Alright, I know, it’s a lot of words in that one, but the flavours are worth saying all of that. 
I have made this salad twice in the past week. Once for a family gathering, where it was entirely devoured with everyone giving it two thumbs up, and again to get a decent picture of it. I was glad that I got to make it again, I served it with some chicken on the side, and it was a great light supper. While the princess & the pirate didn’t enjoy this supper, the adults did.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 2 tsp diced onion
- 1 tsp Dijon-style prepared mustard
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp poppy seeds
- 1 head romaine lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
- 1/2 bag fresh spinach, torn into bite-sized pieces
- 4 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
- 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1 apple, peeled, cored & diced
- 1 pear, peeled, cored & diced
Directions:
- In a blender or food processor, combine sugar, lemon juice, onion, mustard and salt. Process until well blended. With the machine still running add oil in a slow steady stream until mixture is thick and smooth. Add poppy seeds and process just a few seconds.
- In a large serving bowl combine the romaine lettuce, spinach, Swiss cheese, pecans, dried cranberries, cubed apple and cubed pear. Toss to mix then pour dressing over salad just before serving and toss to coat.
NOTE: I prepared my dressing ahead of time, and put the cubed apple & pear in the same jar as the dressing. That kept the fruit from turning brown, yet let me make it all ahead of time. I just poured the dressing & fruit over the salad before serving, and tossed it to distribute it evenly.
That was an absolutely delightful salad. Great picture.
Mmm, yeah, that looks so good!
This is one of my absolute favorite dressings. I have never bothered to make the salad, I just use spinach with cranberries usually. It is great to dip fruit into as well.
Jeanine..I like the looks of this salad and when I read the ingredients I knew I would be making this soon!
The princess and pirate a little fussy?? smile
How gorgeous. Now I'm craving salad!
Can't wait to make this!! Soooooo yummy!!
What a great looking salad. And the dressing sounds super delish.
Just found your blog and love it! Can't wait to start following you!
We just started our GF adventure and I'm having so much fun looking at all these great sites out there!
Thanks everyone! I'm sure if you give this recipe a try, you'll like it. You may not want to add all the dressing at once, since the amount of lettuce a head will give you varies, and you don't want to drown your salad. But, definitely give this a try, you won't be disappointed!
Mikki, welcome here!! All of the fuss of gluten free eating, you'll be overwhelmed at first, but it'll get better. The #1 tip is to BE PREPARED! As soon as you don't have something planned out or on hand, things seem that much more difficult. Let me know if you need anything!
I made this salad for dinner tonight and it was absolutely delicious!
Thanks, Gayla! Glad to hear that. I love it as well.