Rosemary Focaccia

Apparently focaccia is not very photogenic.  I took 6 pictures of the finished product, and posted the least bad one here.  Everyone really liked this, but it doesn't look very good.  It smelled fabulous while it was cooking, so we knew it would taste good, too.  Interestingly, the picture in the cookbook looks pretty good.  But who knows what tricks and what kind of professional photographer Southern Living has?  I have none of those bells and whistles.  I have no tricks, and a cell phone camera.  Also, instead of using fresh rosemary, which I have no way to "finely chop" as the recipe directs, I used Italian seasoning.  I figured that would make it more palatable for the younger set, too.  The other modification that I made to this was to replace the olive oil and minced garlic with Garlic Infused Oil that I just got from Tastefully Simple (a friend of mine recently started selling...let me know if you want more info and I can get you her number).  This made it so much easier, since I didn't have to mince garlic (which actually isn't that hard but still) and it eliminated that step.  We had this with stuffed shells, which is one of Steve's favorite meals.  The kids really like it, too.

Rosemary Focaccia
2 pkg active dry yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp)
2 cups warm water (105-115 degrees)
6 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves, divided
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup olive oil, divided
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp finely ground pepper

Combine yeast and warm water in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup; let stand 5 minutes.

Place 4 cups flour in a large bowl; make a well in center.  Add yeast mixture; stir until a soft dough forms.  Cover and let rise in a warm place (no problem yesterday) free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in bulk (dough will be spongy).

Sprinkle remaining 2 cups flour on a flat surface.  Turn dough out onto flour and knead until all the flour is incorporated to make a firm dough (harder than it sounds but I managed).  Gradually knead in butter, 1/4 cup rosemary, and 1 tsp salt (crazy messy--Nathan was laughing at me, and kept saying things like, "I can't believe you're doing that!").  Knead until dough is smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes), adding additional flour if necessary.

Brush 2 15x10-inch jelly roll pans with 2 tbsp olive oil (here I used the Garlic Infused Oil).  Set aside.  Divide dough in half.  Roll each portion into a 15x10 inch rectangle, and place in prepared pans.  Cover and let rise in a warm place 30-45 minutes or until dough is almost doubled in bulk.

Using fingertips, dimple the dough all over in both pans; sprinkle with minced garlic and remaining rosemary.  Drizzle with remaining 6 tbsp olive oil (here again I used the garlic oil and skipped using any minced garlic), and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper.

Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until golden.  Cut or tear into squares (I tore it--one less knife to wash).

So this took a little while, and was messier than I planned on.  Also I was kind of waiting for it to brown up, and because of that I think I might have left it in the oven a bit too long, so it was a bit drier and firmer than I think it should have been .  But overall it was good, and everybody liked it.  I was excited to use the new oil, too.

Cinnamon Toasty Fruity Delight

This is kind of a cross between french toast and pancakes.  I said we could call it Francakes.  One of the kids said we could call it Pantoast.  I think I like Francakes better, although they both sound weird.  I don't like the original name either, though, it sounds too...I don't know.  Something.  This recipe came from Southern Living.

Cinnamon Toasty Fruity Delight
2 cups pancake mix
1 1/2 cups water
(instead of buying pancake mix, I used my own pancake batter recipe, then added the vanilla and cinnamon)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp vegetable oil
8 cinnamon bread slices
2 bananas, sliced
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Maple syrup

Whisk together the first 4 ingredients.

Melt 1/2 tbsp butter and 1/2 tbsp oil in large skillet over medium heat (I just used cooking spray and sprayed in between each one).  Dip 2 bread slices in batter; cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden.  Repeat procedure with remaining butter, oil, bread slices, and batter.

Top with bananas and pecans.  Serve with maple syrup.

So good!  Of course not everyone had the bananas and pecans. Sam said blueberries might be yummy instead of the bananas.  I think they would be, too.  I did this in a skillet, like it said, and I could only make 2 at a time.  That annoyed me, and next time I will use my griddle and do 6 pieces at once.

Orange Blueberry Freezer Jam

We have our own blueberry bushes, and every year we get a lot of berries from them.  I make pies, crisps, cobblers, coffee cakes.  I add berries to yogurt, make Blueberry Fool.  All kinds of things.  I saw this recipe in Simple & Delicious, so I thought I would try it.  Freezer jam is easier than regular jam, I think.  I had to buy jars.  And sterilize them.  And in the recipe it says to use plastic jars, but Hannaford only had glass jars that said "Freezer Safe."  So I called my mom, who was eating lunch with my sister at Red Robin in Augusta.  It was very noisy.  She said it was fine, and she always made her freezer jam in glass jars.  So I proceeded.  I made a big mistake though, at the beginning.  Where it says "blueberries, crushed" I forgot to crush them, but didn't realize my mistake til the last step.  This resulted in another call to my mom, who did not have much hope for this jam.  But I give you the recipe anyway, in case you're better at this than I am...just for extra fun, I decided at the outset to double this recipe since we have such an abundance of blueberries.  So, double the fail...

Orange Blueberry Freezer Jam
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 medium orange
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, crushed
1 pouch (3 oz) liquid fruit pectin

Rinse four clean 1-cup plastic containers with lids with boiling water.  Dry thoroughly.

Preheat oven to 250.  Place sugar in a shallow baking dish; bake 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, finely grate 1 tbsp peel from orange.  Peel and chop orange.

In a large bowl, combine the blueberries (which should be crushed by now), warm sugar, grated peel, and chopped orange.  Let stand for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the pectin; stir constantly for 3 minutes to distribute pectin (by the end of the 3 minutes I realized my mistake...).

Immediately fill all containers to within 1/2-inch of tops.  Wipe container rims; immediately cover with lids.  Let stand at room temperature until set, up to 24 hours.  Jam is now ready to use.

Refrigerate for up to 3 weeks or freeze up to 12 months.  Thaw frozen jam in refrigerator before serving.

Okay, here's what I did at the end of the 3 minutes, when I realized this just looks like blueberries floating in white syrup.  #1: Panic.  #2: grab the potato masher and go crazy smooshing berries  #3: enlist the husband's help smooshing berries; he's stronger than I am.  #4, after realizing mashing them wasn't working:  Pour mixture, in two batches, into awesome Cuisinart blender and hit "puree."  Mixture looks more promising at this point, although still not like the picture in the magazine.  Proceeded to fill jars and hope for the best.

Right now it is 7 hours post-pour and the jam has still not "set."  I think when I tip a jar the "jam" inside shouldn't move.  Mine still does.  Besides not crushing the berries and not getting the sugar all blue, I also did not do either thing "immediately" that I was supposed to.  My mom says the worst case scenario is that this becomes ice cream topping instead of jam.  But I don't want 8 jars of that.  Maybe by morning it will look right...

 

Sour Cream Cinnamon Buns

I don't like sour cream as a condiment.  It reminds me way too much of mayo.  But I have discovered through the making of many new recipes that cakes and pastries made with sour cream are usually very good.  So I decided to try these this morning.  Now, when I say "this morning," I mean "they were done before noon so technically that's still morning."  I had grand plans to be up early, not too early because it is Saturday, but not too late either.  Well, I made it to the kitchen by 8:45...made coffee, had to put the clean dishes away, because I can't cook until I do...these were ready by 10:30.  Everyone had already had breakfast by then (except me), so we had these for more like an early lunch.  Instead of using the icing that it says to, I used leftover caramel frosting from last night's cookie recipe.  From Southern Living.

Sour Cream Cinnamon Buns
8 oz sour cream
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 pkg (or 2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk

Heat sour cream in a small saucepan over medium-low heat to 105-115 degrees (that was so gross).  Combine warm sour cream, 2 tbsp butter, 3 tbsp sugar, salt, and baking soda in large mixing bowl.  Add egg and yeast; blend well.  Add 1 1/2 cups flour; beat at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended.  Gradually stir in remaining flour.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead lightly 4 or 5 times.  Cover and let rest 5 minutes.

Roll dough into 18x6 inch rectangle; spread 2 tbsp softened butter over dough.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Roll up dough, starting with short side, pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets; pinch seam to seal.

Slice roll into 12 (1 1/2 inch) slices.  Place slices, cut side down, in greased muffin pan (here I had a problem, as the diameter of the slices was larger than the diameter of my muffin pan holes...I would put them in but they wouldn't fit, and the centers were sinking down in...I knew they wouldn't look right or rise right if they were all crumpled up, so after the third one I decided to place them on a cookie sheet...they spread kind of a lot, but at least they kept the right shape).  Cover and let rise 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 12-15 minutes or until golden.  Remove buns from pan immediately; let cool on wire rack.  Combine powdered sugar and milk; drizzle over buns.  (I served mine warm...)

So.  These were good.  But not great.  A lot of work.  I wanted "wow" and for them to basically melt in my mouth.  It didn't really happen that way.  Steve really really liked these.  I think, though, that I shall not make them again...also I don't like how the picture makes them look...see how they spread out?  But they would have looked deformed if I'd done the muffin-pan way.  So oh well.

Caramel-Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies

I made these for home fellowship.  It seemed like something everyone would like, and that I should not make just for our own family's consumption.  I completely forgot to take a picture of them, but just imagine little whoopie pies, but the cakes are chocolate chip cookies and the filling is caramel frosting.  This one came from Simple & Delicious.

Caramel-Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Filling:
6 tbsp butter, cubed
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp 2% milk
1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, then honey and vanilla.  In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

For filling, in small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Stir in brown sugar and milk; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cook and stir until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat; cool to room temperature (oops, somehow I overlooked this part and it wasn't cooled...I ended up using almost double the powdered sugar to get the right consistency...oh well it all ended up fine).  Beat in enough confectioners' sugar to reach desired consistency.

Spread 1 1/2 tsp filling (I certainly did not measure) onto bottoms of half of the cookies; cover with remaining cookies.

We had some of the filling left over, so I used it the next morning on cinnamon rolls, and it was good.  These cookies went fast, and the finished product was so scrumptious.  I will say the cookie dough did not taste anywhere near as good as the dough from my usual recipe, so I consumed much less.  Depending on what day it is, that could either be very good or very bad.   We will definitely have these again.  Yum yum.

Hot Brown

I have never heard of a Hot Brown.  It is, I learned through the blurb under the recipe, a hot sandwich made famous by the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky.  It sounded like something we would like.  I really like hot turkey sandwiches made with Thanksgiving leftovers.  So we had this one...from Southern Living.

Hot Brown
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp salt
8 slices bread, toasted
1 pound sliced cooked turkey breast
8 slices bacon, cooked and drained
4 slices tomato (nope...I don't like raw tomatoes...)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat; add flour, stirring til smooth.  Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Gradually add milk and broth; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick and bubbly.  Stir in cheddar cheese and salt, and continue stirring until cheese melts.  Remove from heat.

(The following directions confused me, and a trip to Google didn't help...so I don't know if I did the assembly right...) Cut 4 slices of toast in half diagonally.  Place 2 halves, cut side in, with 1 whole slice in center, on an ovenproof plate or 15x10 inch jelly roll pan.  Repeat with remaining toast (ummmm, okay...).  Top each with turkey, cheese sauce, 2 slices bacon crisscrossed, tomato slice, and 2 tbsp parmesan cheese.

Broil 3 inches from the heat for 2-3 minutes or just until bubbly.  Serve hot.

Okay.  Sam loved this.  I thought it was weird.  It looked like gravy but tasted cheesy.  The bacon was good, but weird with the sauce.  The parmesan cheese added another layer of "what???"  Nathan pulled his turkey out, scraped everything off it, and only ate that.  Emma did okay.  It was definitely a fine meal, would be good for a lunch or something, but I still don't know if I liked it.

Stuffed French Toast

Another good Breakfast For Supper recipe.  We had this with bananas, and it was a complete meal.  Fruit salad would be good with it, too.  It had a bunch of steps, but not really hard ones.  Most of the stuffed french toast recipes I've seen have cream cheese filling, and I don't really like cream cheese like that, so I've avoided making them.  These are stuffed with ham and cheese though, and are sort of like a Monte Cristo type thing.  From Southern Living.

Stuffed French Toast
1 loaf (16 oz) french bread, sliced into 18 slices (I bought "wheat" french bread and it was only 13 oz and I only got 14 slices out of it)
1 lb thinly sliced deli ham, diced
9 slices swiss cheese
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter, divided
Powdered sugar and syrup for serving

Place 9 (or 7) bread slices in a single layer in a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish; top evenly with ham, cheese, and remaining bread slices.

Whisk together eggs, milk, orange juice, and vanilla; pour over bread slices.  Let stand 10 minutes, turning once.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in large skillet over medium-high heat; add half of the french toast and cook 1-2 minutes on each side.  Place on a lightly greased 10x15 jelly roll pan.  Repeat procedure with remaining butter and french toast.

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes (mine only took 15 so be careful) or until golden.  Serve with powdered sugar and syrup.

So my youngest immediately pulled his apart, just ate the ham, and declared himself done.  I did convince him to eat one bite of the the french toast part, which after two chews he said he liked, but after a few more said "no, I don't."  The rest of us really really liked it.  It was a bit hard to flip the sandwiches over without the ham and cheese falling out, but I managed.  This would be really good with bacon, too, but you'd have to precook it.

Skinny Parmesan Twists

These are not healthy.  They are thin-in-diameter breadsticks.  I didn't want the name to mislead you.  From Southern Living.

Skinny Parmesan Twists
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp caraway seeds or grated Parmesan cheese

Combine butter, 1 cup cheese, and sour cream, beating well at medium speed with an electric mixer.  Combine flour and Italian seasoning.  Gradually add to butter mixture, beating until smooth.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface; divide in half.  Roll 1 portion of dough into a 12x7-inch rectangle, and cut into 6x1/2-inch strips.

Twist each strip 2 or 3 times, and place on greased baking sheets.  Repeat procedure with remaining dough.

Combine egg yolk and water; brush over breadsticks.  Sprinkle with caraway seeds or additional grated Parmesan cheese (I used garlic salt).  Bake at 350 for 10-11 minutes (mine took more like 15 but I used stoneware) or until golden brown.

These came out awesome!  We had it with pasta and sauce.  They weren't as "bready" as you'd think a breadstick would be.  The texture was smoother, and the flavor was awesome.  I'm glad I went with garlic salt on top.  I did have some caraway seeds, but that is the part that I usually pick out of the sausage on pizza, so I didn't feel like adding it to breadsticks.  I'm sure sprinkling them with more Parmesan cheese would have been yummy as well.  We will have these again for sure.

Four-Way Cincinnati Chili

I have no idea why this is called "Four-Way."  I have never made Cincinnati Chili before, so I don't know what "One-Way" Cincinnati Chili would be like.  My best friend from junior high's mom is the first person I knew who made this, and she posts quite often on her facebook wall about making it still.  When I saw this recipe in the Southern Living cookbook I'm going through, it made me think of her fondly.  So I decided to try it.

Four-Way Cincinnati Chili
1 pound ground beef
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp pepper
2 (14 1/2 oz) or 1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped (I did this right in the pan, I'll tell you when)
8 oz uncooked dried spaghetti
Condiments: shredded cheddar cheese, chopped onion (nope, then the kids wouldn't eat it), oyster crackers

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large skillet; cook over medium heat until meat is cooked through.

Stir in cinnamon and next 9 ingredients (dump in the tomatoes, then break them up into pieces with a wooden spoon or spatula...I have a nylon Pampered Chef knife that I used).  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While beef mixture simmers, cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain and return to pan.

To serve, place pasta on individual serving plates; spoon beef mixture over spaghetti.  If desired, top with cheese, onions, and oyster crackers.

This came out SO GOOD!  It's not spicy at all, like you think chili will be.  The cinnamon and nutmeg et al gave it a very sweet delicious flavor.  Everybody liked this, although the two youngest didn't like the tomato chunks.  When I make "regular" chili, they don't like the beans, so they really liked that this one didn't have any beans to pick out.  It was different having it over spaghetti, almost like it wasn't even chili, but spaghetti and meat sauce.  Seriously, so good.  We're definitely having this again.

Gingerbread Scones

Breakfast for supper happens a lot around here.  We had these this week with scrambled eggs and bacon.  I really like the spices and flavors involved with gingerbread.  I remember my mom making gingerbread sometimes when I was young, in an 8x8 pan, and she would serve us squares of it with whipped cream on top.  Yum.  So I wanted to try these, even though I wasn't sure how the kids would receive them.  From Southern Living.

Gingerbread Scones
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup milk

Combine first 5 ingredients together; cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.  Combine molasses and milk; add to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened (I had to add a few more drops of milk to get to this point).  Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead lightly 4 or 5 times.

Divide dough in half; shape each portion into a ball.  Pat each ball into a 5-inch circle on an ungreased baking sheet.  Cut each circle into 6 wedges, using a sharp knife; do not separate wedges.

Bake at 425 for10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.  Serve warm.

Yum.  Kind of like gingerbread biscuits.  I put them upside down on plates and spread the bottoms with butter before serving them.  Everyone liked them.  I had two the next day for breakfast and they weren't quite as good, but they were still okay.  A very good breakfast food.

Cracker Snackers

This is the thing I ended up bringing to the baby shower since the Mocha Macaroon Cookies were a fail.  I was planning on bringing this anyway, but this became my only contribution.  Oh, and Coffeemate.  This one is from the Southern Living cookbook that I'm working through.

Cracker Snackers
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
11 oz pkg oyster crackers (these are smaller now...I think the bag I got was only 10 oz)
1 envelope (0.7 oz) Italian dressing mix (they recommended Good Seasons so that's what I got)
1 tsp dried dill weed
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Combine oil and garlic; let stand 30 minutes.  Discard garlic.

Place crackers in a bowl; sprinkle with oil.  Combine dressing mix, dill weed, and garlic powder; sprinkle over crackers, stirring well.  Let stand 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.  Store in air-tight container.  Yield: 6 cups

This was nice and easy.  The perfect thing to do while waiting for mocha macaroons to set (which they never did).  This came out crazy garlicky.  That's good if you like garlic.  I munched on a couple to taste them, and I thought they were good.  I had a few at the baby shower, and they were good.  I came home with about half of them, so they weren't a huge hit.  The next day I had a small bowl of them, and that wasn't good.  So these are only good in small doses.  

Mocha Macaroon Cookies

I love cooking and baking, and I've gotten pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.  But every once in a while there comes along a very humbling recipe, the kind where I call my mom and say "what do I do now?"  This was that kind of recipe.  I attempted to make these for a baby shower.  Since they are mocha flavored, I knew they wouldn't be a hit at home, plus I wasn't sure how the coconut would go over.  I've never made regular macaroons, which would have perhaps helped me with this adaptation.  Here is the recipe, even though I am not endorsing this one.  From Simple & Delicious.

Mocha Macaroon Cookies
2 tsp instant coffee granules
2 tsp hot water
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 pkg (14 oz) flaked coconut
2/3 cup white baking chips, melted
Plain or chocolate-covered coffee beans (omitted by me, but the recipe went south long before this omission)

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, dissolve coffee granules in hot water.  Stir in condensed milk, melted chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt until blended.  Stir in coconut.  Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until set (what if this is never?).  Cool on pans 1 minute.  Remove to wire racks to cool completely.  Drizzle tops with melted baking chips (I never got to this step...actually I never got them off the cookie sheets); top with coffee beans.

Okay.  So I didn't use parchment paper.  BUT I almost never do (unless I'm making pumpkin whoopie pies) because I always use Pampered Chef stoneware baking sheets and nothing sticks to them because they are awesome.  The real problem here, however, was not that they stuck to the cookie sheets, but that they never "set".  There was no real baking to do here, because there was no flour or whatever else.  All they really had to do was go into the oven to like dry out or something.  I cooked them long past 10-12 minutes, but they started to smell burnt, even though they weren't set.  I took them out and let them sit a L-O-N-G time on the cookie sheets, but whenever I tried to remove even one cookie from the sheet, it would smoooosh all together.  The stoneware cooled completely, which I thought may have been an issue because they do stay warmer longer than metal cookie sheets.  This didn't make a difference.  I called my mom, but she said she's never made macaroons because Dad doesn't like coconut.  Fair enough.  She did say I could bring them crumbled and serve them with a spoon, but I opted not to do that.  So off I went to the baby shower, with the cookies still on the cookie sheets.  When I got home, I noticed one of the cookie sheets had been scraped clean.  Steve had taken them to a camp out, where he says they were enjoyed by all, and that you couldn't even taste the coffee part of them.

Chicken & Apple Salad

This was another quick one I threw together after church on Sunday.  Sundays are starting to be "quick lunch days" because I have been working every Sunday afternoon.  This one looked yummy and I knew it would be fast...from Simple & Delicious.

Chicken & Apple Salad
Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp curry powder, optional (I used about 1/4 tsp)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
Salad:
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 medium apples, chopped (I used gala, my current favorite)
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
10 cups torn mixed salad greens (I think that's way too much)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (I used pecans because I love them, and because I already had some)

In a large bowl, whisk vinaigrette ingredients until blended (I always put it in a Tupperware cup with a tight-fitting lid and shake it like crazy).  Place greens on a large serving plate; top with chicken, apples, and onions.  Drizzle dressing over salad.  Sprinkle with nuts.

Of course you could make these individually, too, and not on a large serving platter.  That's what I did.  This tasted quite good.  I didn't like it as well as the one with cherries I had made the week before, and also I thought this vinaigrette was unnecessarily complicated.  I have made very yummy vinaigrettes before with only like 4 or 5 ingredients.  But overall a fast yummy lunch, which is what I was after.