You absolutely should make this salad this week, and next, and for the entire cold season to offset the mac and cheese.
Trust me. It's delicious and healthy, so why not? We achieve a creamy dressing with walnuts instead of dairy, and the flavors of the salad with the sweet dressing are just...YES.
I love this salad because the walnuts really give you that holiday feel without tons of calories - this would be a GREAT addition to a holiday table for the health nuts in your life! Or you could make it for lunch today, whatevs.
Make the dressing first! For that you'll need walnuts, honey, lemon, garlic, and olive oil. 
For the salad AND the dressing, let's toast some walnuts first! Toss them in a dry skillet over medium-high heat for 2-4 minutes, just until you can smell them, shaking the pan a few times as you go. Then, remove them from the pan and set them aside. 
For the dressing, add the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, walnuts, and honey to a blender or small food processor. If you don't have one, no worries! Just chop the walnuts up super finely and whisk everything together.
Blend the vinaigrette until it's really smooth and taste it! I added a tiny pinch of salt and pepper, but you could add a splash of water to thin it out, more lemon juice for extra tang...your choice!
Now, the salad! In addition to the walnuts we already toasted, you'll need an apple (the tangier the better, I think), salad greens (go dark; they're healthier!), and onion. You could add anything else you like, duh, like herbs or other veggies or cheese, but I wanted to keep it simple to let the vinaigrette WERK. 
Cut the apple into thin slices..
...then turn the slices and cut them into bits kind of the shape of lardons, which makes perfect sense given that this is a vegan salad. 
Thinly slice the onion, and we're ready to make a salad!
Layer everything all together and toss slightly. LOOK at the texture! Love it.
Now, I don't like to dress this until I'm right about to eat - wilty salad greens make me sad. So, let everyone serve themselves and drizzle dressing on their individual salads. 
This, my friends, is delicious. The tart apple, spicy greens, and sweet dressing are just EPIC together. Make it soon, and then add 9,282 other ingredients and let me know how it goes!
Winter Salad with Walnut Vinaigrette
Ingredients
FOR THE SALAD
- 8 cups dark salad greens such as arugula or spinach
- 1 granny smith apple chopped
- ¼ cup toasted walnuts chopped
- ¼ onion thinly sliced
FOR THE DRESSING
- ½ lemon juiced
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup chopped toasted walnuts
- 1 tablespoon honey
- salt to taste
Instructions
- For the salad, toss all ingredients together and drizzle with the dressing.
- For the dressing, combine all ingredients in a small food processor or blender until smooth. Taste, and add salt to your preference, and more honey or lemon juice to your taste. If the dressing seems thick, add water 1 teaspoon at a time to achieve desired consistency.
Nutrition
shared with weekend potluck, like always.
um, honey is not vegan...
Sometimes I overlook things. And sometimes vegans eat honey. Geez.
Well, geez... then they are not vegans (rather "beegan"), nor eating vegan, and this is not a "vegan" recipe if it has honey in it.
Pretty simple.