GARLIC MAPLE SALAD DRESSING

GARLIC MAPLE SALAD DRESSING
This recipe comes from Taste of Home magazine.  It is absolutely one of the best salad dressings I have ever had.  There is something about the combination of the maple syrup with the mustard, garlic and lemon that gives this sweet flavored dressing a wonderfully subtle kick.  It is good on any mixture of greens.  It is good with chicken meat or bacon and absolutely great with apples or pears.  Experiment with different combinations and find your own special salad to showcase this dressing.  It will keep in the refrigerator for several days so enjoy it again and again.  Olivia and I have both made it and we both love it.  You will too.
-Nanette

GARLIC MAPLE SALAD DRESSING

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• Juice of 1 medium lemon
• 2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 to 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions

• Place all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid; shake well.
• Yield: 3/4 cup.

Bacon-Cheese Topped Chicken

Olivia has a very good friend whose wife is an extraordinary cook!  This friend is a retired teacher who acted as a true mentor when Olivia first started teaching.  Luckily, even though this gentleman has retired he and Olivia have kept in touch.  In many ways, he has become like a second father to her.  Recently he and his wife invited Olivia and her husband to their home for dinner.  This recipe, which originally came from Taste of Home, was the main attraction for that evening.  Olivia raved about it.  I haven't had it yet, but the picture looks fabulous.

When Olivia originally tasted it, the recipe was made totally with maple syrup.  When Olivia made it herself, she used 1/4 cup honey and 1/4 cup syrup.  Olivia also substituted onions for the mushrooms--just out of personal preference.  Olivia tells me it comes out looking like it is coated with some kind of marvelous barbecue sauce and is very flavorful.  Hope you enjoy it!  Let's be honest here--it has bacon, chicken, cheese and the sweetness of honey and/or syrup--how could you NOT enjoy it?
- Nanette

Bacon-Cheese Topped Chicken
Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup honey (or maple syrup or 1/4 c. syrup,1/4 cup honey) 
• 4-1/2 teaspoons canola oil, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• Dash paprika
• 2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
• 8 bacon strips, partially cooked
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the mustard, honey, 1-1/2 teaspoons oil and

lemon juice. Pour 1/2 cup into a large resealable plastic bag; add

the chicken. Seal the bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 2 hours.

Cover and refrigerate the remaining marinade.

Drain and discard marinade from chicken. In a large skillet over

medium heat, brown chicken in remaining oil on all sides. Sprinkle

with salt, pepper and paprika. Transfer to a greased 11-in. x 7-in.

baking dish. In the same skillet, saute mushrooms in butter until tender. Spoon

reserved marinade over chicken. Top with cheeses and mushrooms.

Place bacon strips in a crisscross pattern over chicken.

Bake, uncovered, at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until a meat

thermometer reads 170°. Sprinkle with parsley. Yield: 4

servings.

Recipe Source:  Taste of Home

Maple Bacon Biscuits

These biscuits are so yummy on a chilly morning.  A couple of weeks ago my mom posted pictures from the Maple Syrup Festival.  This recipe is a delcious way to use one of nature's sweetest gifts - maple syrup.  This is a very forgiving recipe, and a very delicious recipe at that.  To start off, you need:

• 1/2 pound of bacon. cut into pieces, cooked in a skillet on the stove
• 1/8-1/4 cup flour (depending on how much bacon grease you use)
• 1 cup maple syrup
• 1/4-1/2 brown sugar (depending on how sweet you want your biscuits to be)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans

After you cook the bacon on the stove, remove it using a slotted spoon and place the bacon in the bottom of a round baking dish.  I use a springform pan, but it isn't a necessity.  Add the flour to the grease on the stove, and stir to get all of those yummy bacon drippings off of the bottom of the pan.  If for some reason you have a lot of bacon grease, you may want to remove part of it first. After the flour is stirred in, add the maple syrup and brown sugar to the pan and heat to combine.  As the syrup is warming up, sprinkle the chopped pecans in the bottom of your baking dish on top of the bacon.  After the syrup is warm and bubbly, pour it over the bacon and pecan pieces and you end up with this......Mmmmmmm.....

Now, you could use your favorite biscuit recipe and make homemade biscuits to top the warm, gooey syrup, but I was in a hurry when I last made these, so I used canned biscuit dough.  Just place the biscuits on top of the syrup nice and snug.

If you do as I did and use premade biscuits, bake your dish at the temperature on the package.  You will likely need to bake them for LONGER than the package says since you have them all snug as a bug in a rug in the pan.  As soon as the biscuits look like they are baked, pull the pan out of the oven and carefully invert the pan on a serving dish, and this is what you get.  Seriously, these are delicious...

Happy Cooking!

Olivia