My sweet Grandma O. turned 82 this year. This lady amazes me and I love her so much! We celebrated her birthday with a party/family reunion at my aunt Lisa's house and it was so much fun. We had family from Idaho, Utah, Virginia, and New Jersey present and it was really great catching up with one another. My cousin Jessica, twin sister Amber, and I are all besties in this family. We've been close since we were kids and it's awesome. Jessica had twins in February and those two couldn't be more different from each other. Her girl has blonde hair with blue eyes, and her boy has dark hair and dark eyes. Just like my twin sister and I! I'm the light one, she's the dark one. Amongst the three of us we have five kids. It's so fun!
my cousin Jessica and my twin Amber
Jessica and I
(Why we didn't just get a picture of the three of us together I cannot say. Because I have no idea.)
I love these girls and my dad's family! When it came down to the food, I was in charge of bringing a green salad. It was an easy decision when it came to figuring out what I was going to bring. My mother-in-law makes this Green Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing and it is my favorite green salad EVER. There is so much flavor and texture to it. I made a double batch of this salad for the party and the whole thing got eaten. Throughout the party I received multiple comments about how good this salad is. I wasn't at all surprised! This is seriously my favorite green salad, or "adult" salad, as my sister-in-law, Erika, would put it. And for some reason I thought I'd posted this recipe months ago! I can't believe that I'm just now doing it!
Green Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing- 1 bag Romaine lettuce
- 2/3 c. craisins
- 1/2 c. cashews
- 2 diced red apples
- 3/4 c. shredded Swiss cheese
- 1 can mandarin oranges, drained (optional)
- 1/2 bottle Brianna's poppy seed salad dressing (Or your favorite poppy seed dressing-this one is my favorite!)
Mix everything together in a mixing bowl. Half the bottle of dressing is the max you'll want to use before the salad gets too saturated so just eyeball that part. Add a little dressing, mix it together, and decide how coated you want it. You want it saturated but not so saturated that the salad is soggy when you serve it.
And that's all you need to do! You'll want to make this right before you serve it or it will get yucky too fast. And if you're traveling before you make it like I did, bring the ingredients and mix them together when you get there. It was almost an hour drive to my aunt's house so I brought the prepped ingredients in a cooler.
