Mixed Lettuce Salad with Apples and Blue Cheese; Dijon Vinaigrette

With apples and cranberries in season right now, here is a delicious salad for your holiday menus. It's easy and delicious and very colorful!

Mixed Lettuce Salad with Apples, Blue Cheese and Dijon Vinaigrette

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8 cups lettuce blend of:

spinach, red leaf, Bibb, romaine,

radicchio, Belgian endive, iceburg

1 medium red onion, sliced

2 crisp RED apples

pecan halves

crumbled blue cheese

dried cranberries

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Vinaigrette

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3/4 cup olive oil

3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

1/8 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

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In a screw top jar or lidded container,combine the olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. Cover and shake well. Chill until serving time.

Arrange the greens on salad plates. Top with onions, apples, pecans, blue cheese and cranberries.

Pass the dressing.

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Cranberry Nut Bread

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It's Cranberry Time!!

Here is one of my family's most treasured holiday recipes: Cranberry Nut Bread. I share it with you and hope you enjoy it as much as we do. P.S. Get those cranberries now out in the market (October, November, and December) while you can because once they are sold out for the year, you won't be able to find them again until next year. And these little breads freeze wonderfully!

Cranberry Nut Bread

1/3 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup very warm, not hot, water

1/3 cup non-fat dry milk

2 cups sifted flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 cup fresh whole cranberries

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Cream the buter and sugar in a bowl with a hand-mixer.

Add the eggs and vanilla, beating thoroughly.

Sprinkle the yeast into the warm water and stir until dissolved.

Stir in the dry milk.

Blend yeast mixture, flour and baking soda into the egg mixture.

Beat at highest speed of mixer for 6 minutes.

Stir in the cranberries and nuts.

Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate batter overnight

Then, stir the batter down and put into SMALL greased loaf pans.

Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes.

Cool and dust with powdered sugar or top with your favorite powdered sugar icing.

WE LOVE THIS BREAD WITHOUT ANYTHING! But the choice is yours.

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ADDICTING, Oh So Good (and SWEET) Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Here is a recipe that I found on the 'All Recipes' web-site. I do not claim this recipe to be my own creation. My husband and I are the pickiest cookie foodies. So when we were researching the best oatmeal (raisin) cookie recipe, I found this. If you log on to All Recipes for this recipe you will see that there are over 600 5-star reader reviews for this cookie recipe . . . honestly, this recipe is that good!

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We bake half a batch with raisins and half a batch without raisins because our family is split on this little tiny ingredient (in fact, I double the raisins for my batch, since I love raisins).

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If you nibble on these when they are warm, you will become addicted to them!

Soft Oatmeal (Raisin) Cookies

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1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon!

3 cups quick cooking oats

1 cup or your preferred amount of dark raisins

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In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together and then stir these into the creamed mixture. Mix in the oats.

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Cover and chill the cookie dough for at least one hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheets. Roll the cookie dough into walnut-size balls and place them 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie with a large spoon dipped in sugar.

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Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the pre-heated oven. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before placing them on a wire rack to cool completely.

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