Pretty Food: The Best Salad You May EVER Eat!

Caution: This salad may become highly addictive.

I’m pretty sure it’s the best salad I’ve ever eaten. I had a variation of it recently at McKinley’s, a local eatery that I rather love. I was really craving it and didn't have time for a trip across town, so I made a trip to the grocery store instead, and, I may be biased, but I'm pretty sure the version I came up is even more addicting than the original.

The original had almonds instead of cashews (in a fit of crazy, I bought about a pound of raw cashews from the bulk section at my local Sprouts. So yeah...), used plain goat cheese (but I like honey and feel like it should be used in everything) abd doesn't include strawberries, but I was at Aldi recently and they had the most beautiful Strawberries for $0.99 a box. I couldn't resist! I bought 3-- and sadly, my strawberry addiction has rendered them all gone. 

But look how lovely they were:

What you need (makes one salad):

2 cups Baby Mixed Greens

1 thick slice of red onion, cut in half

1 tablespoon of dried cranberries

¼ cup Mandarin Oranges, drained

½ cup sliced Strawberries

2 tablespoons crushed raw cashews (I put some in a sandwich baggie and wailed on them with the flat side of a meat tenderizer for a few minutes).

1oz Honey Goat Cheese

This is a salad. It’s pretty straight forward.

I toss the greens with the onion slices, then add the fresh fruit. I sprinkle the nuts and cranberries over the top and don’t toss (they’ll settle on their own. If you toss it, they’ll all settle to the bottom) and finally crumble/drop the cheese over the top of the salad.

Enjoy!

It is so juicy/ creamy that I don’t feel like it needs dressing, but if you can’t do with out, might I recommend this vinaigrette:

I hope you make this salad and eat it all the days! It's just that delicious!

Until next time,

Megan

P.S. By making this salad you are signing a nonverbal agreement that you will indeed post a comment about how awesome it is when you're done. I can't legally make you do this, but by not doing it, just know-- it would be so much cooler if you did :)