Nuts About Berries Salad

For the last several days, I have been up at Girl's Camp helping out.  Two years ago, I was asked to go and cook for 350 happy campers outside Heber, Utah.  I willingly agreed with the help of three other great women.  This week we did it again and served up BBQ Ribs and Baked Potatoes and Chicken Tacos with homemade refried beans.  Last night we served up Chicken Tortilla Soup and Minestrone Soup..  Everyone kept asking for the Salad recipe so here it is.

Nuts About Berries Salad

I cannot tell you how beautiful the gigantic bowls of salad looked before we mixed them up at camp.  So gorgeous with all the berries.  Blackberries, Blueberries, Raspberries and Strawberries were all piled up on all the green Romain lettuce.  Some ladies were walking by from another group and said, "I just want THAT salad!"

Nuts About Berries

3 Heads of Romaine Lettuce
1 C. Blackberries
1 C. Raspberries
1/2 C. Blueberries
1 C. Sliced Strawberries
1 C. Cinnamon Sugared Pecans

1 C. Poppyseed Dressing (Click link for recipe)

I like to cut my lettuce as I think tearing it up takes so very long.  I cut it across the lettuce leaves.  I stop slicing when the green part ends and when the ends get a little too woody.  I then cut it length wise so I do not have long strips of lettuce that do not fit in my mouth when I go to eat it.

Pour the berries on top of the cut lettuce and slice up your strawberries.  I really like bigger slices so they do not get so mashed in the tossing process.  Right before you are ready to serve pour on your nuts and toss with the salad dressing.  So nice and fresh on a hot summer's day.

Cinnamon Sugared Pecans

1 C. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Cinnamon
2 C. Pecans

Method 1:

Put 1 C. Sugar,  1 Tbsp. Cinnamon and 2 Tbsp. of water in a fry pan.  Get nice and hot and then pour in 1 C. Pecans.  Put on medium high heat and keep stirring until the sugar adheres to the nuts.  Slide the entire contents of the fry pan onto a plate to cool.  The nuts will be all stuck together, but after they are cool, you can crack them apart. Slice with a knife or crack them with your hands.  These tend to have lots of sugar crystals that are not melted. 

Method 2:

Put 1 C. Sugar and 1 Tbsp. Cinnamon in a fry pan.  Cook over medium heat until melted and bubbling.  Don't get discouraged.  The sugar firsts start to clump together and there is just big pieces of clumped up sugar.  Things start to melt and then there are small clumps of sugar in a golden liquid of sugar.  Keep stirring until all sugar clumps melt.  Quickly pour in 2 C. Pecans.  Stir until all the nuts are covered.  If you have too much syrup, which happens to me sometimes, pour in more nuts.  Once every things is covered pour onto a plate to cool.  This ends up being more like a candied pecan.  The syrup hardens into a sucker like consistency and the nuts are all wrapped up inside it.  Cut the up with a knife.  You can keep these in a sealed container in the refrigerator for several months. 

Poppyseed Dressing

¾ C. White Wine Vinegar

¾ C. Sugar (you can try reducing the amount  if you do not like it so sweet)

1 Tsp. Salt

1 ½ C. Canola Oil

1 Tbsp. Poppyseeds

Put vinegar, sugar and salt in the blender.  Mix until sugar is almost dissolved.  Add the oil in a small stream through the hole in the lid of the blender.  Keep blending while you are adding the oil.  This keeps your vinegar and oil emulsified, you know, together without separating.  Add poppyseeds and pulse to mix them in.