Fall "No Chop" Tossed Salad With Maple Dijon Vinaigrette

Yes, you heard that right, this salad requires NO chopping. It’s super easy to make and so delicious. You can also swap and substitute many of the ingredients depending on your tastes and what you have at home. I have made so many different version of this salad but thought it might be nice to share one that is really easy and quick to put together for nights when you don’t have much time to get dinner on the table.

I have so much nostalgia when it comes to this salad. When I was just dating my husband we went to a new restaurant just outside of Boston and it had a salad very similar to this one. It was baby spinach, gorgonzola, cranberries, candied pecans and delicious vinaigrette. It was the first ever trying a salad with those flavors and it was so good. I tried recreating this delicious salad at home and soon came up with so many different versions.

Swaps and Substitutions

There so many variations on this salad. You can swap the butter lettuce for either baby spinach or arugula. You can also add or swap out fruit. Chopped apples, pear and pomegranate seeds are delicious. You can do a different nut like walnuts or almonds or seeds like sunflower seeds or pepitas. For cheese, you can do crumbled goat cheese. The key, it so get that combination of sweet, salty and nutty. However, you want to make that happen is up to your preferences or maybe what you have hanging around your fridge or pantry. This recipe is specifically designed to be quick and easy to pull together on a busy night.

Fall "No Chop" Salad With Maple Dijon Vinaigrette

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Yield: 4

Author: Hope Recupero

Prep time: 5 MinTotal time: 5 Min

An easy and tasty salad you can make in a pinch.

Ingredients

Salad

• A 5 oz. package of baby butter lettuce
• 1/2 cup of crumbled gorgonzola
• 1/3 cup of dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup of toasted pecans

Maple Dijon Vinaigrette

• 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Salad

1. Put all ingredients in a medium bowl and toss.

Dressing

1. Pour all ingredients into a jar, cover and shake until blended.

Purple Antioxidant Smoothie

I really like this smoothie as a quick and easy breakfast or snack and it’s a great way to squeeze in some healthy nutrient dense fruits into your day. I opt for blueberries but strawberries make a nice substitution. I buy Sambazon brand frozen acai at my local Whole Foods but it can also be found at select Target stores, Walmart, Thrive Market (online) and Costco.

8-10 ounces of unsweetened non-dairy milk

1 packet of frozen unsweetened acai

1/3 of a banana

1 handful of blueberries

Combine ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add additional milk if the smoothie is too thick.