Fall Salad with Apples, Walnuts, and Stilton

There's nothing like a salad to throw together the best food of the season! I found this recipe for a Fall Salad with Apples, Walnuts and Stilton in the October, 2010 issue of Cooking Light magazine and it's really tasty. I like the use of three different lettuces in this salad. I did have to do a few substitutions though. I used watercress instead of arugula and Danish Blue instead of Stilton. It came out fabulous anyways!

The dressing is tangy and flavorful. But I'd suggest to watch how much dressing you actually put on the salad. I followed all the instructions and them tossed the full amount of dressing in with all the lettuces and apples (we added the prosciutto and cheese after it was plated) and I think it ended up being too much. We were kind of tilting our plates to let the sauce run off.

Fall Salad with Apples, Walnuts, and Stilton Makes 4 Servings 1 tablespoon minced shallot 1 1/2 champagne or white wine vinegar 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon honey 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 dried apricot, finely chopped 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 cups torn green leaf lettuce leaves 2 cups thinly sliced Belgian endive (about 2 heads) 1/4 cup (1 ounce) Stilton cheese, thinly sliced 1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped 1 (5-ounce) package baby arugula 1 ounce very thin slices prosciutto, torn 1 Granny Smith apple, cored and thinly sliced

Combine first 6 ingredients in a blender. With blender on, slowly add oil; process until well combines. Stir in salt and pepper.

Combine lettuce and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; add apricot mixture, tossing gently to coat.

Nutritional information provided with magazine article:
CALORIES 294; FAT 18.4g(sat 3.6g, mono 8.9g, poly 5g); PROTEIN 9.2g; CARB 28g; FIBER 10.8g; CHOL 9.5mg; IRON 3.7mg; SODIUM 429mg; CALC 254mg

Chicken Tamale Casserole

With the cool weather settling in on Chicago, I decided it was a perfect time to make a casserole. I love to put everything together and then bake it up in the oven - making the house smell so great. I found this recipe for a Chicken Tamale Casserole in an email I received from Cooking Light highlighting casseroles.

Honestly, I was a bit disappointed in this recipe - not the taste, but the ingredients. I'm not a big fan of using processed products. This recipe calls for a lot of pre-packaged items (corn bread mix, creamed corn, canned chilies, etc.) and I used a rotisserie chicken which I purchased at the grocery store. Of course that made it very easy to prepare, but I felt a bit unhealthy while I was making it. And coming from Cooking Light I guess I expected a bit healthier of a recipe.

I thought the leftovers of this was tastier than when it was fresh out of the oven. The bottom of the casserole tasted a bit sweet at first so I think it tasted alot better after the flavors melded. I'd let it sit about a half an hour if you can.

To make this casserole taste a bit more homemade and also to make it more of a meal than just putting a piece of casserole on an empty plate, I placed it on to of some red leaf lettuce and then I topped it with a bit of chopped onion, sliced black olives and diced avocado. Those extra flavors made a big difference. We served this with Tortilla and Butternut Squash Soup and it was a very filling meal.

Chicken Tamale Casserole Serves 8 1 cup (4 ounces) preshredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese, divided 1/3 cup fat-free milk 1/4 cup egg substitute 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper 1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn 1 (8.5-ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Martha White) 1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained Cooking spray 1 (10-ounce) can red enchilada sauce (such as Old El Paso) 2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream

Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine 1/4 cup cheese and next 7 ingredients (through chiles) in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until set. Pierce entire surface liberally with a fork; pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken; sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces; top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream.