Greens with Blackberries, Blueberries, Sugared Walnuts and Feta



Greens with Blackberries, Blueberries, Sugared Walnuts and Feta and Pink Poppy Seed Dressing
The summer my husband and I were married, we worked for the Forest Service in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, up near Sun Valley.  I worked a second job at The Rocky Mountain Ranch, a rustic hotel/lodge nearby.  The chef at the restaurant served a lot of wonderful salads, which were topped with gorgeous berries, fragrant cheeses, sugared nuts and homemade dressings.   I was in heaven!  (And took lots of notes!)  I was totally inspired and came away with a whole new approach to salad!  "Say goodbye to tomatoes and carrots and say hello to berries!"  To this day berries, fruits, nuts and cheeses are the first thing I think of throwing on a salad.  If you have children who hate salads...forget the tomatoes and cucumbers and add some favorite seasonal berries, and the Poppy Seed Dressing!  It works every time! We enjoyed this salad at the Harvest Party.
Wash and dry an assortments of lettuces and place on a platter
8 ounces blueberries
8 ounces blackberries
1/3 cup crumbled feta
1/2 cup walnuts (see recipe below)
Poppy Seed Dressing (see recipe below)


                        Sugared Walnuts

            My friend Dena Duncan shared her recipe for these sugared walnuts.  I double the recipe so I have plenty on hand to toss on last minute salads.  These are fabulous on salads but be sure to make plenty of them because people can�t resist snacking on them too!

2 cups walnut halves
6 tablespoons sugar
� teaspoons salt
1 tablespoons canola oil

In small pot bring 4 cups of water to boil. Stir in nuts.  Remove from heat. Let sit 3 minutes. Drain and dry with paper towel.  Mix sugar and salt in a bowl and toss with hot nuts. Add oil to nuts and stir. Spread on baking sheet in a single layer.  Allow to dry for one hour.  Bake at 350 until golden brown, approximately 10-12 minutes.   Remove from oven and toss nuts on baking sheet with spatula to loosen nuts from pan. Cool.  When cool and dry toss on top of your salad just before serving.  Store remaining nuts in an air- tight container.                       




 Pink Poppy Seed Dressing
� cup red wine vinegar
� cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 � teaspoons salt
� teaspoons garlic powder
� teaspoons pepper
1 teaspoon poppy seeds

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kashikeyo Baipen (Screwpine fruit Porridge)

Image
I know I posted this a long time ago but I took some of my old posts out due to some comments I got but then again , I realized  different people make their recipes differently, so why bother what people say. Anyway, the first time I heard of this recipe was from my husband. We had just been married and living in Kulhudhufushi as my husband was working there for 6 months.  I love screwpine fruit and its heady perfume. So there I was making, or rather trying to make, kashikeyo kandhi and hubby kept hovering around, going that's not how my mum used to make. Yes I know ladies,  there are lots of new weds, who read this who have heard this line LOL??. Anyway , a few years later,  I finally tasted the  dish , which by the way was a totally different  dish altogether, so my hubby was right???? .   My mum in law  showed me how to make  it and I love making this, especially during Ramadhan, as its not just a desert dish , it can even be eating...
Read more

DIY Water Balloon Flip Flops!

Image
Easy and Fun DIY Water Balloon Flip Flops! S imply tie water balloons in a knot around the flip flop straps!  We liked the rainbow color pattern... Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. Be creative and have fun!  F or my daughters birthday this year we made these bright and fun flip flops at the party. The girls all had a fun time making them and they can't wait to wear them to school on the same day!  We got this idea from my niece who made these at a party a few years ago.  We thought they were so cute that we wanted to try them at our party this year.  We bought black flip flops for every girl from Old Navy, for $2.50 a pair.  I would recommend going a size larger in flip flops.  We bought 3 packs of 500 water balloons and had plenty of water balloons left over, perfect for a water balloon fight! What you'll need: 8 pair flip flops in every one's sizes     1,500 water balloons 8 girls to tie the water balloons onto the flip flo...
Read more

Banbukeyo Hithi ( Breadfruit Curry)

Image
For ages I kept meaning to try one of the Hithi recipes. Hithi means bitter but this is not a bitter curry. Its called hith i because its uses a spice known locally as hithi damui . My mum kept saying its difficult getting hithi damui you can only get it from the local ayuvedhi stalls until my sister discovered after seeing the spice that it was in fact ajwain/ carom seeds . I have seen ajwain seeds in a local shop and also in some of the Indian specialty shops. Ajwain seeds although it looks a lot like tiny cumin seeds  has a slightly different taste. There  are two kinds of hithi , one is this banbukeyo ( breadfruit )  hithi and the other is maalhoskeyo hithi ( plaintain). Recipe : Banbukeyo Hithi Serves 4 -6 1/4 piece of a regular size banbukeyo (about 250g) 2 garlic cloves, finely grated 1/2 inch ginger grated 10 curry leaves small piece pandan leaf 1/4 tsp tumeric 100g smoked tuna 1 small onion thinly sliced 1/2 tsp ajwain or hithi damui 150 ml coconut milk 700...
Read more