for a first time rooter, CM7 is pretty nice. its stock android with a few extras. I personally like the Sense ROMs. Try Myn's or MikFroyo. my personally favorite is
Koni's ELITE Series III
and as for your first question....im probably not reading it right but do you mean recover your apps one by one?? you might be able to get CM7 to automatically reload them (i think this is possible). other than that you would need to download them one by one or use some type of back up (i recommend Titanium BackUp) you would still need to reload them one by one tho
hopefully that helps ya! if you have any other questions, dont hesitate to ask!!