Upping the Salad Ante

This is a total cop-out post for me, but an absolutely vital post nonetheless.

To me, a salad is best when:

• Its base is made up of fresh greens—preferably a mixture of green leaf, red leaf, and baby spinach.
• There are no less than three and no more than four toppings, usually a combination of the following:
• A crumble-able cheese
• A variety of nut
• A single fresh vegetable or fruit
• A variety of protein (other than the nut, i.e. a meat)
• The dressing is handmade by:
• Me
• My grandmother
• Anyone else who shares my love of aged balsamic and copious amounts of olive oil
• It is sprinkled with Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Most recently, I have come to know the joys of homemade roasted nuts. It's nice and cheap(er) to buy raw nuts at your local grocery store, and it's embarrassingly easy to make them into something delicious.

Here's my latest creation (so easy it's, like I said, embarrassing):

Sweet & Savory Walnuts:

All you will need is:

To assemble, stir in enough honey to coat the desired amount of nuts and sprinkle moderately with Kosher salt. Dump it all onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and place in a 350º oven for 4-6 minutes (until the nuts on the edge go slightly golden and you can smell the sweetness wafting from the kitchen).

Remove and place the baking sheet on a cooling rack until the nuts reach room temperature. They will be crunchy, salty, and sweet, guaranteed to pump up the salad volume. I put them on a baby spinach salad with Gorgonzola and sliced pear. Of course, the Menzies Family Vinaigrette was the icing on the cake . . . or the dressing on the salad, really. I could eat this every day . . .