seasonings I added were minced chives (green stems of scallions/green onions, finely minced, could be substituted), onion powder, minced parsley, and dried dill weed. I also added a small squeeze of fresh lemon juice (optional.) Just those few ingredients made a huge difference in the appeal of this dip. To change the dip into a dressing, simply thin with low or non-fat milk to achieve the consistency you like.

As suggested in the magazine other uses for the lighter dip are:

Sandwich spread, particularly chicken or turkey sandwiches

Substitute for mayonnaise in tuna or chicken salad

Condiment alongside chicken or fish

Dressing for pasta salad

And there is another delicious way I use this, which I'll share shortly in an upcoming post.

If you would like a printable copy of my version of lighter Ranch Dip/Dressing you'll find it on the Once Upon a Plate recipe site.

Thanks for coming by for a visit ~ I hope you have a delicious day!