Spiffing up that spinach salad with this sweet take on an old favorite

This recipe combined two of my most favorite salads ever—Waldorf salad and spinach salad. My grandmother used to make the most wonderful classic Waldorf salad, with its crunchy apples, raisins, and celery, so this was reminiscent of those days long ago.

Southern Living’s February 2012 issue featured four different, new takes on spinach salad—I made up my mind to try every one of them; they all looked so fabulous. This—Waldorf Spinch Salad—was the first.

Other than the requisite time to chop the apples and celery and then the separate step of blending and whisking the dressing, nothing to this easy dish, which was a terrific side with lots of healthy ingredients. The apple and raisins gave a touch of sweetness to the leafy greens; the cinnamon and honey in the dressing enhanced that sweet flavor.

Crunch, crunch, crunch—what a goody!

Waldorf Spinach Salad

1/4 cup honey

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 garlic clove, pressed

1/8 teaspoon salt (I used salt substitute)

1 (9-ounce) package fresh spinach, torn

2 large Gala apples, thinly sliced

4 ounces extra-sharp white Cheddar cheese, shaved

1 cup thinly sliced celery

1 cup honey-roasted cashews (I used plain, unsalted cashews)

1/2 cup golden raisins

In a large serving bowl whisk together first seven ingredients until well-blended. Add spinach and remaining ingredients. Toss gently to coat. Serve immediately. Makes 6 servings.

Fresh mango, warm bacon dressing gives this salad its Southern sizzle

I just can’t seem to put down that page of recipes that featured “God’s Bookmark”—the nickname that in its recent Bacon Boot Camp feature Southern Living applied to bacon. I’d already prepared Cantaloupe Bacon Relish for Easter 2011 lunch and BLT Benedict with Avocado-Tomato Relish for Hubby's Birthday Brunch. But now another recipe in the collection beckoned: Mango-Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette. How good that sounded! Just had to try it.

I don’t think I ever had eaten a mango-and- spinach combo before, but the mix of fruit and spinach seems to be a resilient pairing (spinach/strawberry and spinach/orange salads are popular). The dressing of lime juice, honey, and red-wine vinegar combined with drippings from the bacon and the sautéed red onion was a charmer. The sprinkling of Mexican cheese made a perfect topping. The Southern Living recipe suggested that this would be a great partner for grilled fish and fresh, crusty bread. Hubby and I dined on it solo as a main-dish dinner salad (along with a few bites of warmed-up pasta left over from a lunch out.)

This is a very special salad that will get sent to my idea-list for my next bring-a-dish to attend. I can’t imagine guests not going nuts over it. Now the question is: will I prepare the final recipe on the “Southern Sizzle” page: Springtime Pasta with Bacon? Time will tell.

Mango-Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

4 thick bacon slices, diced (I used turkey bacon)

1/2 medium-sized red onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup red-wine vinegar

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon honey

1 (9-ounce) package fresh spinach

1 mango, peeled and diced

1/3 cup shredded Mexican-blend cheese

salt (or salt substitute) and pepper to taste

In a skillet cook bacon over medium-high heat 6 to 8 minutes or until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels. Reserve 1 tablespoon drippings in skillet. Sauté onion in hot drippings for 2 to 3 minutes or until onion is soft. To the skillet add vinegar, lime juice, and honey; cook 2 minutes. Stir to loosen particles from bottom of skillet; stir them into the dressing. Place spinach in a serving bowl. Add warm vinaigrette and toss to coat. Top with mango, cheese, and bacon; season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately while dressing is warm. Makes about 2 1/2 cups salad.

This salad’s “color brigade” springs straight from the garden

A blog (that has nothing to do with food or gardening) that I enjoy following promotes the concept of “The Color Brigade”. A fashion-forward Dallas woman who, like me, is short in stature daily posts solutions to fashion challenges that we height-restricted individuals face. She demonstrates how we mini-people can tastefully wear numerous eye-popping colors at the same time (a real no-no for the short, who are advised to dress monochromatically).

Well, today’s featured recipe certainly wins in “The Color Brigade” of foods category. Ginger Asparagus Salad glows with a multitude of colors—and health.

Deep, green asparagus and baby spinach leaves form the base; atop go chopped red and yellow peppers and chopped chives. A ginger dressing of lemon juice, oil, and finely grated ginger ties it all together. Red and green peppers have killer price-tags on them in the grocery produce department; that’s why I’m eyeing our red and yellow pepper plants with great hope. I’d like to think we can harvest the yield of these and chop them and freeze them for use during the year, just as we have done for years with our profuse green-pepper plants.

I made a bowl of Ginger Asparagus Salad and left Hubby at home with it on Sunday night when I went to a ladies’ dinner. All that color—and those healthy ingredients—got his attention. He was so enraptured with the salad, I don’t think he even noticed I was away!

Ginger Asparagus Salad

1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and halved

1/2 cup chives, coarsely chopped

8 ounces (6 cups) baby spinach leaves

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped

Ginger Dressing:

2 tablespoons cooking oil

2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons finely grated ginger

In a small bowl mix ginger dressing. Spray with cooking spray a small, shallow skillet. Cook asparagus in skillet over medium heat until the asparagus is cooked through. Place asparagus, hives, peppers, and spinach in a large salad bowl. Pour ginger dressing over the top of the salad; toss gently to combine. Makes 4 servings.

With "spring" in the title, recipe just has to bring about something good

The title that included the magic word “spring” couldn't help draw me to the recipe. I mean, who can avoid getting spring fever on these recently gorgeous days we've experienced in our part of the Long Star State? Any food item that seems to move us a little further along in the leave-taking of winter just has to be yummy, I reckoned.

Crunchy Asian Spring Salad was just that. Colorful, healthy, different, but beyond all that, it used two green onions from our soon-to-be garden. Onion shoots stand like green sentinels above the soil as we gaze out the patio door onto our little spot of nature. Some day soon, the growth beneath the ground will be bulbous and ready to keep us in onions throughout the summer. For now, though, we pluck a few of the startlings to spice up this tasty spectacle of color and health.

The light toasted sesame dressing was a wonderful pull-together for this assorted veggie toss. Chow mein noodles added the crunch. This weekend hubby and I enjoyed this springtime feast as we sat on the deck of our outdoor living area attached to our RV at the lake. We took a lunch break from spring-cleaning the RV and its environs and marveled that time for these spring-prep errands had rolled around again. Boy, were we ready to sit outdoors and bask in the breeze from the lake—while we dined on this splendid accompaniment.

Crunchy Asian Spring Salad

4 cups spinach leaves, torn

1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips

1 cup carrots, cut into thin matchsticks

2 green onions, chopped

2 cups red cabbage, roughly chopped

1 cup snow peas, halved

1/2 cup Asian toasted sesame dressing, light

1/2 cup chow mein noodles

In a large bowl combine first six ingredients. Add dressing and toss to coat. Top with chow mein noodles. Chill until ready to serve. Makes 8 1-cup servings.

Spinach salad has enough festive color to dazzle any holiday buffet

Terrible to love a food passionately yet to be allergic to it. Hubby craves strawberries, but alas, let one stray strawberry seed wend its way into his digestive system, and for days he pays an awful price. His diverticulitis doesn't seem to react to any other type of seed—he can eat seed-infused kiwi, tomatoes, even raspberries and blackberries to his heart's delight and have no reaction, but he literally can be on the same city block as a strawberry and feel its gastrointestinal after-effects.

So, if I'm yearning to prepare some food item that contains strawberries, I have to do it for a covered-dish meal at which PLENTY of other choices are available, so he's not tempted to dig into whatever I've fixed and so it's not the only food item on the menu, leaving him stranded.

For such a reason I had carefully picked out Spinach Salad with Berries and Almonds as one of the food items to bring to my cousin's holiday family gathering. I long had had this delightful dish on my to-prepare wish list, but I wanted to be sure Hubby wasn't squeezed into a corner with no other salad options. At this family food fest I knew he'd never even glance in the direction of the strawberries because the other salads, prepared by our family's good cooks, would be so enticing.

The reason I chose this dish for holiday season is because it looks like a holiday (not to mention its health benefits). Green spinach, red berries, and the white feta cheese represent a great choice for a buffet. The delightful dressing made with raspberry vinegar and sugar-free raspberry jam is a terrific coating. On my recipe, which I once clipped from the Dallas Morning News, I previously had written, "No words to describe how great this is!" I stand by my story. I believe you will, too—setting it aside for your next year's holiday "must" file—or preparing it for any of your gatherings still ahead in those few days of 2010 remaining.

Spinach Salad with Berries and Almonds

6 cups baby spinach

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/3 cup sliced almonds

1 cup fresh strawberries (can also use raspberries)

2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar-free raspberry jam

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon honey

In a large bowl combine spinach, feta cheese, nuts, and berries. In small bowl whisk together vinegar, jam, mustard, and honey. Drizzle dressing over top of the salad and toss gently to coat. Serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.

Power-food spinach gets dressed up with pears, berries, and nuts for an amazing fall salad

I just read of an online poll asking people whether they've reached the point in which they can tolerate fruit in their green salads or whether they're still "veggies-only" when they toss their greens.

I wasn't aware that this was an issue for folks. I grew up on traditional salads of lettuce, tomato, and French dressing (did any other kinds exist in the '50s?), but to me, nothing's better than a tasty combination of spinach, fruit, and nuts, tossed with a tangy vinaigrette. And now that we've been advised of the major health benefits of eating dark greens, I've subbed spinach for lettuce anywhere I can, including on my (turkey) burgers.

That's why I'm here to tell you about one of the greatest spinach/fruit/nut/vinaigrette salads I've tried in an age. The addition of pears in this salad is absolutely terrific. And talk about healthy--wow! this is a winner in the health category, for sure.

Spinach thrives in cool weather, so local spinach is the most flavorful and affordable in September and October. Spinach is a power-house because it's loaded with vitamins, antioxidants, and essential nutrients. It's said to be one of the healthiest foods in the world; it tops most other vegetables. Only 1/2 cup cooked spinach meets the daily requirements for vitamins A and K, according to my chart in "Celebrating a Healthy Harvest."

I have Prevention magazine to thank for this wonderful recipe--actually one of three (you'll likely be seeing the other two soon) that ran alongside its power-food-of-the-month feature--this time on spinach.

Fruity Fall Salad

1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

4 cups baby spinach

1 pear, peeled, cored, halved lengthwise, and thinly sliced

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup pecan pieces, toasted

1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion

In a large bowl whisk oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Add spinach, pear, cranberries, walnuts, and onion and toss. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes 4 servings.

Banana pepper crop gets left out but ultimately inspires great chicken-salad dish

I asked Hubby whether our summer garden had grown anything that I had not blogged upon, or had I covered all my bases? In a very hurt tone he quickly pointed out that I had written not a single syllable about our banana pepper crop--first-timers to our garden this year.

That prompted me to dredge up this recipe for Parisian Chicken Salad, in which banana peppers were star attractions. Once they sampled it, even some family members not big on bragging about chicken salad dishes were begging for the recipe for this healthy, attractive combination.

Our banana peppers showed up in the garden quite by accident. Hubby, thinking he was buying regular green pepper and jalapeno pepper plants, unsuspectingly slipped a banana pepper one into the soil. We were surprised when it began appearing but thought about the banana peppers we often request when we get our subs custom-made at restaurants such as Subway. We thought we'd have fun growing our own.

Like my French Cabbage recipe that appeared in this blog several months back, I'm not sure why this chicken salad has "Parisian" in the title, but we're thankful for the Better Homes and Gardens website for originally supplying it. Like many others, for several years it's hung around my summer recipe binder waiting to be prepared.

I'm grateful to our unexpected but appreciated crop of banana peppers for giving me excuse to try Parisian Chicken Salad. Like most of us it just gets better with age. The longer the chicken can soak up the marinade (either overnight or at least 8 hours), the more flavorful the end result.

Parisian Chicken Salad

4 medium skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound)

2 teaspoons finely shredded orange peel

1/3 cup orange juice (juice for this addition as well as for the one below may be obtained from juice generated when you section the orange in the step below)

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme, crushed

1/2 teaspoon salt (I use salt substitute)

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons orange juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped green onions

4 cups torn baby salad greens

2 medium banana peppers, halved, seeded, and thinly sliced

2 medium oranges, peeled, sectioned, and membrane removed

2 tablespoons shelled pistachios, unsalted

Place chicken in a heavy, large self-sealing plastic bag set in a shallow dish. For marinade, in a bowl combine orange peel, the 1/3 cup orange juice the 4 cloves garlic, the honey, and thyme. Pour over chicken. Seal bag; turn to coat chicken. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight; turn bag occasionally. Drain chicken; discard marinade. Place chicken on unheated rack of a broiler pan. Season with half of the salt and half of the pepper. Broil 4 to 5 inches from heat for 12 to 15 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink. Turn chicken once halfway through broiling. Meanwhile, for dressing, in a screw-top jar combine olive oil, vinegar, the 2 tablespoons orange juice, the 2 cloves garlic, the green onions, the remaining salt, and the remaining pepper, Cover; shake well. To serve toss greens, chicken , oranges, peppers, and pistachios. Pour dressing over and toss. Makes 4 servings.

"Shop-the-pantry" move cleans out the fruit and veggie bin; yields scrumptious salad

These days we're often being told to "shop the pantry".

In times of penny-pinching and making the most of every dollar, we're advised to save on groceries by first combing through our pantry (and refrigerator) shelves before we make grocery lists. By using existing food items first, we can be good stewards of what we already own and cut down on what we need to buy from the grocery.

Last night was a "shop-the-refrigerator" night where our meal preparation was concerned. My Spinach Fruit Salad utilized a variety of food items that were destined to spoil if they were not used up quickly. I found a few oranges that were becoming overly soft and had some brown spots on them. I had an apple that had been around too long. Likewise my spinach leaves were on the verge of becoming soggy. If they lingered for a few more days of being unused, all would be headed for the compost bin and would not be used for nourishment, which was the original purpose for acquiring them.

My Spinach and Fruit Salad recipe to the rescue. Tough to believe that a "clean-out-the-fruit-and-vegetable-bin" move such as this would bring forth a little seven-ingredient salad so delicious. Hubby, who dined on it after I already had departed for an errand, effused: "That salad! I almost called you to tell you how good it was!" The recipe makes oodles and oodles, so it should stretch for the next three days at least.

Guess I'm neglecting to mention one more aspect of this wonderful salad--look at the healthy choices it represents--even cholesterol-lowering nuts (pecans from our own trees). All in the same recipe I was a good steward of food I originally purchased and treated us to a super-nutritious dish as well.

Spinach and Fruit Salad

1/4 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons sugar-free raspberry jam

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 package fresh spinach

1 red apple, chopped

2 oranges, peeled and sectioned, with membrane removed (reserve juice)

1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Save 1/2 cup juice from peeled and sectioned oranges (if you need more juice, add a little more orange juice from your refrigerator). In a jar combine juice, oil, jam, and vinegar. Shake well. In a large bowl toss oranges, spinach, apples, and pecans in a large bowl. Toss with dressing.

Don't let the title fool you; "mid-summer" salad recipe with ingredients fresh from the garden is perfect any time

The recipe's name was "Mid-Summer Salad", but who says it can't make a good meal in early summer as well?

As I prepared this recipe for a June evening meal, I couldn't help but wish I were doing so on a mid-summer date a few weeks hence. That would mean that our expected baby grandson would be very near his arrival time. Wa-hoo! We can hardly wait! Now that will be a cause for celebration! But back to "Mid-Summer Salad."

"Mid-Summer" in the recipe name perhaps refers to the fact that some of the ingredients, such as the tomatoes and cucumber, would be reaching their peak in the garden in mid-summer and hence would be available for salad-making about that time.

Regardless of the trivia about the name, Mid-Summer Salad was memorable and delicious. (Thanks to my booklet, Celebrating a Healthy Harvest, from the Chickasaw Nutrition Services, which contained the recipe.) In preparing it I learned two things:

* Green onions, fresh from our garden (they're really just the tops of regular onions), add an incredible zest to a salad mixture. In this recipe they're part of the dressing. They really make this salad sing. The one-tablespoon mustard added to the dressing adds to the flavor as well.

* Keep the cut-up avocado in a salad from turning brown by dumping the seed right into the salad mixture. The presence of the seed keeps the avocado green. (I learned this on Sunday from Ishmael's mom, who attended--and brought homemade Guacamole for--our backyard fiesta. I wrote about this in my Monday blog about my "new-beginnings" Peach Cobbler. As I scooped out my Guacamole helping onto my plate, a medium-sized seed plopped right onto the plate with it. Margarita told me she puts seeds in all her guacamole. Indeed it was the brightest, freshest green color imaginable.) Of course many people sprinkle a cut avocado with lemon or white vinegar to prevent browning.

Many people also know the tip that to ripen an avocado, place the fruit in a brown paper bag in a cool place for two to five days. Daily check for ripeness. Refrigerate ripe avocados; use within three days.

I added the avocado seed to my mixture for my Mid-Summer Salad. Truly the avocado stayed bright green and never turned brown even hours after the salad had been in the refrigerator. Thanks, Margarita, for the suggestion!

Because of the addition of the diced chicken breast, Mid-Summer Salad--served with some warmed tortillas on the side (also left over from Sunday's fiesta)--made an ideal entree for a light summer meal. Here's to Mid- (or in the case of our salad, Early) Summer!

Mid-Summer Salad

8 cups mixed greens (we used spinach)

2 eggs, hard-boiled, chopped

1/2 pound cooked boneless chicken breast, diced

2 tomatoes, diced

1 cucumber, sliced

1 avocado, diced

Dressing:

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 tablespoons diced green onions

1 tablespoon mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons cooking oil

Mix dressing ingredients in a small container. In a large salad bowl mix and toss greens, eggs, chicken breast, tomatoes, cucumber, and avocado. Add dressing and toss thoroughly. Chill and serve. Makes 4 servings.

Despite frustrating allergies, nothing keeps us from our prized pecans

The same dance occurs about this time every year.

My hubby threatens to cut down our prized, paper-shell pecan trees.

These very same trees are the treasure trove of our most exemplary pecans--so sweet straight from the nut that they taste almost like candy--with shells so thin you can crack them using your thumb.

Our property contains nine pecan trees, but we usually make the pecan crop from the seven others available to friends, neighbors, and pecan-seekers from the general public who know our block is the source of free pecans and who annually line the curbside in the fall.

The annual yield of our two paper-shell pecans is ample for all our personal pecan needs for the year ahead.

My hubby loves the trees and what they produce, but he takes pity when he sees my eyes almost swollen shut from my late-in-life-onset pecan allergy when the trees shed their green, tassel-like "catkins", or pollen-producing flowers, in the late spring. I have to swear off my contact lenses for weeks on end while I wait for catkin-shedding period to pass.

"Let's just cut them down," he always threatens of our towering paper-shell producers, which happen to be the pecan trees nearest the driveway and house and therefore the ones with the greatest impact on my allergies.

If we ever seriously entertained such a thought, my parents likely would rise up from their burial spots in protest and haunt us forever. My daddy's pecan trees on his lot around my growing-up home (just down from us on Garland's 11th Street) were like children to him. He took such pride in their fertility. (Only when my hubby and I lived on the East Coast during our past pilgrimage was I fully aware that not every state possessed such a prize native treasure as the stately pecan.)

Even when she was on hospice, my mother one fall was fretting over who would pick the pecans that layered her yard unpicked. She ultimately called a friend who was a local baker to help herself to the nuts that would go into some of that friend's bakery specialties.

My Nanny's Pecan Pie recipe is one of the first dishes we annually make in the fall when the first new pecans are brought in. I usually follow that by stirring up Pecan Pie Muffins (both of these two recipes are in my first cookbook, Way Back in the Country.) Some other favorites are Sour Cream Apple Cake and Caramel Apple Coffee Cake (the last one appears in my new cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden.)

What would I do if my hubby carried out on his annual comment and we had to look elsewhere for our marvelous paper-shells?

In the end I didn't have to worry. We decide to put off for at least another year any decision about tree-removal. I slogged through another spring and the pecan-tree discharge. My daughter's optometrist friend suggested to her that I store my allergy drops for my eyes in the refrigerator to make them more soothing when applied. I ordered a new lens (gas-permeable) for my left eye, which seems to be the one most sensitive to the shedding. I built my wearing time back up. I persevered. All for those buttery, paper-shell pecans, which, incidentally, are rich in omega-6 fatty acids and therefore help people maintain good health.

After all, they're what make my new recipe for Citrus Pecan Spinach Salad, which we enjoyed this weekend and my hubby pronounced "the very best salad ever", sizzle!

Citrus Pecan Spinach Salad

1 (9-ounce) bag ready to eat spinach

1 green apple, cut in very thin slices

1 (15.25-ounce) can tropical fruit mix, drained

1/3 cup feta cheese

1 handful pecans, broken in pieces (not chopped)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar

2 tablespoons raspberry preserves (we use sugar-free)

On a pie plate place pecans in a layer. In a 350-degree oven toast pecans until they are brown (about 8 minutes). Set aside to cool. For dressing, mix olive oil, raspberry vinegar, and raspberry preserves. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. In salad bowl toss spinach, thinly sliced apple, drained fruit, and feta cheese. Toss together with refrigerated dressing. Add toasted pecans and toss again slightly to coat nuts. Serves 4.