Strawberry Cashew Salad

This is the salad I've done at a lot of weddings at my home. It is so easy to do and the dressings make it unique.

Strawberry Cashew Salad

1 bag of romaine or mix greens (small)

½ bag of baby spinach (small) (I'm not talking Costco size)

1 cup of sliced strawberries

1 cup of sliced seedless grapes

3/4 c. dried cranberries or craisens

3/4 c. cashews or cashew pieces

Strawberry Dressing (makes almost 3/4 c. dressing)

1/4 c. oil

1/4 c. raspberry or strawberry vinegar (I can find raspberry at Albertson’s...I couldn’t find either at Smith’s)

3 Tbs. sugar

2 Tbs. strawberry jam (I used homemade freezer jam)

or a larger salad: (making 1 1/3 cup dressing)

1/2 c. canola oil

1/2 cup raspberry vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

4 Tbsp. strawberry jam

Mix the dressing up real good and pour over tossed salad just before serving. Maybe don’t use all the dressing at once to see how much you like on the salad.

I actually made up the dressing from a mix of two dressings. The salad dressing I love best with a strawberry salad is Brandi's creamy strawberry dressing

Brandi's Creamy Strawberry Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise

1/4 c. half and half

1 T. poppy seeds

1/3 c. sugar

1/3 c. strawberry or raspberry vinegar

3 T. strawberry jam

You'll want to lap this one up with a spoon. The thing is, though, it is hard to mix a salad with a creamy dressing. This one is better served on the side...which doesn't work for a large group. But hands down, this is my favorite dressing for a strawberry salad.

(and now, to thoroughly confuse you, for the wedding luncheon this week, I made the lst dressing in large quantity, then added a cup of mayo and 3 more T. of homemade jam and put it all in the blender and it mixed great for a big salad.)