Baby Arugula Salad with Spiced Walnuts and Strawberry Poppy Vinaigrette

This is a great winter salad

Strawberry Poppy Vinaigrette

All together

This dinner salad is a great way to use things readily available in winter. The baby arugula was so tender and mild, it was hardly like a salad. The salad dressing was simple but good, it complemented the salad well. Measurements below aren't exact, it's salad, you get to make up your own rules.


Ingredients:

baby arugula (amount depends on how many people you are serving)

2 apples, cut into quarters and sliced thin

1/2 c. dried cranberries

shaved Parmesan

Spiced Walnuts (the ones I made the other day)

Strawberry Poppy Vinaigrette   (6 tbsp is 1 one good-sized lemon, I used a tsp of poppy seeds)

Spiced Walnuts and Pecans

We're really fond of spiced nuts around here, they are great in salad, with fruit, and by the fistful. I had to run out on an errand and my helpers finished the job for me, even going so far as to label them. I did two batches at once, the walnuts were for salad and the pecans will be for a dessert. Just double the recipe below, and rotate the pans, if done on two, every 10 minutes.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. nuts
1/4 c. maple syrup
1/4 c brown sugar (scant cup, not packed)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
salt (to taste)
2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 egg white

Preheat oven to 300, roasting nuts for 10 minutes. Melt butter and cool. Lower oven temperature to 250. Allow nuts to cool when removed from oven. Combine all ingredients, except egg white, adding nuts after ingredients are well mixed. Beat egg white in a separate bowl until it foams and add to nut mixture. Spread on parchment lined sheet and cook at 250 for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. If doubled, rotate pans when stirring. Remove and allow to cool.