Poppy Seed Dressing and Candied Nuts Salad

To make this salad I like to do a combo of romaine lettuce and baby spinach.  Then I like to top it with fresh cut strawberries, raspberries, candied nuts and of course the dressing!

Poppy Seed Dressing

Recipe from: Susan Peterson

2/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp. dry mustard

1 tsp. salt

1 small onion, quartered

1 1/2 c. canola oil

1 T. poppy seeds

Handful of raspberries (optional)

1. Put vinegar in blender.
2. Add ingredients one at a time.
3. Blend for 10 minutes.
4. Refrigerate after using.

Candied nuts

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup pecans or slivered almonds

1. Put sugar in frying pan over 1 cup of desired nuts.
2. Cook on medium high heat.
3. Stir until sugar is melted. (Make sure to not let the sugar burn!)
4. Remove from stove and pan.
5. Cool on wax paper.
6. Break apart before serving.

Honey Butter

I made some of these as Christmas gifts and they were almost too yummy to give away haha! Honey Butter is delicious on warm rolls, scones, cornbread, waffles, toast, ETC.! I got the recipe from this amaze-o website: Our best bites.

Honey Butter

2 sticks butter (slightly softened for 20 min at room temp.)

2/3 cup honey

3/4 c. powdered sugar

1. Just place it all in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer 2-3 minutes on medium high speed.
2. Serve at room temperature
3. (If your butter is too soft you will end up with a gooey mess. So just leave it on the counter for 20 minutes or so before beating it so it's nice and fluffy!)

Cafe Rio Creamy Cilantro Dressing

So if you have never been to the restaurant Cafe Rio let me tell you that you are missing out BIG TIME. Sorry East Coasters and Ohioans it's only on the West coast right now that I know of. I know a lot of people feel like they have to take sides between Chipotle and Cafe Rio but I love both of them and their menus and flavors are so different I don't think that you can compare them. Here is a recipe for their famous salad dressing. I love to use it on a lot of things like I drizzle some on my tacos, of course you can use it on mexican inspired salads, and pretty much anything that I think it will taste yummy with! It makes a lot so I freeze everything else that won't fit in my salad dressing bottle. I will post more Cafe Rio copycat recipes soon!

This is a tomatillo just in case you didn't know!

Cafe Rio Creamy Cilantro Copycat Recipe

1 packet TRADITIONAL Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not buttermilk!)

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 tomatillos, remove husk, quartered

1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro

1 clove garlic

juice of 1 lime

1 jalapeño (if you like it really spicy leave the seeds in)

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend it until it is ultra smooth with no chunks. (I probably leave the blender on for at least a minute just so everything is completely pulverized!)