Red White and Blueberry Salad

The way this food blogging thing usually works at my house is that I try out a new recipe, we all deem it AMAZING and then I think to myself "Hey, I should put this on the blog!" It is only then that I realize we devoured every last edible crumb, leaving me nothing to photograph and so then I have to make the dish AGAIN which for some reason usually takes me a month or five, probably because I don't often serve repeats. By the time I finally get around to re-making the dish (AND remembering to capture a decent photograph BEFORE we dive in), the recipe is typically no longer seasonal or as in this case, no longer relevant. This explains why I'm sharing a great recipe to bring along for your 4th of July barbeque....on the 13th of July.

So yeah. Periodically I will get a gut feeling that a new dish is going to be great and so I'll snap a photo before I beckon the troops, mentally beginning the blog post in my head. On very rare occasion, I have been right and a dish has turned out blog-worthy on the first go. But most of the time, truly amazing food can't be predicted which is why I have an entire folder full of beautiful food pictures that you will never see because they tasted only mediocre.

I could have waited to post this recipe until just before the 4th holiday next year but sitting around on a good thing is not my spiritual gift. And so I'm banking on that fact that, come July of 2017, you'll experience some little twinge in the back of your consciousness that tells you "I think there was something I was supposed to remember" and then you'll land back on my blog and find yourself preparing this recipe for your 4th of July gathering. We can only hope. Not that you have to wait until the 4th of July to make this salad though! By all means, while berries are still in season, go for it! I have made it for two 4th and counting and plan to make it tradition. I'm a sucker for fruit on my salads and this one definitely can't be beat. The recipe makes a large batch of dressing and I usually find I have enough leftover for one or two subsequent salads of any variety (green, quinoa, you name it). The salad makes a great side but could also be fortified with some cooked chicken breast and then you'd have yourself a delicious main dish salad. Enjoy!

Red, White and Blueberry Salad
(adapted from realmomkitchen.com)

Salad:

1 head romaine lettuce

1 head red lettuce
1 cup glazed walnuts*
2 cups sliced strawberries or whole raspberries
1 ½ cups blueberries
4 oz. crumbled feta cheese

Dressing:
3/4 cup sugar
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
½ cup chopped red onion
1 cup canola oil
1 Tbsp poppy seeds

To prepare salad, tear or cut lettuces into bite-sized pieces and place in a large bowl. Layer with glazed walnuts, strawberries, blueberries and feta.

To make the dressing, place sugar, vinegar, dry mustard, salt and red onion in a blender. Blend until smooth. Turn blender to low and, through opening in blender lid, slowly add 1 cup canola oil.

Add poppy seeds and pulse a few times until combined. Serve dressing with salad.

Serves 8-10

*To make glazed walnuts yourself, combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup walnuts, and 2 tsp butter in a heavy duty skillet over medium heat. Cooking, stirring constantly, until the sugar is melted and golden in color and the nuts are toasted. Spread mixture out on aluminum foil, breaking apart nuts as much as possible and cool.