My heart is heavy with sadness right now because the North Carolina mountains have been devastated by flooding that has never been seen before. I haven’t blogged in so long but I felt the need to make a recipe that represents my favorite time of year in the mountains. This is my Fall Harvest Apple Salad and is inspired by apple picking season in the mountains.

It is full of apples (fresh and dried) which are seasonal in the Fall. And, we all the know the importance of eating seasonal foods, right? If not, here is a link to my Health Benefits of Seasonal Eating post.

What You’ll Need

Chicken Breast
Mixed Greens
Apples
Dried Apples
Pecans
Goat Cheese
Apple Cider Vinegar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Dijon Mustard
Maple Syrup

How to Make this Fall Harvest Apple Salad

Start by cooking your chicken. I cut my chicken into thin slices and cooked in olive oil until cooked through. I sprinkled a tsp of Italian seasoning on my chicken to give it some extra flavor.

While the chicken is cooking, wash your mixed greens. I use asalad spinner to help with the process. If you don’t have a salad spinner, put the mixed greens into a bowl of water and swish it all around in the water. The dirt should settle to the bottom of the bowl. Then you can skim the lettuce off the top and lay onto towels to dry.

Apples

Next, slice the apples. I cut the apple in half, then in half again. Next, I slice the core out at a diagonal and then slice the apple into pieces.

We’ve all heard “an apple a day, keeps the doctor away”. Apples are one of my favorite fruits. I don’t eat a ton of fruit but an apple is hard to turn down. Apples are full of soluble fiber and in Dr Hyman’s Cholesterol Solution eBook, he suggest that you eat at least eight to ten servings of colorful fruits and vegetables a day, which contain disease fighting vitamins, minerals, fiber, phytonutrients, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory molecules.

Doctor’s orders, you should eat this salad which is full of apples and mixed greens and gets you well onto your way of meeting that eight to ten servings of colorful fruits and veggies.

I took this picture at an apple orchard in the NC mountains

Finish by making the dressing. You’ll want to use good quality extra virgin olive oil. I personally only use THIS olive oil. It’s organic, single sourced and comes from one family’s grove of olive trees in Greece. You can use code FERRA10 to get 10% off your order.

Add 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 1 T Maple Syrup, 1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar and 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil to a bowl. Whisk it all together.

The Apple Cider Vinegar or ACV in the dressing of this salad will help you digest the proteins in the chicken plus it tastes really good!

I like a 2:1 oil to vinegar for salad dressing (2 parts oil to 1 part vinegar)

Now it’s time to build the salad. Start with the mixed greens, then layer in the apples, goat cheese, pecans, dried apples and chicken. Pour the dressing over the top and enjoy!

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