Looks delicious, no? Let me tell you … it is all that and a bag of chips. Except … you don’t need chips. I’ve inundated you with gravies and butter and flour based creations long enough. Wanna eat something you’ll love to make, look at and the next day not regret?
I thought so. With that in mind, today I bring you Strawberry Poppyseed Salad with Heidi.
I took this show on the road and invaded her amazing farm house while she roasted and candied almonds and we chatted the hours away. Heidi is a friend from church who’s turned into a friend for ever. She has Paula Deen’s cobalt blue eyes, be jealous, and she’s an amazing cook and host (and decorator! Who wants to see their completely gutted farm house … redone??!).
You’ll need:
Romaine lettuce, Almonds, EVOO, Sugar, Strawberry’s, Swiss cheese, Poppyseed dressing.
From here Heidi takes it away while I snap 327 photos of the process. Yup, literally took that many. You’ll get to see about 30 of them š
You’ll want to swirl some EVOO into a pan and get it on the stove on medium high heat.
When the oil on the stove is good and hot add your almonds. One of the nice things about this salad (and Heidi) is that you don’t need exact measurements. Like myself, she kind of just goes with it. If you’re not ready for that kind of comfort in the kitchen: Try starting out with 3/4 Cup almonds.
Stir to coat them in the oil.
Once coated pour some sugar on me …. I mean the almonds. (Sing along, as well.)
Start with 1/2 Cup – but be generous. And constantly stir to coat. For the next 3-5 minutes your arm and wrists only job is to move those almonds around in that pan … watching the temp so it’s not too hot and doesn’t burn.
When candying almonds (or any nut) using the EVOO first helps the process along much faster than if you were to just add the sugar and stir to coat … and stir and stir and stir. It takes forever. Heidi is full of helpful shortcuts. (Exhibit A)
You’ll remove from heat and keep stirring once the EVOO starts popping.
See how the sugar and EVOO are making a thick syrup? That’s nice.
Coat! Coat! Stir!
Set out some wax paper and spread the almonds out to cool.
While the almonds are cooling – move on to prepping the rest of the salad.
Slice up an entire head/heart of Romaine Lettuce, plop in bowl.
Chop strawberries.
Add cheese to bowl and then layer your berries, toss, add cheese, berries, toss.
Plate it, add some of your candied almonds and drizzle poppyseed dressing.
ENJOY!!
Thanks Heidi (action shot!) … she’s so much fun.
The ingredients of my favorite salad! Except I usually use walnuts or pecans… but the opportunity to candy almonds and eat with lettuce? I’m in.
i’ve wanted that recipe for years (cough, cough heidi!) so so good! thanks for sharing!!
Yeah, I’m not usually a huge fan of strawberry poppyseed salads but the candied nuts convinced me!
Can I ask a stupid question, ‘cuz obviously I’m out of the loop. What is Evoo? I’ve seen it in a few recipes lately and I’ve never heard of it before in my life until, like this month?
Extra Virgin Olive Oil = EVOO š
Olive oil for short š
I love this salad….and Heidi too! So fun to see her make an appearance here! You’re right — this is my FAVORITE summer salad….and poppyseed dressing is really easy to make from scratch too!
Thanks ladies!! So fun to see you all in the comments (wink!) Love it!
Heidi’s awesome – shall we ask her for more recipes??? My camera could use another work out š
Jill! So glad you commented š Heidi mentioned you read my blog and I’ve been excited to see you in the comments since then – ha! Feel free to post your recipe for the poppyseed dressing from scratch – we’ve made our own before and it’s nice to have on hand … maybe I’ll do a “dressings” feature soon and can include your’s in it!
Oh boy….did she tell you the whole story??? I promise that I’m not a stalker teacher! š
Anyway… here is my recipe for poppyseed dressing. It’s actually called “Riviera Salad Dressing”, but it’s the same thing.
Mix together 1/2 cup mayo, 1/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 Tbsp. sour cream, and 1 Tbsp. poppy seeds. Then, add 2 Tbsp. vinegar. I shake mine up in my Tupperware dressing shaker.
It’s awesome, and tastes delicious on strawberry-spinach salad. I like to put dried cranberries and slivered almonds on mine…and feta cheese! SO good!
Thanks for the recipe!! A story, huh? Nope – just that she must have mentioned to you that we were going to do some cooking together for the site and then you told her you read it. haha. Let me know the story! No worries š
Oh, the story! Might get kinda long, but here goes… Jessica was on my class list for Kindergarten last summer, and when I saw the parents’ names – Aaron and Jodi Schaap – I SWORE that I knew you guys from somewhere. I don’t remember how, but I stumbled across your blog and may or may not have read the whole thing back to the beginning thinking how neat it was that I was getting to know one of my students a little bit before the school year started. Then…it turned out that you didn’t live in the district and Jessica ended up in a different school with a different teacher, but by then I was hooked! Then, I was afraid to comment because I thought that you might think that I was a teacher who stalked her students’ families! Anyway, nice to “meet” you finally, although i feel like I already kind of know you! š
Love it! Best story ever š We were soooo heart broken when we got the call that we weren’t actually in the school district we thought we were when we bought the house. BOO!!!! Would have LOVED LOVED LOVED being a mom in your class, I am sure of it.