English Farmhouse Salad

This is another recipe from the Simply Salad book by Jennifer Chandler. I added some grilled chicken to it and it made for a nice, light, Summery dish. Normally I am not a fan of blue cheese, but I decided to go for it anyway. Glad I did! The bite of the cheese is really mellowed out by the grilled apples and balsamic dressing.

Ingredients

• 1 granny smith apple, cored and thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 bag Spring Mix lettuce
• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and cooled
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 2 chicken breasts
  

Vinaigrette

• 6 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 Tbsp balsamic vinaigrette (I used black currant balsamic)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat a clean grill or grill pan to medium-high. Season chicken with salt and pepper, and grill until no longer pink inside. Allow to cool, then slice into bite-sized chunks.
2. In a medium bowl, toss apple slices with oil until well coated. Place apples on grill pan and grill until just softened, about 2 min per side. Set aside to cool.
3. In a large salad bowl, toss the Spring Mix, walnuts, and blue cheese.
   
4. For vinaigrette, mix olive oil, balsamic salt and pepper until well blended. To keep the dressing from separating, add just a dash of garlic powder and mix gently. Add vinaigrette to taste and gently toss. Top with grilled apples.