Recipe: Festive Fall Salad ~two ways~

I made a version of this salad to accompany the nutloaf I served my grandparents, but the salad was almost just as big of a hit as the very laborious loaf! By now, I’ve made this salad numerous times and came up with two awesome variations:

Pear Pecan (serves 4-6 as a side salad)
* 5 handfuls spinach
* 50g pecans
* 2 small/medium pears
* 50g dried cranberries or raisins
* Apple cider vinegar

Toast the pecans in a 180C (350F) oven for about 12 minutes. Assemble your salad: tear of most of the stems of the spinach. Peel pears and cut into small cubes. Now, in a big, nice, salad bowl, layer your salad: start with some spinach, layer with pear, nuts and cranberries/raisins. Continue until you’ve used all ingredients. Serve with apple cider vinegar (I put the bottle on the table so everyone can decide how much they’d like to add).

Apple Walnut
* 5 handfuls spinach
* 50g walnuts (chopped or halved)
* 1 T butter + 2 T agave or honey
* 2 small/medium apples (red)
* 50g dried cranberries or raisins
* Apple cider vinegar

To candy the nuts: preheat oven to 180C (350F). In a small saucepan, heat butter and agave until softened. Add walnuts and stir through, turn heat off. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil, place nuts on sheet, and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Assemble your salad as described above (you don’t have to peel your apples).

I love both these salads equally! They jazz up a lot of meals and make it very easy to eat your daily greens. Plus, they look handsome at dinner parties . Of course you can mix and match too, candy the pecans instead of the walnuts, make an apple-pecan combo, etc. I’m trying to come up with new combo’s too: almond-date? Mango-fig? Who knows..

Candied nuts are amazing!

Recipe inspired by angela!