Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad

A popular copycat recipe available from many sources, and for good reason; it's delicious!

Oriental dressing
3 tablespoons honey
1 ½ tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp sesame oil

Salad
2 to 4 cups vegetable oil for frying
1 egg
½ cup milk
½ cup flour
½ cup cornflakes
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 boneless skinless chicken breast
3 cups chopped romaine lettuce
1 cup chopped red cabbage
1 cup chopped napa cabbage
1-2 carrots, depending on size, julienned or shredded
1 green onion, sliced
1 tablespoon sliced almonds
1/3 cup chow mein noodles

Using an electric mixer, blend all the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl. Put the dressing in the refrigerator to chill.
Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or frying pan over medium heat, about 350F. If using a frying pan, the oil should be at least ½ inch so that the chicken is immersed while cooking. In a small bowl, beat the egg, add the milk, and mix well. In another bowl, combine the flour and cornflakes, and salt and pepper. Cut the chicken breast into 4 or 5 long strips. Dip each strip of chicken first into the egg mixture and then into the flour mixture, coating each piece completely. Fry each chicken finger for 5 minutes or until the coating has darkened to brown.
Prepare the salad by tossing the romaine, napa, cabbage and carrot together. Sprinkle the green onion on top of the lettuce mix. Sprinkle the almonds over the salad, then the chow mein noodles. Cut the chicken into bite-sized chunks. Place the chicken on the salad, forming a pile in the middle. Serve with the salad dressing on the side.

Yields 2 entree size salads.

Quick Rustic Pizza Crust

Adapted from Quick and Easy Pizza Crust Recipe found at allrecipes.com.

A pizza stone gives the most "rustic" crust of all with this quick and easy pizza crust recipe, but very impressive results are also obtained with a ventilated pizza pan, the kind with lots of little holes in it. It's so good though (especially combined with the companion sauce recipe below) that trust me, no one is going to complain no matter what kind of pan you have available to make it on! Recipe makes enough for two 12 inch or one 16 inch pizza. This dough also makes a wonderful focaccia bread.

1 slightly rounded tbsp (or two packages) active dry yeast, quick rise or regular, either are acceptable

2 tsp sugar

2 cups warm water

5 cups bread flour (all purpose is fine to substitute in a pinch)

4 tbsp olive oil (3 for dough, one reserved for brushing pan and crust)

1-2 tsp sea salt (preferably 2, but 1 will work)

Prepare pizza pan(s) by brushing with oil and sprinkling with cornmeal. Pizza stone requires no oiling.

In a large mixing bowl, place yeast and sugar in warm water and allow to dissolve completely, about 5-10 minutes. Add 3 tbsp olive oil, salt, and half the flour into the yeast mixture, mix until smooth and well blended. Add remaining flour and mix in to form a soft dough, knead for about 5 minutes. A mixer with a dough hook makes this fast and easy to do because the dough is very soft and sticky. (Not saying it can't be done by hand, but the soft texture and inherent stickiness of this dough is what makes it, and doing it without a mixer makes it hard to keep the dough "wet".) Allow dough to rise for about 10 minutes in the bowl, do not punch down, then turn out on lightly floured surface and do not knead, just roll out into a round slightly smaller than your pizza pan or stone. Place round on oiled pizza pan and press into place to fit. Brush dough with remaining olive oil, then allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before topping. Place topped pizza in oven preheated to 500 degrees, lower temperature to 450 immediately and bake until crust and toppings are browned, about 20 minutes, depending on your oven.

Quick and Easy Pizza Sauce

Adapted from Cat Cora's Easy Pizza Sauce

Surprisingly complex flavor in this simple recipe that creates enough sauce for three 16 inch pizzas. The "extra" freezes beautifully.

2- 6 oz cans tomato paste

6 ounces olive oil (just use the empty can)

12 ounces water (ditto on the empty can)

1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano (or 1 1/2 tsp dried and crumbled)

1 tbsp chopped fresh basil leaves (or 1 1/2 tsp dried and crumbled)

2-3 cloves chopped or crushed garlic (optional)

Whisk all together in a medium bowl and let sit for several hours to blend flavors. If you didn't happen to prepare ahead of time and need to use it right away, you can also bring the mixture to a simmer in a medium saucepan, then cool briefly before using.

Cool Whip Frozen Dessert

Adapted from Kraft Foods Strawberry Whipped Sensation

Prepare a large loaf pan by lining with heavy duty foil, making the foil large enough to cover the top of the loaf pan and to be securely folded as this "package" will be going into the freezer.

2 cups chopped fresh strawberries

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed

Mix above ingredients and pour into foil lined loaf pan, press lightly into pan to make level.

8 chocolate sandwich cookies (such as Oreo) finely chopped

1 Tablespoon melted butter

In a small bowl, drizzle melted butter over cookie crumbs and combine thoroughly, sprinkle evenly over frozen mixture in loaf pan. Fold over foil and press lightly to level and fold foil around pan to seal. Freeze until firm, overnight is best. Open foil and invert frozen mixture onto serving plate, remove foil. Spread with remaining thawed whipped topping and decorate as desired with fresh strawberries.

This dessert needs time to thaw before serving: approximately 30 minutes at room temperature or 1-2 hours refrigerated.