Waldorf Salad Recipe

This is a delicious version of Waldorf Salad that just kind of came together in the kitchen one day last week.  I had some apples that needed to be used and from there I just began looking around for different ingredients to turn a traditional Waldorf salad recipe into something just a bit different.  It tasted great, with a few surprising ingredients added.  Hope you enjoy it too!

 I am one of those people who (almost) always follows a recipe, but this time I was simply putting together ingredients as I went, so please forgive the vague amounts...just use as much or as little of each ingredient that suits your taste.

Perhaps your amounts will be based on what you have on hand too.  There have been many times that I will find a recipe I want to try, but just don't have everything on hand, so I make substitutions.  It doesn't always work, but with a cold salad recipe, it's probably not going to make that big of a difference.

Ingredients

• apples - I used 5-6 small to medium apples, peeled and sliced
• celery - 1 to 2 ribs, diced
• green grapes - 12-15, sliced in half
• sliced almonds - to taste
• dried cranberries - about 1/4 cup or to taste
• mixture of mayonnaise and Cool Whip - just enough to wet down the ingredients (I used a bit more mayonnaise than Cool Whip)

Simply toss together the first 5 ingredients in a bowl.  Then mix the mayonnaise and Cool Whip together in a smaller bowl so they are well blended before adding them to the salad ingredients.  I like to add the Cool Whip because I find that just mayonnaise seems to make the salad taste "heavy".  The Cool Whip adds a bit of sweetness too without being overpowering.

The dried cranberries added a wonderful surprise of sweet taste and the almonds added some additional flavor and crunch in addition to the celery.  You could easily use other dried fruits in place of the cranberries.

Red grapes could be used in place of green grapes too - the red would add some more color.

Finally, add everything together and mix well, until all the salad ingredients are covered evenly.

Serve on a few green lettuce leaves along with some cheese and crackers or soup and you have a delicious lunch. 

My best to you today,