Authors in Bloom Blog Hop - Cabbage Salad with Blackberry Vinaigrette

I'm thrilled to join in the Authors in Bloom Blog Hop, which is being coordinated by Tiffany of A Cozy Reader's Corner Reviews. Tiffany is one of the Fool's Gold Varsity Cheerleaders, and I'm so happy that she invited me to participate in this fun blog hop.


Here's how it's going to work. The blog hop will run from April 9-April 18. Each participating author will share a recipe or a gardening tip and will give away a prize. I'm giving away a copy of ALREADY HOME, my 2011 women's fiction book. (My latest women's fiction novel is BAREFOOT SEASON, in stores now!) For a chance to win a signed copy of ALREADY HOME, join the Members Only section at www.susanmallery.com, then leave your email address in a comment here. Don't forget to leave your email address - that's how we'll be able to verify that you're a Member. This contest is open internationally.

April 19 update...

And the winner is....

jpart2121@aol.com - check your email for a message from my assistant! Congratulations!

You can also collect a brief phrase at each blog, the put them together for a chance to win the grand prize, a Kindle Fire or a NOOK - winner's choice! Here's my secret phrase...

Line 47: Odd to compare girls to flowers.

Recipe: Cabbage Salad with Blackberry Vinaigrette

• ½ head of cabbage, sliced thin or shredded
• 4 green onions, sliced thin
• 1 stalk of celery, sliced thin
• ¼ C walnut pieces
• ½ C blackberry vinaigrette (Recipe at BlackberryIsland.com/recipes.html)
• Variation: 1 C cooked turkey or chicken, chopped

Toss all ingredients. Makes 4-6 side salads or 2 main dish salads.

Corn and Blueberry Pasta Salad

I’m a brave person. I wouldn’t say I’m fearless, but I don’t let fear prevent me from taking crazy leaps of faith. Like the time I turned down a well paying job with a solid future in accounting in order to try my hand at writing romance novels.

My latest act of daring could be considered even more foolhardy: I modified a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens.

Gasp!

Let me preface this by saying that I love BHG. The magazine always has great decorating ideas, inspiring garden features, and recipes I love. The recipes are sophisticated but simple.

The other day, I was flipping through the June issue and spotted a recipe for Corn and Blueberry Salad and I stopped in my tracks. Corn and blueberries? Together? It was so pretty, I had to try it.

I followed the recipe exactly, and it was delightful. This salad is gorgeous and would be a wonderful addition to any potluck. But I live in a house with two people, and this was a lot of salad for just two people.

So after we had eaten about half of it, I took a leap of faith and modified the recipe to come up with Corn and Blueberry Pasta Salad. No recipe is sacred. And with apologies to the editors and writers at BHG, I have to tell you, this is even more delicious than the original. It was a great grab-and-go lunch meal for me for a couple of days, which was timely since I was deep into writing one of next year’s Fool’s Gold romances at the time. (I’m working on Montana’s story.)

Note: This recipe is from scratch. Alternatively, you could start out with Corn and Blueberry Salad from BHG and then add the remaining ingredients after you eat about half.

Corn and Blueberry Pasta Salad

3 ears sweet corn
½ C fresh blueberries
½ C cucumber, sliced
½ C carrots, diced
½ C sugar snap peas, chopped
¼ C red onion, diced
¼ C red bell pepper, diced
½ C cheddar cheese, in ¼-inch chunks
2 T chopped fresh cilantro
½ jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
4 C cooked whole wheat pasta

Dressing:
1 C mayonnaise
1 T lime juice
1 T olive oil
2 t honey
¼ t ground cumin

Boil the corn for 5-7 minutes, then drain and rinse with cool water. Wait until the corn is cool enough that it won’t melt the cheese when you mix the ingredients. Cut the kernels from the cobs and place in a large bowl with the next 9 ingredients.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients and add to the pasta mixture. Fold in the dressing gently so you don’t pop the blueberries. Refrigerate overnight if you can resist it that long. Try to give it at least a couple of hours for the flavors to meld.

Green Salad with Turkey and Cranberry Vinaigrette

Yesterday, I cooked a boneless turkey breast on the grill. I wanted to use the leftovers today in a salad, and I thought that cranberry vinaigrette sounded like a nice dressing for it. Sadly, I didn’t have cranberry vinaigrette on hand. Is that a staple in anyone’s pantry?

I looked up some recipes online, but they all called for a bag of cranberries, which was another thing I didn’t have. I find that most new recipes arise out of laziness. Or maybe it’s agoraphobia. All I know is that I wanted cranberry vinaigrette, but I did not want to go to the store. I wanted to use the can of cranberry sauce that I had bought at Thanksgiving but forgot to serve. Was
that so wrong?

It turned out surprisingly delicious. I’m always surprised when I make up recipes and they taste good. They don’t always, I swear. But I’ll probably never tell you about the ones that don’t because I want you to keep coming back to this blog, and I don’t think you will if I post recipes for inedible food.

Cranberry Vinaigrette

1 can of whole berry cranberry sauce, whole berries set aside
½ cup of olive oil
¼ cup of red wine vinegar
¼ cup of water
1 t. Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

Garlic Croutons

Adding to the deliciousness of the salad were homemade garlic croutons. O…M…G! They were so easy, too! I pressed three cloves of garlic through the garlic press into a small bowl and then poured about a quarter-cup of olive oil over it. Let that sit for about 20-30 minutes, then pour it over a sieve into another bowl. The oil becomes infused with garlic flavor. Toss with cubed bread and bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes, flipping once.

The hardest part about the croutons was cutting the bread into little chunks. It required delicacy, and I’ve never been the delicate type.

Salad

I lined the plate with a bed of salad greens, added sugar snap peas, green onions, the turkey, croutons, and reserved whole cranberries. I used bleu cheese, but if you don’t like bleu cheese, then romano or parmesan would be good, too. Drizzle with the vinaigrette.

Let me know what you think! Would you change anything if you tried the recipe? This recipe and many others will be available as printable PDFs on my website, www.susanmallery.com, as soon as we finish the redesign.