You know how sometimes you make a ton of fantastic food and you're all sorts of excited to share it with your friends but then somebody else shows up to your shindig and they one-up you with an AMAZING dish?
THAT HAPPENED TO ME.
Usually I'm the one-upper. I'm proud of that fact. However, the last time we had a bunch of people over, our neighbor went and showed up with a dish that got far more raves than anything I made. AND IT WAS A SALAD. OMGWTFBBQ.
A salad generated more chatter than my Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes. A salad was the recipe everyone asked for -- not the grilled pizza.
A SALAD.
Which, OK, I'll just go ahead and admit it was probably the best salad I've ever had. By far. It's possible that I even managed to eat three giant servings of it for dinner tonight.
It's more than "a salad." It's ... incredibly good.
My neighbor was sweet enough to share the recipe with me and a bunch of my friends, so I'll pay it forward and share it with you.
You start with a bag of spring mix, or if you are a giant sissy like me and don't like bitter lettuce, you can substitute for whatever sort of salad mix you like. I am boring and went with Romaine.
Then you throw some mandarin oranges, sliced strawberries, chopped red onions, chopped pecans, and craisins on top.
After that, you con your only child into mixing it all up because she makes everything more fun.
And then comes the important part. The dressing. Honestly, this salad is pretty good without dressing (As in NONE. Zero. Zip. Zilch dressing.), but it's other-worldly if you use Marzetti Poppyseed dressing.
In a perfect world I would have poured some dressing into the giant salad bowl and tossed until it was evenly coated, but I don't live in a perfect world. I live in a world with a 6-year old who prefers her salad without dressing.
I KNOW. She is so weird.
So instead of putting dressing on the entire salad, I put it on my serving. I poured a little extra because I'm a grown-up and there's no one to stop me from having extra dressing when I want extra dressing.
SO THERE.
And now the photos of the salad are making me want more salad.
Here. Have a recipe so I can go nom some more.
More Than a Salad
1--10 oz bag of spring mix
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1/2 cup strawberries, sliced
1/4 red onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup craisins
Marzetti Poppyseed Dressing
1. Find a big bowl.
2. Throw the lettuce in it.
3. Throw the oranges, strawberries, red onion, pecans, and craisins in with the lettuce. Toss that salad.
4. Resist the urge to make the sort of joke a 16-year old boy would make.
5. Dress the salad however you want.
6. Enjoy!