"Bok Choy" Salad - and week 2 of giveaways!

I realize that, considering how much time I spend baking, it would seem like this is the perfect time of year for me to be going to town with recipes for baked goods.

So, of course, I'm going for a salad this week.

Don't forget! As with last week, anyone who shares this post via social media - and tags me in it somehow so I know the share has happened - will be entered into a drawing to receive a plate of cookies in the mail!

Also, in the spirit of giving - and giving thanks - this month, I'm featuring funding pages for people I am somehow connected to. This week, it's a fundraising site for a college friend and his son who is fighting cancer:

The link to the giving site is here.

(If you think your friends would prefer to see the Brownie Bites post, you could also share that this week - sharing either one will get you into this week's drawing!)

Now, back to the food...

I had every intention of this being a good photo-by-photo salad-making event. And I started out that way. See?

The washed out stuff on the left of the photo is three packs of sliced almonds.

But, umm... I kind of got my timing wrong, and thought that it was an hour earlier than it actually was. Which meant that we had to hustle to get to where we were going - the event for which we were making the salad.

Now, here's a photo of the recipe:

You may have noticed - if you compare the recipe to the top photo - that I doubled the ingredients. That's because I was making this for a crowd at a Friendsgiving event.

You may also have noticed that it says that this is supposed to be a Bok Choy salad. But the first few times I made it I kept buying the wrong thing. And then I got used to having the Chinese Cabbage version.

And I liked it.

So that's what I use.

Here's a photo of that cabbage with the green onions:

Of course, the things that make this recipe are the toppings. On top of the greens, you get this (possibly warm) crunchy, nutty topping with a sweet/tangy/salty dressing.

A prep note worth making note of: It is much easier to crush up the Ramen noodles while they are still in their bags than once they're out in the wild. This keeps everything contained - no shrapnel under the fridge or in your eye.

All of the "to be cooked" ingredients go into a big sauté pan (oh - remember - I doubled the recipe), and while that is coming to temp and getting all warm and cozy smelling, you can put together the dressing.

You know I'm all about honesty, here, and I would normally have shown you all of the pouring of ingredients, but the time was beginning to tick away and so Christopher was pouring while I was running around and getting things ready to pack up and leave. (This includes making sure that the Brownie Bites we featured last week were plated and secure.)

Interestingly, we found that if you run out of rice wine vinegar in mid-recipe you can use white wine vinegar for the balance.

We also used soy sauce packets from delivery to supplement our bottle of soy sauce which was about 1/4 cup short.

All of that goes into a bottle of some kind so that you can shake it up when it's time to use it.

We usually use a pint-sized jar, but a pint-sized jar is too small for a double recipe, so this went into a freebie water bottle from work - which happened to be tinted gray, so this looks a bit ominous.

(Is that showing up centered on your screen? On mine, the photo is on the left and the caption is on the right. Weird.)

Back on the stove, things were doing great. I mean... doesn't it toast up and look beautiful?

Okay. Yes. This photo is from when it was already off the stove - the towel would not have survived on the burner.

Unfortunately, when I went to stir it, I found that I had left it on the heat a little too long and parts of this had gotten a tad dark brown. So, before packaging it up for transport, I did a quick "sorting" to get rid of the darker bits.

This is when I should be showing you the glorious plated photo. And I thought I had taken one when we delivered the salad to Friendsgiving. But when I opened my photos to upload it, all I found was this:

Yes, that's the salad in the upper-left corner of the photo. You get the idea, though, right? It's a base of greens with crunchy topping and then a sweet/salty dressing.

Let me summarize...

Though Thanksgiving is next week, I'll be back with Week 3 of the giveaway - as well as another fundraising page.

Thanks for all you're doing to help share these stories!

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*Disclaimer: I'll be trying to draw a winner each week before the next post goes up. Everyone who shares the post in a way that I can track it (or who lets me know that it's being shared) will be entered into the drawing for the plate of cookies (shipping within the US, only). One entry per share, so feel free to share multiple times. No extra entries for making a donation to the fundraising pages, but don't let that stop you. 

**Week one's winner was Jennifer S. from out in Maryland! So as soon as I make my next batch of cookies (which, this time of year, could be at any moment), a plate of them will be on their way to her!