AppleBee's Chinese Chicken Salad & Flowers

I like one thing, and one thing only at AppleBee's.  We never go there anymore, so I miss their Chinese Chicken Salad.  It has a very unusual dressing, unlike any other I have tasted.  Well, my friend Holly over at

Hoosier At Heart  recently bought a cookbook that featured favorite recipes from restaurants.  I think it is their own version, not the actual restaurant version.  Holly made it and loved it.  I happened to have all the ingredients for the dressing so I made it tonight.

Applebee's Chinese Chicken Salad Dressing

3 T honey
1 1/2 T white vinegar ( I used cider vinegar, but would have used rice wine vinegar if I wasn't out )
4 t mayo
1 T Dijon mustard
1/8 t sesame oil
For the salad I made, to serve about 4 people, I doubled this amount of dressing.  If I were making it for a crowd, I would just eyeball it and make much more.  I think I would prefer rice wine vinegar, but the cider vinegar was fine.  Whisk ingredients together and pour over salad, top with chow mein noodles for crispiness.
This will go into my files as a good recipe for Chinese Chicken Salad.  Thank you Holly!
I didn't make the salad like theirs, I just used what I had.  But the dressing was very close to the yummy one at AppleBee's.   

For the exact measurements, go to Holly's blog, a post or two back.  I am not big on measuring.  I pour, stir and taste.  The Sesame Oil is a MUST.  And a little bit goes a long way.  For my salad, I used Napa cabbage, and green onions, rotisserie chicken, grated carrots, chopped almonds, chow mein noodles, and toasted sesame seeds.  Sometimes I like to add mandarin oranges.

I have been having so much fun crocheting flowers! 

I have been using lots of different patterns.  Some from blogs and tutorials, ravelry, books, wherever I can find them.  I have come across a couple different leaf patterns too.  Love them with the picot end to make it a little pointy.  And this flower, also with a picot stitch to make the petals pointy.

This one....you will crack up!  It is enormous!  The size of my outstretched hand!!!  I used a very chunky yarn to try this for the first time making this pattern.  I will be doing more, only with smaller hooks and different yarn. 

It's like a sea anemone!!  But, a great pattern I found on ravelry.   I need to figure out what I am going to do with my granny squares.  I started these before I knew anything about yarns and what works for what.  I chose this yarn according to color, and it is wool.  So it wouldn't be suitable for an afghan.  Maybe a bag, or cushion.  And I will get the right yarn for an afghan and do a granny blanket.

Oops, I forgot to move the dish.  Those are my vitamins!  That is what my Mom's friend Kay calls M&M's.  I love that!
I have been adding new colors to my Bloomie selection.  I need to get my boxes ready to bring to Gennifer's Salon this week.  I have some pretty new yellow/golds. 

Little Noah came down sick today.  Eri took him straight to the Dr. after work this afternoon.  He was fine this morning, but came home from school complaining of a sore throat and went straight in to lay on his bed and was asleep in minutes.  He runs very high fevers, just like his Mama did when she was little.  It can be very scary.  So Erika and Noah are staying here at our house tonight since David is gone.  I hope his fever doesn't spike tonight.  She got him on meds, so hopefully he will be better tomorrow.   So, who knows what tomorrow will bring.  We aren't sending Noah to school so we just might stay home and eat these muffins all day.

It's the first day of a brand new week.  Let's make it a good one!