Waldorf Salad

Anyone remember Waldorf Salad from years gone by? Well, even though I have seen it in older cookbooks, I don't remember eating it until just recently. My sister in law asked me to make one and bring it to a family birthday party. So after perusing the internet and reading through my vast collection of cookbooks, I tweaked some and came up with my version of the Waldorf Salad. For the party, I made up a big batch, expecting to bring home leftovers and enjoy them over the next few days. When I opened the dish at home later, I was shocked to see it almost finished off!

The basic salad consists of usually apples, celery and nuts with either raisins or grapes. The dressing varies a little but is usually mayonnaise and/or sour cream, or yogurt. I initially wasn't sure about using mayonnaise in the dressing with yogurt but it went together very well. Also,  I have decided that I prefer to use a variety of apples since you get all the different nuances of apple flavor working together.

I have varied the dressing a couple ways and each is equally delicious. The first time I made the salad, I used equal parts mayonnaise and vanilla yogurt. The second time, I only had about 2-3 Tbsp before I ran out of mayonnaise. So I just added that to enough sour cream to equal the vanilla yogurt and it was still very good. Try both of the versions out! As a side note- the amounts may vary depending on the size of your fruit and I often eyeball my amounts. I like to use about 1 part celery: 2 parts grapes: 3 parts apple.

Makes about 10 cups

Ingredients:

• 6 apples, variety of types coarsely grated or chopped
• 4 ribs of celery hearts, chopped
• 1 pound of grapes, halved or quartered if large
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (even better flavor if slightly toasted before chopping)
• 1 cup vanilla yogurt
• 1 cup mayo or sour cream or mixture of both

Directions:

• Chop the fruits, celery and nuts. 
• Mix together the dressing ingredients. 
• Pour over the fruit and mix well.
• Refrigerate until serving.