Field Greens, Crumbled Blue Cheese and Spicy Pecans

We are enjoying our time so far in Colorado. We made it up here Saturday night after a 3 hour detour due to the snow storm moving in and the roads covered in ice and accidents, then we were snowed in on Sunday so I have some pictures at the end of my post from then. Monday the snow started to melt, but we took advantage of the snow by sledding down the driveway. I forgot what it's like to sit back and not do anything, but read a book and relax.

I like to encourage people who read my blog if there's something you would like to see or have a request of a recipe you would like me to try and review let me know I'm always up for trying new things as long as it's not too wild. So today's recipe goes out to a friend who asked me to post a good salad recipe. I got this from my cousin which I'm not sure where she got it from, but it's one of my families favorites. I plan on making it as part of my Thanksgiving meal this year instead of the usual bottled dressing line I put out. You'll notice I didn't use field greens in the pictures, I kept it simple and did a wedge of lettuce.

Field Greens, Crumbled Blue Cheese and Spicy Pecans

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Vinaigrette

(makes 12 ounces)

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup distilled white vinegar

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

4 1/2 teaspoon onion juice

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 cup vegetable oil

Combine sugar, dry mustard, salt and vinegars. Stir until sugar is dissolved.

Whisk in onion juice and Worcestershire.

Add oil slowly, whisky continuously until blended.

Spicy Pecans
(Yields 4 1/2 cups)

2 large egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
4 1/2 cups pecan halves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat eff whites with salt until foamy.

Add sugar, Worcestershire, paprika and cayenne.

Fold in pecans and melted butter.

Spread pecans evenly on a baking sheet. Bake 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool. Store pecans in an airtight container.


Salad

4 cups mixed field greens
2 green onions, chopped
4 ounces (1 cup) blue cheese, crumbled
1 Granny Smith apple, cored, seeded and chopped
spicy pecans

Here's what it looked like from the back porch as the snow was coming down all day Sunday.

Here's my baby playing in the snow:

Here I am trying to build a snowman:

Here's the finished snowman, Mocha wasn't too sure what it was, but realized he wasn't a threat.

Back to sunny skies on Monday: