WALL-E and Dinner

Yesterday afternoon, Ted and Sue came down to Wichita. We all went to see WALL-E. It was cute and we all enjoyed it.

Afterwards, we came back for dinner. I had been wanting to try a recipe I found on a link from a blog for Salmon Pesto Pasta. We all liked it and it tasted very summery with the pesto. I'll probably try adding more sauce the next time I make it. I made my go-to salad and also tried a new dessert, Blueberry-Peach Galettes. I like to have my guests be my test subjects. Yikes! But, everything was very good and I will definitely make them again!

This is an adapted recipe from Teneesa Stuckey originally for Mandarin Orange Salad. If you want the original, let me know!

My Favorite Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil (or other salad oil)
scant 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 T sugar
1 t parsley flakes (or mint, basil, etc)
1 t salt
1/4 t (or so) black pepper
1/2 t (or so) Grey Poupon mustard (optional)

Sugared Walnuts (or Almonds)
Melt 1 T butter. Add 1/2 cup nuts. Stir often until lightly browned. Add 2 T sugar. Stir until it is melted and nuts are golden brown. Allow to cool. Break apart.

Add ingredients of your choice to around 1 head of romaine lettuce or a bag of salad. 1 batch of dressing is enough for about 1 1/2-2 salads.

On Sunday, we served blue cheese, sugared walnuts and Craisins on our salad.
My friend, Michelle, started me on using feta cheese with sugared nuts and Craisins - which is quite delicious!
If we're doing Italian, I like to add chopped hard salami, red onion, pepperoncini, and cubed mozzarella.
The original recipe calls for bacon, avocado, mandarin oranges, red onion, and toasted almonds.


Blueberry-Peach Galettes
(From Jen LeFevre in Edible, a cookbook by the Hesston Women's Civic Club).
I am providing half the amounts of the original recipe. I halved it on Sunday and for the 5 of us, there was still a little leftover.

1/2 (15 oz) pkg. refrigerated pie dough. (I made a 1-crust pie dough recipe instead of buying it)
3 c. fresh or frozen, peeled and sliced peaches, thawed (I used fresh)
1/2 c. fresh, frozen, or dried blueberries (I used fresh)
2 T sugar
1 T apricot preserves, melted and divided
1 T sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll pie dough into a 12" circle; place on parchment paper. Combine peaches, blueberries and 2 T sugar. Arrange on pie crust, leaving a 3" border. Fold edges of dough toward center, pressing gently to seal (dough will only partially cover peach mixture). Brush apricot preserves over peach mixture and edges of dough. Sprinkle with 1 T sugar. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees (do not remove galette from oven) and bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Serve warm or at room temperature. Cut galette into 8 wedges. Serve with a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Yum!