Spectacular salads

I’ve been on such a salad kick lately (as you may have guessed by my new header)!  I used to eat them pretty often for lunch (remember my buffalo BBQ chicken salad I couldn’t [still can’t] get enough of?), but I was limiting myself as far as dressings go.  I was stuck in a ranch rut!

 

One of the things that got me un-stuck was this fab product:

Braswell's Vidalia Onion and Summer Tomato Dressing

I found this Vidalia Onion and Summer Tomato dressing by Braswell’s at Fresh Market last week, and it’s making my salads all fresh and summery!  It’s so different than the ranch and balsamic vinaigrette I’m used to.

Salad with Onion and Tomato Dressing

Yesterday after my biweekly checkup (I only gained half a pound over the last two weeks – not good, but not as bad as I expected), I had lunch with my good friend Lofton at Panera where we both had the Fuji Apple Chicken Salad (no tomato!!):

Panera Fuji Apple Chicken Salad

Last night I continued the obsession trend with a recipe from Ina Garten – Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette.  Mom made this for me for my birthday a few weeks ago, so I wanted to give it another shot and add chicken to the mix.

Roasted Butternut Squash

Luscious roasted butternut squash and toasted walnuts.

Toasted Walnuts

We didn’t make it exactly according to directions, but it was amazing all the same.

Butternut Squash and Chicken Salad

I even had leftovers for lunch today. 

Butternut Squash and Chicken Salad

What’s your favorite salad recipe, ingredient, or dressing?