A Holiday Salad to Remember: Cranberry-Orange-Avocado with Maple-Glazed Walnuts

This past winter, I was part of a 3-month, residential, personal development program for young adults.  One component of the program involved cooking for one another.  We were split into cooking groups, and each group was responsible for two meals over the three months.  My cooking group lucked into cooking Easter dinner, and decided, in order to accommodate all the food restrictions in our group, to cook a gluten-free, vegan meal.

The cornerstone of our main course was my rice dressing recipe, but we still needed a couple of veggie dishes.  We ended up opting for glazed carrots, and this salad recipe, which was recommended by one of my other group members.  The recipe features mandarin oranges, glazed walnuts, craisins, avocado, and blue cheese (which we decided to omit, since half our cooking group had dairy allergies).  I expected the salad would be tasty, but I was shocked how amazingly it turned out.  It was completely devoured, and even people in our group who hated walnuts with a fiery passion went back for seconds and thirds.

The Key to a Good Salad: Some Glazed Nuts, and a Killer Dressing

I want to share one of my secrets to sounding like a much fancier cook than I am: glazed nuts.  Have you ever gone to a restaurant and seen a salad served with "maple-glazed pecans" or "honey-glazed walnuts"?  Sweet, maybe a little spicy, with an aura of gourmet - not bad for a garnish or a salad topping.  Well, guess what: they are also one of the easiest things ever to make.  Glazed nuts are one of my go-to desserts, because I feel less guilty eating a lot of sugar if that sugar is wrapped around some protein.  They're also an easy snack food, and, most importantly, they make for one damn fancy-sounding salad.

But what is a salad without the dressing?  I am constantly frustrated by store-bought dressings.  Almost all of them feature dairy, or eggs, or soy products, or beet juice (all-natural colouring!)  Some salad dressings that have absolutely no need for dairy (such as honey-mustard) still use milk ingredients for flavour!  It's infuriating.  Luckily, years ago a family friend (who also happens to be a personal chef) taught me the key to a good dressing, and now I would like to pass it along to you.

So keep reading to find out my two secrets to an amazing salad.  Once you have a dressing, and some fancy nuts, the rest is easy!  Wash and shred some lettuce; or, if you're like me, and hate the salad spinner with a fiery passion, invest in one of the bags or boxes of pre-washed salad greens.  Chop up whatever veggies or fruit you happen to have on hand.  (May I suggest roasted red pepper, tomato, and strawberry?  Or avocado and black bean with some chopped tortilla chips on top?  Or some kiwi fruit and celery?  Honestly, whatever you have on hand works; and you can adjust your dressing recipe to match!)  Then pour on the dressing, top with some nuts, and enjoy!