The Covered Dish - Fresh Apple Salad

This week I’m sharing a very simplistic apple salad which I grew up eating, especially in the winter. I was amazed how many people raved about this salad when I served it for events, at Silver Dollar City. It’s down-home, and it can be made without too much sugar. It goes quite well with fried pork chops, potatoes and gravy. It’s also rather elegant for the holiday meals. Be sure and read my closing comments, at the end of the recipe.

On the dressing, ‘try’ to use homemade whipped cream. If you’re looking for the best heavy cream look for those with the most fat content. That my friends, is better flavor. The brand I most always purchase is the Walmart label. Why? Cost and taste, more than anything else. In a regular grocery store you will pay close to $7.00, or more for a quart of heavy cream. At the big ‘W’ I believe it’s around $3-4 a quart, approximately, and the fat content is the highest I can find.

Salad Dressing versus Mayonnaise: I’m more partial to salad dressing and I would choose Hellman’s for the best flavor. Lately I have been using a bit of what they call the ‘Mayo’ label. It’s lower in cost, and I like the flavor. Here comes the ‘however’, use what pleases you, not me!

Our past weekend was so enjoyable. We left things ‘undone’ on the home-front and spent Saturday having fun. First it was the PFI annual tent sale followed by a picnic at Chadwick, Missouri. We took Southwest Chicken Tortilla Soup and several sides as our meal. It was a cool afternoon, so the soup was perfect. Sunday we entertained our good friends from Minnesota for breakfast and then we left to go pick pears. Now I can make a batch of pear honey! YUM YUM. The pears still have a ways to go in the ripening department. This is a really good thing because my friends brought me apples from their farm, and I have those to prepare this week. I dove into them this afternoon and made my first apple pie of the season. (Wondering how we took soup on a picnic? I own a traveling slow cooker!)
Enjoy the colors as they fade into winter. Go for a drive somewhere, be frivolous, and go out for coffee and a slice of pie. Get away from home with a picnic lunch. Take a folding chair, blanket and book and set up near a body of water, for a good reading time. FYI, don’t forget the coffee thermos. Remember it is the little things we do for each other that make life so special. Remember the old saying: ‘If it’s to be, it’s up me!’

Expect good things to come your way, and look out, your basket will overflow!

Simply yours, The Covered Dish.

Fresh Apple Salad

1 cup finely diced celery

8-15 ounce can light tidbit pineapple, juice reserved

4 cups or 5-6 average apples, diced

(I leave skins on for color, can also be removed.)

1 cup grapes, cut into halves

1/2 cup chopped pecans or English walnuts

1 cup halved gumdrops in assorted colors

Dressing

1/4-1/3 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons honey

8 ounces whipped cream

*Options: raisins and marshmallows

Serves 10-12 persons

After chopping the apples generously roll them in the reserved pineapple juice. This will help keep the apples from browning. Drain well and

Place in large bowl with celery, pineapple and grapes. With a whisk blend the dressing in a separate bowl. Stir dressing into ingredients. Lastly stir in the gumdrops and pecans.

As a young girl this was always on the table for Thanksgiving and Holiday dinners. My grandmother, Lucy Rightmire Richardson, would put black, yellow and orange gumdrops for the fall dinners. At Christmas she often used red, green and white.
Sometime only diced orange slices were implemented. It was always one of my favorites and I called it ‘The Candy Salad’.