This is the salad you make when you want to eat a salad without feeling like you’re eating a salad.
You get in some greens. You get in some fruit. BUT the goat cheese and toasted walnuts and cinnamon will totally trick your taste buds and you’ll forget that it is healthy.
Trust me. I’ve made it again and again. Sometimes with pears instead of apples. Sometimes with spinach instead of mixed greens. However you slice it, this salad is a great lunch or dinner starter.
Ingredients
- 1 cup walnut halves
- 2 medium apples, cored and chopped
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 ounces goat cheese
- 6 cups mixed greens
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (I used my favorite cinnamon pear balsamic)
- 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Toast the walnuts at 350F for 8-10 minutes, until fragrant. Stir the nuts about halfway through to keep them from burning
- Meanwhile, toss the apple pieces with the lemon juice and cinnamon. Roast the apples for 5 minutes at 350F, or until they are soft.
- Toss the walnuts and apples with the goat cheese and greens.
- Whisk together the vinegar and olive oil until smooth. If you'd like, add some ground cinnamon to the dressing to bring out the flavor of the cinnamon apples. Serve the dressing alongside the salad.
Make Ahead and Storage
This salad is best eaten on the day it is made. However, any leftovers can be covered and refrigerated to be eaten the next day, as long as the salad doesn't already have dressing on it (refrigerated dressed salad = soggy!).
Copyrighted by Julie Grice and Savvy Eats
Hell yesss. Gonna be making this. Haven’t had walnuts in my salad in forever, and the other ingredients look like a delicious fusion. I do not haz a live goat to produce cheeses, though, so will buy some goat cheese at the store. Hope that’s ok?
That’s what I did — though I wish I had access to REALLY fresh goat cheese!
Mmm, this is my kind of salad! Seems like it would be perfect on a cool yet sort of warm day… like today!
Definitely!
that looks so good!!!
Thanks Jen!
I’ve recently become a HUGE fan of apples in salad. This looks delish!
I love the added texture!
What a fabulous salad! Love the colors and the flavors you used. It’s a real beauty and I bet very delicious!
Thank you — it is delicious!
Yup. Definitely going to have to give this recipe a shot because I LOVE eating salads that don’t taste like salads. It sounds like a perfect spring recipe, too!