I am thankful for. . .

Family and friends and health and. . . salads! Here's a round up of some of my favorite fall salads.

romaine, sauteed kale, roasted butternut squash, apples, feta, walnuts

romaine, black beans, sour dried cherries, peaches, carrots, almonds

same as above but swapped almonds for  Manchego

peaches, corn, black beans, carrots, Manchego, salsa, tortilla chips

turkey salad (with apples, celery and craisins) lettuce wraps

romaine, mozarella, apples, sour dried cherries, roasted brussel sprouts and broccoli

kale, roasted butternut squash, walnuts, feta

Cookie Swap: Part 2

I bet you gave up on me. I wrote my first post about my birthday cookie swap over a month ago. And that was nearly a month after my birthday. Thanks to Hurricane Sandy, the closed subway and my down work email, I am feeling incredibly unproductive. So, I will blog, and I will bake (I am thinking about making this recipe). I will not be making any salads. In case you are feeling like I am, like the only thing to do is make dessert (or dessert masquerading as breakfast), here are more recipes from my birthday cookie swap. 

I think we left off here:

These are Birthday Cake Oreos with chocolate chip cookies inside. Sarah made these as her bonus dessert by twisting apart the Oreo and baking the chocolate chip cookie on top of the bottom half. Then, she stuck  the  the tops back on. It is very exciting to be able to eat birthday cake-themed desserts on one's birthday.

As I mentioned, the cookies were Sarah's bonus dessert. Her actual dessert were White Chocolate S'mores Gooey Cake Bars, a fancy blondie made with cake mix and marshmallows. There they are on the bottom right.

They were my husband's favorite dessert of the swap. They are very sweet, so if you make them, cut them into small pieces!

Right above the bars and to right of the gummi bears are Shari's cookies.The cookies directly above the blondies are Malted Milk Chocolate Cookies. Shari made a few adaptations to the recipe: she used about about one cup of malted milk powder instead of the half cup the recipe called for and used one bag of milk chocolate chips less half a cup mixed with a half cup of bittersweet chips. The recipe made about four dozen cookies.

Shari's other cookies (right above the Malted Milk Chocolate Cookies in the photo) were Potato Chip Cookies adapted from The Search for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie by Gwen Steege. Here is the recipe:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups potato chips, coarsely crushed
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour and baking soda. In another bowl, cream butter, sugars and eggs until smooth and well combined. Add in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, and mix well.  Add chocolate chips, mix well to evenly distribute. Add potato chips and gently fold them in. Using a spoon or cookie scoop, drop onto baking sheets lined with a silpat or parchment paper. Bake for approximately 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Let sit on cookie sheets for a minute or two before removing them to cool. Makes around five dozen cookies, depending on the size.

Both of Shari's cookies were delicious! I think the Malted Milk Chocolate Cookies would be especially good in ice cream sandwiches.

Tiffany made Chocolate-Mint Pinwheels.

The Chocolate-Mint Pinwheels are the cookies in the center in the photo above. As you can see, they are very pretty to look at. This may be a first in the cookie world, but I would describe the Chocolate-Mint Pinwheels as refreshing--not a typical cookie descriptor. They are an excellent cookie for the summer. Here is the recipe:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ounce semisweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 4.67 ounce package layered chocolate-mint candies (like Andes), finely chopped (1 cup)
• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat until mixture is combined, scraping sides of bowl. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Divide dough in half. Stir melted chocolate into one dough portion. Stir chopped mint candies and peppermint extract into remaining dough portion. Divide each dough portion in half. Cover dough and chill for at least one hour or until easy to handle.

Roll each peppermint dough portion into a 9 1/2 x 6 inch rectangle on waxed paper. Roll each chocolate dough portion into a 9 1/2 x 6 inch rectangle on top of one peppermint dough rectangle; remove top layer of waxed paper. roll up dough. Pinch dough edges to seal; wrap in plastic wrap. Repeat with remaining chocolate and peppermint dough rectangles. Chill dough rolls for one to two hours or until very firm.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets; set aside. Unwrap dough rolls; reshape, if necessary. Cut dough rolls crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices. Place slices two inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Bake in preheated oven for six to eight minutes or until edges are firm and jut starting to brown. Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool. Tiffany was able to make about 45 cookies using this recipe.

Beth made Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. They are on the top left right behind the plate of blondies and Birthday Cake Oreos. These cookies were also great. They are light and chewy, and we can even pretend they are healthy because of the oats and raisins (just ignore the butter!). Here is the recipe:

• 1/2 cup plus 6 Tbs butter, softened
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 11/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt (optional)
• 3 cups oats
• 1 cup raisins

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl beat butter and sugars on medium speed of an electric mixer. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, mix well. Add oats and raisins, mix well. Drop dough by rounded tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake eight to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool one minute on cookie sheet then move to rack. 

Missing from this recipe round-up are Sari's carrot cookie, and Blaire's brownies. Like all of the other cookies, both were excellent. My friends are talented bakers! Thank you to my wonderful friends for making my birthday so sweet!

Peanut Butter-Pretzel Cookie Brittle

Disclaimer: This post is about cookies. Cookies are more fun than salads during impending hurricanes.

Hurricane Sandy is a-coming to New York! And while I should be thinking about bottled water, flashlights and canned goods, all I can think is: "at least it's not my birthday." Quasi-housebound (it's not actually raining yet, just windy), I decided to make cookies in honor of the brewing storm.

Before baking, I had (what else) a salad for lunch. No photos, but it was my usual Mexican-style fare:

• 1/3 head of romaine;
• 1/4 can of corn;
• 1/2 carrot;
• Some broccoli florets;
• 1/4 avocado;
• Veggie chicken burger;
• 1 Babybel cheese;
• Handful of crumbled tortilla chips;
• Dressed with a mixture of lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and garlic power.

It was delicious! I made the same salad for the husband, though he went sans tortilla chips and subbed the Babybel for full-fat cheddar. Considering this is not a particularly low calorie salad, the least I could do in mine was use a 50-calorie Babybel. 

On to the cookies! I had taken a stick of butter out of the freezer yesterday to make eggless cookie dough as an ice cream topping for a friend's Girls Night In party. I ended up seeing Biscoff Spread (mmm...speculos!!!) at the store and decided to bring that instead. So, I was left with a thawed stick of butter. What to do? Since the birthday cookie swap, I have steered clear of baking cookies or bars, since I still have leftovers in the freezer, but given the impending storm, baking seemed like a good idea.

Last time I visited my parents, my mom and I made cookie brittle. Cookie brittle is eggless cookie dough spread out on a pan, baked and then broken into shards of cookie. It is tasty and easy to make. Since the recipe came from one of my mom's cookbooks, I searched online and found this recipe. Both my husband and I really like peanut butter, so peanut butter cookie brittle seemed like a good idea. But, my husband doesn't like actual peanuts or coconut, so I made a few substitutions. Inspired by peanut butter-butterscotch haystacks, which my husband fondly refers to as crack, I used both butterscotch and chocolate chips and added broken pretzels to the dough.

Peanut Butter-Pretzel Cookie Brittle

• 1 stick of butter
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cup oats
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 1 cup crushed pretzels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and peanut butter. Add sugar, salt and vanilla. Mix oats and flour and add to batter.

Add chocolate chips and butterscotch chips, and stir into batter. Crush pretzels (I poured the pretzels into a Ziploc bag and crushed with a meat pounder), and mix those into the batter.

Line a 10" x 15" jellyroll plan with parchment paper, and press in the batter. (I used a rolling pin to evenly distribute the batter in the pan.) 

Bake for about 20 minutes. Let the cookie brittle cool on a wire rack, and then  break into pieces.

Enjoy with a glass of milk.

Addendum: The raw dough tasted as good, if not better, than the cookies. I see peanut butter-pretzel cookie dough truffles in my future.

Cookie Swap: Part 1

Disclaimer: this post is not about salads. It is about dessert. I eat salads, so then I can eat dessert.

My birthday was a few weeks ago. Some years, I feel determined to mark my birthday with a celebration. Other years, I prefer a low-key birthday. And sometimes, there are hurricanes. First there was Katrina. I planned to celebrate my birthday in Florida with family, and no surprise, due to the hurricane, my flight was cancelled. (Please know, I am in no way minimizing the catastrophe that was Katrina. I just happen to have a late-summer birthday that coincides regularly with hurricanes. Usually, those hurricanes don't impact me directly because I live in New York. Katrina did. . . and so did Irene.) Last year, ironically a year I was determined not to do anything special for my birthday, Irene hit. My wonderful husband and friends didn't listen to the not wanting to celebrate and planned a brunch for me that was cancelled after New York learned Irene was on the way and Mayor Bloomberg shut down the subway system. And then our apartment leaked--but that is a story for another time.

After last year's hurricane birthday, I wanted to mark this birthday with people I like and dessert. So, that is exactly what I did!

I first learned about cookie swaps on one of the food blogs I occasionally read. In short, a cookie swap is when several people gather, each bringing several dozen cookies to share. At the swap, everyone exchanges cookies and brings home a mix of several types of cookies. Cookie swaps are especially popular in December, when people are looking for a quick way to put out a variety of cookies at holiday parties. For more on cookie swaps, read this article from the queen of entertaining herself, Martha Stewart.

For my birthday swap, I invited a small group of friends to bring over their favorite cookies. Seven people participated in the swap, so I asked everyone to bring about four dozen cookies to share with the group. In theory, this would allow everyone (while only seven of us were swapping, there were significant others and other friends at the swap) to sample each of the cookies at the party and still take home four or five of each variety. Well, I over estimated! 

I took the above photo post-sampling, pre-swap. It turns out that no one wanted to sample nine whole cookies (two people brought two types). 

Before I get to the cookies, a few more swapping details. To counteract the sugar and fat, I put out watermelon; chips and salsa; and pita chips, carrots, celery and  hummus. I also served gummy bears and peanut butter M&Ms to compliment the sugar and fat. We served beer and diet soda to drink. This was an adult swap so no milk necessary.

In honor the swap, I wanted to try a new recipe. I decide on rugelach since rolling out dough would give me the street cred I needed as swap host. I reached out to one of the best bakers I know, a former co-worker, for her recipe. She sent me to. . . you guessed it. . . Martha Stewart! Click here for the recipe. In the realm of rugelach recipes, this one is a winner. Instead of rolling each rugelach individually, this recipe calls for baking the dough in rolls and slicing them into the cookies after they cool. Since my husband is anti-nut, I left out the walnuts. I also omitted the currants and cream from the recipe. Lastly, I used regular raisins. They turned out just fine!

I did learn a few lessons to apply next time I make these:

1. I can use less apricot preserves. Two to two and half tablespoons per log is plenty.
2. Parchment paper is far superior to wax paper when it comes to rolling out dough.
3. I should have cut them slightly bigger.

All of the recipes at the swap were fantastic. Stay tuned for part two of this post for more swap recipes. Here is a sneak peak.

Fiesta Salad and Housewives

In the three weeks that my husband and I have been back from our Australian vacation, we've hosted two small gatherings to celebrate our birthdays. As Jews, we are forbidden to send our guests home hungry. Needless to say, we have lots of leftovers falling into categories of cookies and cheese. Today, I will tackle the cheese.

The husband insisted on buying a GIANT block of Manchego for our first gathering. Manchego, being a Spanish sheep's milk cheese, naturally inspires a Latin-theme salad. My Latin food tastes skew Mexican (and we had all the right ingredients in the house already, including another party leftover, chips and salsa), so I decided the use some of the Spanish cheese in a Mexican salad. And guess what. It worked!

As Andy Cohen would say, here's what (makes two big salads):

• leftovers: tortilla chips. salsa and Manchego;

• 1 head of romaine;
• 1 pepper (I used orange, but any color would work);
• 2/3 an avocado;
• 1/3 can of black beans, rinsed;
• 1/3 can of corn;

• a few sprigs of fresh cilantro;
• granulated garlic;
• lemon or lime juice.

Here's how:

1. Chop the romaine and pepper.
2. Combine with the chopped avocado, corn and beans.
3. Grate or finely slice the Manchego and add to the salad.
4. Finely chop the cilantro (I used about 1-2 tablespoons) and add to salad with 1-2 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice and granulated garlic to taste.
5. Toss salad and add a few tablespoons of the salsa to taste. Toss again.
6. Crumble tortilla chips on top for crunch.

Finished product:

Since the salad makes two portions, I ate one for dinner and packed the other up as a lunch salad. I left the tortilla chips on the side and crumbled them in at work. The salad was a little deflated the next day, but boy, it was still delicious!

Earlier in the post, I mentioned Andy Cohen, Bravo's executive vice president of development and talent. As far as I know, Andy has nothing to do with salad. (I would know; I read his book.) But, since this is my blog, it makes sense that I blog about things I like, and believe it or not, I like more than salad. I also like. . .wait for it. . .the Real Housewives of New York, New Jersey, Atlanta, Beverly Hills, and of course, Bethenny (who I think would greatly appreciate this salad blog). I know, high quality. And I just need to take a moment to sort out some thoughts about the recent goings-on of the Housewives. 

I am a few episodes behind on RHONY, so forgive the lateness of the observation. I don't know what to do with Ramona. Do I like her? Do I think she is crazy? Do her facial expressions remind me of my mother's? Yes! Yes! Yes! On a recent episode of Housewives, Ramona orders Aviva, another housewife, out of the pool because she is not wearing her swimming leg. (Back-story: Aviva lost part of her leg in a childhood accident. She now wears a prosthetic leg below the knee.) I hope Ramona did this out of concern for Aviva, but it was totally inappropriate. Later in the episode at a dinner party hosted by Aviva and her husband, Ramona orders Aviva's kitchen staff to skip the salad course and go straight to the main dish. Mind you, Ramona is a guest at Aviva's Miami apartment!

But here is where everything becomes really confusing! On the next episode, Ramona calms down her friend, Sonja, who appears to be drunk, after Sonja yells at another housewife's boyfriend. In this moment, Ramona helps her friend avoid further embarrassment, appropriately taking control of the situation. So who is Ramona, an overbearing nag or a caring friend? I have no idea. Discuss.

My Signature Salad

After another (briefer) blogging hiatus, I am back. And, I am going to try really hard to stick with it this time. Also, with September just two weeks away, there will be many excellent fall veggies to use in my salads--specifically pumpkin. I just returned from a trip to Australia (hence the hiatus), where I had the yummiest pumpkin salad (I will definitely be recreating it when pumpkins are in season and will post the recipe then). Variations of the salad were available in every city we visited at restaurants, delis and grocery stores. I may even be bold enough to call it Australia's signature salad. . . which leads to today's topic: my signature salad.

My signature salad is the salad I can eat for lunch five days in a row. I almost always have all of the ingredients at home to prepare it, and when I am not sure what to eat for lunch or dinner, I inevitably turn to this salad. It is not without variation. Sometimes I switch out the greens base, exchange its apples for pears, and have recently substituted sour dried cherries in place of the dried cranberries I've used for the past few years.

No matter its variations, my signature salad has four main ingredients:

• 1/2 a head of romaine, chopped;
• 1 granny smith apple, chopped or thinly sliced;
• a small handful of dried sour cherries or dried cranberries (about 1/4 cup);
• 10-15 raw almonds or walnut halves.

I usually leave it undressed when I take it to work, but at home, I will add a bit of Parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegar. If I am making it for my husband, I'll throw together a quick balsamic vinaigrette with vinegar, honey, chopped garlic, dried onion flakes and Dijon mustard. Occasionally, I will even make a fancier vinaigrette in the food processor, but that recipe is for another time. Today, I am sharing the strictly utilitarian version of my signature salad. The fancied-up, for-guests version is an entirely separate post and may or may not include candied almonds.

I start by chopping the romaine and the apples. Romaine can be swapped out for baby or regular spinach or mixed greens. I am currently on a granny smith kick, but Fujis work equally as well.

(My sister and husband find the above photo vulgar, but my mom and I don't see anything wrong with it. They just have dirty minds.)

Then, I add the dried sour cherries or cranberries.

Last, I add the nuts (walnuts or almonds). Since I took the pictured salad to work, the nuts are in a separate container on the side, so they don't get soggy.

This salad is garnished with an Babybel cheese, which I rip up and throw on top right before eating it. Feta and Parmesan also work well in this salad.

Here is a version of the salad with pears, feta, pistachios, sour dried cherries and baby spinach. Isn't it a beauty?

A Salad Blogging Hiatus. . .

But not a hiatus for salad making or eating! So, where have I been? For the most part, I have been here in New York. (There was a brief interlude in Israel, but that story is for another post.)

I started this blog as a way to keep up my writing and keep busy. Well, it turns out I am busier than I thought. I have this vision of summer as relaxing and quiet: picnics in Central Park and summer Fridays capped with a visit to 16 Handles (more on my love affair with frozen yogurt another time). The last time I experienced my vision of summer may have been the last time I actually worked in a place that gave summer Fridays--and that was in 2006 and long before the magic of self-serve frozen yogurt on every corner in Manhattan! The last two summers have been particularly busy. In 2010, I went to summer school and got married. In 2011, I went to summer school, traveled out of state to several weddings and started a new job. This year, I have six weeks of work sandwiched between two international trips (one for work and one for me. I am not complaining.).

I know I just wrote a rambling paragraph about my busy summer, but you may be wondering what happened to the blog in April and May. I have no idea! As you will see in just a moment, I had the best of intentions about posting to this blog. In fact, I took several pictures and even started measuring out (some) ingredients to give more specific salad-making instructions. My last post before the hiatus was titled "8 Days of Salad." Yes, the title was an allusion to my carb-free Passover. But, I also intended to post eight salad recipes for Passover. Oh well!

The good news is that I keep making and eating salads! Nine out of ten times, I make my signature salad (I will write about this in the next post), but occasionally, other salads do sneak in there. One of my recent favorites included romaine, avocado, feta, grapes and broccoli stem. I plan to recreate that one soon and will make sure to take pictures next time.

Here are some other highlights from April and May while I was still regularly photographing my greens. . .and whites (a brief cabbage phase ensued):

The Cabbage Phase Salad.

 Don't forget the mangoes!

Tada!

My favorite purchased lunch salad. I plan to recreate this on at home.

Lots of colorful peppers.

Tuna steak, broccoli slaw, rice noodles and peanut dressing. Yum!

Some sort of leftover mash-up with roasted sweet potatoes 

and Brussels sprouts, cabbage and London broil.