Blue Moon Waldorf Salad

I have tried, time and time again, to get into blue cheese. 

I tried it on fancy sesame crackers.

I tried it with bacon, back when I dabbled in calling myself a carnivore.

I even tried it on a fancy open faced sandwich.

But, try as I might, I just can't get into it.  So, for this Blue Moon Waldorf Salad, I decided to save my pretty pennies and skip the blue cheese part altogether.

I hope you can forgive me for this major deviation from the written recipe.

I started by dicing up a crunchy apple and a juuuust right pear.

I know that pear looks a little janky. 

But it was divine. 

I sought out bits of it when I tasted this salad. 

So juicy. So fine. 

Don't judge a pear by its skin!

The fruit got mixed up with raisins, minced celery, toasted walnuts, and a big splash of fresh lemon juice. Then the dressing: plain yogurt, a touch of mayo, and a touch of honey. That's it! No spices. No salt. Just a simple salad for your enjoyment.

Check it out folks!

This is the last of the four Moosewood Waldorf variations. I really enjoyed all four of them ... it's hard to choose a favorite!

Here are the other three Waldorfs:

Vegetable Waldorf Salad

Waldorf Deluxe

California Waldorf Salad

Which one did you like the most?

Apple Strudel

Apple Strudel was a delicate and complex process.  I have skipped over this recipe for a while, but because it contains such perfect autumn ingredients, I decided that today I would finally do it.

First, I layered sheets of filo dough brushed with melted butter.

Then I filled the dough with the good stuff: apples, lemon zest, cinnamon, raisins, sugar, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. 

This recipe made three rolls of strudel. I baked one off today and saved the other two for this weekend.  This one has cheddar cheese in it!  After placing the filling, I folded up the sides of the filo dough.

Then I rolled the whole thing up and brushed it with melted butter!

The strudel baked and baked, and started getting brown pretty quick. 

 

Next time I will cook it at a lower temperature for a little longer, as the outside was really done, but the apples were not completely soft.