No Fuss Blue Cheese & Pear salad with Apricot Nectar Dressing

This is the salad i made for Thanksgiving 08, and i have to say it turned out better than i thought. Just isn't a very good "travelling" salad, as you can't combine everything right away (or you can, but the leaves will be sloppy.)

Dressing:

1/2 c. apricot nectar

1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil

1/3 c. white wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. dijon mustard (maybe a honey dijon might be nice too? or mix with a seeded mustard?)

1/2 tsp. salt

Wisk together, in a rather large bowl, these ingredients until they are well blended. Then add:

3 green onions, finely chopped

1/2 c. dried apricots, snipped

6 pears (i used a mix of Barlett and Seckel) cored and cut into wedges

Toss to coat pears and cover to refrigerate for 30 minutes to 3.5 hours. (any longer, the vinegar will start to break down the pears making them mushy.)

To serve:

On a large platter place:

10 cups of mixed greens (mesclun, romaine, etc.) and 1/2 head of radicchio (or herbed salad greens).

Then remove pear slices from dressing and arrange on greens, reserving vinaigrette.

Arrange 8 to 10oz cambazola or other blue cheese (use wedges or crumbles) or goat cheese (cut into rounds) over the salad.

Sprinkle with 3/4 c. coursely chopped toasted almonds (or nuts of your liking)

Drizzle with reserved dressing or serve on the side.

Makes 12 servings.

242 cals, 16 g fat, 4 g fiber

Corn Muffins

Cooking spray (or parchment for pan liners)
3 T butter
1 c. plain yoghurt
1 large egg
1 cup cornmeal (i use a mix of course ground and regular ground for a grittier effect)
1/4 c. brown sugar
1T white sugar (i forgot to add this--and sprinkled just a pinch on the top of each muffin and it was sweet enough--you can probably just leave it out.)
1 c. unbleached white flour (i use whole wheat)
2 tsp baking pwdr
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

topping: butter, jam, or real maple syrup


Preheat oven 375. spray a 6 muffin capacity muffin tin with the cooking spray.

Measure out yoghurt in a small bowl. Beat egg and add to yoghurt. Add melted butter to this. Whisk until all ingredients are blended.

In another bowl, combine cornmeal, brown sugar (and white sugar), flour, baking pwdr and soda, and salt. Combine well. Make a dent in the flour mixture with a wooden spoon. Add yoghurt mix to the flour mix and stir with wooden spoon until everything is wet and well blended. Use spoon to transfer batter to muffin cups.

Cook for 20 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes. Extra muffins freeze well. Also great to reheat in the toaster.

(recipe found in one of Molly Katzen's cooking with children books)