Favorite Green Salad

This recipe came from my sister in law.  You can visit her cooking blog HERE.

This is a salad that the family requests every time we get together.  Needless to say, I thought it should be posted on my blog, because, it's that good!

3/4 lb sliced mushrooms
2-3 bunches of spinach
3/4 lb grated Swiss cheese
1 c. drained and rinsed cottage cheese
1 small head iceberg lettuce
1/2 lb crisped and crumbled bacon

Combine and toss with the following dressing just before serving:

1 1/2 t. poppy seeds
3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 t. salt
1 purple onion, thinly sliced
3/4 c. vinegar
1 1/2 c oil
3/4 t. dry mustard

Make ahead of time. Stir before putting on salad. This makes a lot of dressing, more than you need for a single batch of salad. Enjoy!

Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

5 pounds apples, I used a half and half mix of McIntosh and Honeycrisp and it was the perfect balance
Grated zest of 1 orange
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice
2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg

For the topping:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13 baking dish (or 2 8×8 pans like I did!)

Peel, core, and cut the apples into large wedges. I peeled the apples and then used a handy apple slicer tool to make quick work of this. Combine the apples with the zests, juices, sugar, and spices. Pour into the dish.

To make the topping, combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and cold butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is the size of peas. Scatter evenly over the apples.

Place the crisp on a sheet pan and bake for one hour until the top is brown and the apples are bubbly. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce if you’re really feeling sassy.

Sea Salt and Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream (used 2 cups by accident, oops.)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 vanilla bean, sliced and seeded
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

1. Slice a vanilla bean in half. Using the back of the knife, scrape the seeds from the pod.
2. Pour the cream into a measuring cup and add the vanilla bean scrapings, and sea salt. Set aside.
3. Put the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring the sugar to a boil. Let the sugar cook (do not stir using a spoon, at most, you may swirl the pan to avoid hot spots) until it reaches a deep amber color.
4. Whisk in the cream mixture. It will bubble and go nuts, but keep whisking. It will come together.
5. Pour into a jar and keep in the fridge. The sauce will thicken, but it is more of a loose sauce.
6. This will keep for about a week in the fridge.

Chicken and Wild Rice

Ingredients: 

1 box wild rice with seasoning packet (4.3 oz)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can water
1 small can mushrooms, drained
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs, uncooked
1 cup slivered almonds 

Directions: 

1. Mix together rice with seasoning packet, both cans of soup, and water.  Stir in mushrooms.
2. Pour in to 8X8 freezer dish, I use the foil pans.  Top with 6 chicken pieces and sprinkle with slivered almonds.
3. Double wrap in heavy duty foil, label and freeze.
Cooking Instruction: Thaw and bake uncovered at 350 for 1 hour until chicken juices run clear and rice is tender. 

I like to serve this dish with a side of broccoli and fruit.

Greek Turkey Sliders

Ingredients:

• 1 lbs. 93% lean ground turkey
• 1/2 cup zucchini, grated and drained well
• 1 slice bread
• 1/8 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp garlic, minced
• 3/8 cup red onion, grated
• 1 Tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
• 1/8 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 Tbsp fresh spearmint, chopped
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 8 pita halves

Directions:

Wet bread with water, squeezing excess out. Tear into small pieces and place in large bowl. Combine with turkey, egg, zucchini, breadcrumbs, garlic, onion, spearmint, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper. Using a 1/4 cup measure, form each slider. Preheat grill, clean grill grate well, and spray with olive oil spray. Grill sliders on low until cooked through.  Serve with pita bread halves.

Freezing Directions:

Place a piece of wax paper between each burger, place in freezer bags, seal, label and freeze. Place pita bread in separate gallon freezer bag and freeze alongside burgers. To Serve: Thaw both a burger and a pita bread for each serving.  Grill as directed above.