Creamy Horseradish Dressing originally published as Kitchen Critical on Food and Fond Memories on January 10, 2013 by sandyaxelrod Leave a Comment (Edit)

Creamy Horseradish Dressing

An olive colored dinner plate topped with sausage chunks and greens sitting on a butcher block along with an olive wood salt cellar and a red pepper mill.

Kielbasa and Apple Salad with Creamy Horseradish Dressing

I know I am a little late for the party but I do want to wish everyone a very happy and delicious new year. 2013 has started off very well. First one of my very dearest life long friends, Sheri, came to visit from Atlantic City. It had been a couple of years since we had seen each other and eons since we rang in the new year together. Like since 1978! So it was quite a treat. A whole bunch of us started partying with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at one friends home (thanks Joanne and Stuart) and then we continued the revelry with dinner and dancing under the stars at a restaurant in Pompano Beach. That was followed by a sleepover with Jackie and Alan, Sheri and Steve and I at Jackie and Alan’s. New Year’s morning we were still celebrating with brunch at another friends home. By the time we got back to our house I was ready for a good night’s sleep.
But you know what they say – no rest for the weary. I had a small cocktail party to cater and started right in with my prep on January 2. And since Sheri was staying until Sunday I also prepared for a brunch at our home while I was already cooking. In the midst of all of this I got an exciting email from Stephen Berman who publishes a fantastic site called www.kitchencritical.com. They write about all sorts of food prep items, reviews, etc. and they were starting a new blogs page on their site. I had been corresponding with Stephen for a while about doing simultaneous posts on his site. Now he wanted to know if he could use my post on “The Tools of My Trade” as their inaugural post. I was honored and thrilled to say the least. Make sure to check it out.

An olive colored dinner plate topped with sausage chunks and greens sitting on a butcher block

Kielbasa and Apple Salad with Creamy Horseradish Dressing

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Now since I have been pressed for time and had so many leftovers from the catering and our brunch I have been trying creative ways to use them up by repurposing them. One of the little cocktail nibbles that I made for my client was Kielbasa and Granny Smith Apple Skewers with a Tangy Sauce. The combination was so delicious that I wanted to have it for dinner. I decided to morph it into a salad. So first I sauteed some sliced red onion and shallots in a little olive oil until lightly caramelized. Next I added cut up bell pepper and thinly slice kielbasa and cooked it all until the kielbasa was nicely browned and the peppers softened. I set that aside to cool. In a large salad bowl I added sliced red cabbage, arugula, thinly slice fennel, cucumber slices, sliced rainbow baby carrots and chunks of Granny Smith apple. I added in the kielbasa, pepper, shallot and onion mixture and topped it all off with a tangy and creamy dressing. And just to round out the meal I made Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!