This salad or any one of it's many derivatives is my very favorite. This one is made with greens (from my garden, yay!), feta, craisins, sweet & spicy pecans (found here) and Annie's raspberry vinaigrette dressing. It makes a fast, simple lunch and goes well with a variety of main dishes. The combination of ingredients is hardly ground breaking - lettuce, fruit, nuts, cheese & dressing - no matter, ground breaking isn't really something I look for in a salad.
I recently figured out some short cuts to make putting this salad together super fast. When I don't have lettuce from the garden, I buy a large container of spring mix. It keeps surprisingly well. I also use bottled dressing instead of making my own. Seems I always have craisins on hand as they are a snack time fav. Then I buy a container of pre-crumbled cheese at the grocery store. Simple. Generous pinch of spring mix, sprinkle of nuts, cheese, craisins and a drizzle of dressing - Done and yum.
Here are some variations - Lemme know what's missing!
I recently figured out some short cuts to make putting this salad together super fast. When I don't have lettuce from the garden, I buy a large container of spring mix. It keeps surprisingly well. I also use bottled dressing instead of making my own. Seems I always have craisins on hand as they are a snack time fav. Then I buy a container of pre-crumbled cheese at the grocery store. Simple. Generous pinch of spring mix, sprinkle of nuts, cheese, craisins and a drizzle of dressing - Done and yum.
Here are some variations - Lemme know what's missing!Cheese: Blue cheese, gorgonzola, feta
Fruit: Craisins, grapes, dried blueberries, apple, pear, nectarine, strawberry, mandarin oranges (not a fan)
Nuts: Pine Nuts, walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, soy nuts, almonds
Greens: Spinach, arugula
Fruit: Craisins, grapes, dried blueberries, apple, pear, nectarine, strawberry, mandarin oranges (not a fan)
Nuts: Pine Nuts, walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, soy nuts, almonds
Greens: Spinach, arugula
5 comments:
yum! I always copy the Zeeks wild green salad...
Gorgonzola, Cashews, tomatoes, and raspberry vinaigrette. SOOOO good.
Hi Katy--we've been on a roadtrip so I've not been able to reply to your email, but I just had to make time to share a couple of things you might like to add to your salad list (which looks oddly like my salad list...the parallels continue!)
glazed almonds, pecans, or walnuts:
Put a tablespoon or two of sugar in a skillet and heat it until it melts (but isn't too brown), take off the heat and throw in a small handful of nuts. Toss to coat, then turn it out to cool. Break up and toss on your salad. You can also experiment with throwing some spices in with the sugar (cardamom, cinnamon, cayenne, etc). So it's not trader joe's but we have to make do : )
yummy balsamic vinegarette (sweet like Annie's raspberry:
1 part balsamic vinegar
2 parts olive oil
squirt of mustard
spoonful of ground dried ginger or dollop of fresh minced ginger
squirt of honey
shake it up
thanks for sharing--I hadn't thought of grapes and dried blueberries, or sunflower seeds. Yummy!
Looks yummy!
I lurve salads. I can't wait to try this one!
Thanks, Trina
This is so close to the salad we make - candied walnuts, pears, feta and spring salad mix. Top it off with Balsamic vinegarette - yummy!
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