I haven’t made an apple, walnut, and blue cheese salad in forever so I decided to make it last night. It is really easy to lightly candy walnuts and makes them so good for this salad. Some recipes call for so much sugar, but I think just a little is needed. I ended up using a combination of pecans and walnuts because we were running out of walnuts. Both work great. We had this with homemade tomato soup.

For the Candied Walnuts or Pecans
1/3 cup walnuts or pecans broken into small pieces
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Pinch salt

1. Heat nuts in a non-stick skillet over medium heat until they begin to get a little toasty.
2. Add the brown sugar and sprinkle with salt.
3. Stir constantly until the sugar melts and coats the nuts.
4. Pour out onto parchment paper or a lightly greased plate (I used Trader Joe’s olive oil spray on a plate) and separate the nuts so that they don’t all stick together (you can use your fingers or if too hot, a couple of forks).

For the Creamy Balsamic Dressing
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1-2 tablespoons water
1 clove garlic minced
2 teaspoons mayo (Best Foods full fat!)
1/2 teaspoon mustard
Fresh ground black pepper
Salt

1. Mix all the ingredients together. I use a small mason jar to really shake it up.

For the Apple, Walnut, and Blue Cheese Salad
Mixed baby greens
1/4 – 1/2 apple sliced really thin
1-2 ounces blue cheese or gorgonzola crumbled
1/3 cup candied walnuts or pecans
Dressing

1. Mix all the salad ingredients together and toss with the dressing. Voila!