I don't know about you, but I cannot eat out ALL the time. I really do love to cook, but the after work scene can get a little harried in the Sheboygan Foodie household. Tonight we were working on Mom's Easter leftovers, which allowed a little extra time to whip up some fun "sides." It occurred to me that our evening's salad was inspired by a Door County dining experience from earlier in 2018.
Have your ever gone to Fish Creek's Wild Tomato? Holy Buckets, their pizza! Wait, that is a different story...we try to balance crazy decadent pizza with some veggies....don't read...we are old! I like to think of us as "HEALTH CONSCIOUS!" Okay, back to the inspiration....they have this cherry and roasted walnut salad, mmmm.
Whipped up the Sheboygan Foodie version of that tonight. Pretty easy if you are willing to make your own dressing and cook up some candied pecans...yes you do, it is so fun!
Door County Inspired Salad
Load a bowl with fresh spinach, sprinkle with dried tart cherries, chunks of goat cheese and candied pecans or walnuts. Drizzle with salad dressing! Taaddaaa. Oh wait here are the particulars on the candied nuts and dressing:
NUTS: In a small frying pan, combine 1/4 cup brown sugar, sprinkle of salt, sprinkle of cinnamon, a tablespoon of water and a tablespoon of butter and cook over medium heat until it gets syrupy. Did you know "syrupy" is a word? Spell check didn't correct me! Anyway, throw the nuts in and stir well. Remove from heat and let cool.
DRESSING: Combine 3/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup wine vinegar, 1 tsp dry mustard, 1 t salt, 1.5 Tablespoons of dried minced onion or 1 tablespoon of fresh grated sweet onion in a blender. With the blender running, slowly add one cup of olive or canola oil. Mix in 1.5 Tablespoons of poppy seed. You will have WAY more dressing than you need, and it keeps in the fridge for two weeks and is wonderful with spinach and fresh fruit salads.
We also roasted a pan of veggies. WAY more veggies than we can eat tonight, which falls right into the working peep's mode.... cook once and eat twice. They will be part of my lunch tomorrow, whoo hoo! I don't know if you want the recipe right here, but I am giving it to you...ready...so easy....
Roasted veggies for a cold winter's night....wait, it is F#CKING APRIL AND I SHOVELED 4 INCHES OF SNOW THIS MORNING! That is the official name of this dish.
2 cups Brussel sprouts
1 cup carrots
2 cups cauliflower
2 cloves minced garlic
Toss with 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/2 t salt, 1/4 t pepper and a 1/2 t aleppo pepper and roast in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes.
Add to the roasting dish one cup mushrooms and 1 or 2 cups of asparagus, mix well and throw back in the oven for 20 more minutes. Toss again and squeeze the juice from a half lemon all over the veggies and serve! Oh yeah!
Signing out for the night. Thanks for checking out our first COOKING installment.
Peace, Sheboygan Foodie
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