{my new favorite fall salad}

In the past few weeks, we have eaten some variation of this kale salad at least 3 or 4 times and it is quickly becoming my favorite warm fall salad for weeknight dinners.  While it isn't necessarily a "light" salad seeing that it includes bacon and buttery croutons, it is quite delicious and filling while not feeling overly heavy.  And let's not forget it is topped with an egg so how could it be bad?!?  I'll also let you in on our secret to perfectly poached eggs- it's this tool from Sur La Table.  It works so well that for the month after I brought two of them home we were topping practically every we made with a poached egg. Full recipe at the bottom of the post:

{french tin egg poacher- best tool ever!}

what you need:

• 1 Apple
• 1 bunch of kale or collard greens
• 4 strips of bacon
• 1 slice of french bread croutons
• 1/4 cup of slivered almonds, lightly toasted
• balsamic vinaigrette (I love the one from Trader Joe's)
• 8 oz of mushrooms
• salt & pepper
• paprika
• 2 eggs

1. Cook the bacon in a large pan until crispy, chop into small pieces and set aside. 
2. Saute the mushrooms until they are nicely browned and set aside. 
3. Toss the bread with oil and toast in the oven until crunchy. 
4. Slice the apple into small pieces and place in cold water with lemon juice to avoid browning.  
5. Saute  kale in large pan until lightly wilted.  
6. Combine Kale, Apple (removed from water), chopped bacon, the croutons, almonds, mushrooms and vinaigrette in a large bowl and toss to combine.  
7. Split between two plates and top each salad with a poached egg.  
8. Sprinkle the top of egg with a pinch of paprika.

{sweet potato skewers with cilantro aioli}

Is there anything better than the onslaught of sweet potato, pumpkin and apple themed recipes that appear once the calender hits October!?!?  Pumpkin is always the front runner of fall ingredients for me, but when I saw this recipe for Sweet Potato skewers with a jalapeno cilantro aioli, I knew I had to try it.  This is a great and simple recipe that is sure to impress.  You simply peel and cube the sweet potato, then while it is baking you whip up a simple aioli that includes fresh cilantro and spicy jalapeno.   The mixture of the aioli and the sweet potato is out of control.  These are two flavors I would never put together and yet, they work so incredibly well.   Putting these on a skewer is a great visual presentation, but if I ever made these again I would serve them as individual sweet potato bites on smaller bamboo skewers or appetizer picks.  I always find that dishes are easier for guests to eat if they are a one dip and one bite type of thing.  You can see the original recipe I followed here: