Winter Salad with Maple Candied Walnuts and Balsamic Fig Dressing

"A salad is not a meal, it is a style." -- Fran Lebowitz

Despite what you may have already read on this blog, I do actually like salad.  I love the chicken, avocado, egg and bacon in a cob salad.  I love feta cheese and olives in a greek salad.  I love the ham and cheese in a chef's salad.  You get the picture.  Lettuce and/or greens by themselves are just boring.  That's why I see all these pretty salads on Pinterest and want to make them.  And I actually did make this one and it was a big hit.

I am the self-proclaimed salad maker for the holidays (along with desserts).  That way I'll get something I know that I like.  (You see, there is a method to my madness.)  And we had a fun holiday family gathering at my in-laws house.  I had to change from my standard autumn salad, to something a little more wintery, and here it was, from half baked harvest.

I love the different textures and how colorful and holiday-ey it looks.  I will admit, my only hesitation about making this one was the pomegranate seeds.  I do like pomegranate seeds and the last time I decided I wanted some, my kitchen ended up looking like a murder scene.  And I lost about a half hour of my life trying to get all the seeds out of that baby.  (Seriously, if someone has an easy way of seeding a pomegranate, I am ALL ears!)  But my BIL came to the rescue and said he would provided the pomegranate seeds.  Score!

I thought it was delicious, and there wasn't anything leftover, so I think it was a success.

From my board "My salad days."

Nutella Palmiers

"Cookies are made of butter and love" 

-- Norwegian proverb

Oh my cookieness!  These are divine!  Although I have seen Palmier cookies in pastry shops and restaurants on occasion, I had never heard the name before.  But as I sat there flipping through a year-old magazine at the Music Education Center, I came across a collection of recipes I wanted to try.  And this Palmiers recipe was first on my list.

Ripped from a Woman's Day magazine, it gave all different kinds of filling ideas for these flaky, delicious cookies.  

The next day, as I was browsing through World Market, admiring a very cute owl cookie jar (*hint* *hint* Michael), I came across a Nutella cookbook, and there was a recipe for Nutella Palmiers!  I mean, 24-hours earlier, I hadn't even heard of these cookies.  It's like it was meant to be!!!  Now I was a woman on a mission.  I ran right out to buy the puff pastry and made them right away.

Now, I know they're not as pretty as the ones in the picture.  You already KNOW I'm not a professional photographer.  And I was literally scraping the bottom of the Nutella jar, so I didn't have anywhere near as much as I would have liked.  But believe me, they tasted WAY better than they looked.

Here is what I learned from making these.  You get two sheets of puff pastry dough.  Use both of them!!!  I made a second batch, wrapped it tightly in saran wrap and stuck it in the fridge.  I did fully intend to bake them the next day, but didn't and then the dough got icky.  It also didn't really puff very well.  So there you have it.

From my board "C is for cookie."

Elf on the Shelf - 2014

Ah, those crazy elves.  Always up to something.  

Into the Halloween candy yet again.  (When are my kids going to learn to eat that stuff up before the elves make an appearance.)

Elf-Tac-Toe

Everybody loves minions!  Even the elves.

Oh dear!  It looks like the elves got injured in the boys' messy bedrooms.  The little note said 

"We were checking on you like we do every night, 

When we tripped on some stuff and it caused such a fright.  

Please pick up your rooms like all good boys should.  

And Santa will place you on the list that says "Good."

Who hasn't seen the movie "Frozen?"

This elf wants to be like Miley Cyrus.  He came in like a wrecking ball.

It looks like this game of candy chess turned into a game of Candy Crush!

What have your elves been up to?