Sweet and Sour Apple Salad-

It is a pleasure to have my sweet bloggy friend Andrea from The Cottage Market as my very special guest today. She has a strength of faith and character that I admire. She has met some difficult challenges lately and she still found time to share with us here today. We have been bloggy friends for a while now and her talents, creativity and style shine through in all that she shares at her wonderful blog. Today she is sharing a wonderful Sweet and Sour Apple Salad with us! Yum ♥

Hi there, my name is Andrea and I am from The Cottage Market. I am so happy Katherine invited me to guest post! I couldn’t decide on what to post and you will know why if you ever visit my blog…it is totally eclectic and am I. So I thought a little bit more and decided on sharing one of my families favorite salads. It is so easy…quick…versatile and delicious and those are “good things” for a guest post don’t you think : ) Hope you enjoy this Sweet and Sour Apple and Cranberry Salad with Feta and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds… It will bring a little touch of Summer into your day.

Before we start…I have to share this cute little story about where the inspiration for this salad came about. A little bit ago I was President of the PTO and the officers gathered a little bit earlier than everyone to go over things. Well our treasurer…Karen H. came with copies of this recipe she had come across and wanted to share it with us. Now I found this weird because all I can say was Karen was not exactly a cook by any means. Get this… she went on vacation for 2 weeks and found 3 messages from her Chinese Restaurant …checking to see if every thing was ok? I mean REALLY!!!! So I took a peek and I said wow…this really sounds delicious! So the next day I decided to make it…I revised it a bit to my families taste…a bit more sour than sweet and it was perfect! So I really hope you enjoy this yummy light and healthy salad. Remember to add your favorite touches to it…make it your own…create a family favorite! You are going to love the salty…creamy feta or goat cheese…

the Romaine lettuce and the roasted Pumpkin Seeds add a wonderful crunch…

then the dressing with the blend of sugar…fresh lemon juice…apple cider vinegar…fresh apples and a touch of parsley on top…a little bowl of heaven! By the way…It’s all about being a vegetarian in my house…so I add grilled marinated tofu to this salad…but you can use your families favorite!

Now let’s get tossing!

Ingredients:

A head of Romaine Lettuce washed and ripped into the size pieces you enjoy
6 ounces of fresh feta or your favorite delicious goat cheese broken into bite size pieces
1/2 cup of Dried Cranberries
2 of your favorite apples chopped in bite size pieces
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar
3/4 of a cup of your favorite mild oil such as canola, vegetable, corn…I use olive oil all the time…but it is not the oil of choice for this particular recipe…it has too strong of a taste that overpowers everything…I highly recommend canola.
1 teaspoon of parsley (fresh or dried)
The juice of two nice size lemons
(Grilled Tofu…optional or any other grilled items your family enjoys)
Salt and Pepper to taste (don’t you love my dachshund salt and pepper shaker!)

Directions:

1. Get yourself a mason jar or any jar with a lid…there is going to be some shaking going on.
2. Now add your sugar…apple cider vinegar…oil…lemon juice…dried parsley…a touch of salt and pepper.
3. Now shake all of that up until it is well blended.
4. Now chop your nicely washed favorite apples into nice little bite size bits…as you are cutting…add the pieces to the mixture…that way your apples will not brown as they will have the acidity they need to stay nice and white. Keep cutting till the two apples are done and added.
5. Shake it up again.
6. Taste…VERY IMPORTANT! STEP!!!! Now is the time when you decide if it is just right…or maybe you need a bit more lemon juice…maybe a splash more of vinegar…or a bit more sugar. (the original recipe called for A LOT more sugar and less of the acid…it was just way to sweet for our taste and the recipe has been adapted…but you might want a little more of something!)
7. Now toss your salad with this yummy dressing…saving some to put on the table for those that would like it more heavily dressed…add the dried cranberries and toss.
8. Now top the salad with your feta or goat cheese…sprinkle with roasted pumpkin seeds and if you are using a grilled items…it’s time to add it!
9. Time to serve the salad with a bowl of the additional salad dressing on the side along with some additional pumpkin seeds and cranberries for those that want more!
10. ENJOY!
Bone Appetite

(((((HUGS)))))
Thank you so much Katherine for being such a wonderful and loving friend!

Oh my goodness such a fresh and light salad and I love the addition on the seeds too. I eat a lot of salad and this one will be added to my list for certain. I do love that dachshund salt and pepper shaker ♥ Thank you Andrea for sharing with us today.

What is your favorite ingredient in this wonderful Sweet and Sour Apple Salad?

See you all at the Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop ( remember you can start linking up tomorrow night at 8PM MST)