The Monica Salad

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So, there are certain people in my life that make amazing salads. My sister-in-law, Sarah, is one of these people. It doesn’t matter what is in the salad, this lady has a way with her fresh produce.

Another one of these people is my friend Monica, who, bless her heart, brought me this salad and a lasagna right after I had my baby. The lasagna was very good, but you guys….this salad was AMAZING. It was unique because the combination of ingredients within the salad was something I’ve never had before. So many different textures and flavors going on but it was the parsley dressing that made this salad so incredibly good.

Who knew, right?! Parsley? In salad dressing?

Yes, it’s a thing and yes, it’s good.

Now, this isn’t the *exact* recipe, but more of a copycat version made from my hazy, post-baby, exhausted, doped up memory of what Monica brought me that Sunday night. I did ask her for the recipe, but got a wicked craving for it impatient and less than 24 hours after asking, made my own version.

YOU GUYS. It’s good. The candied walnuts, blue cheese and dressing are what take this salad over the top.

Even my husband was like “this cheese in this salad is amazing!” –>coming from a man who hates smelly cheese! #miracle

Here’s how to make it:

So, the first thing you’re going to want to do is grab a high powered blender to make the salad dressing. I used this Mini WildSide Jar with my Blendtec Blender…the perfect size for smaller quantities!

Into your blender, add in some parsley. 3 cups loosely packed. This is a parsley dressing after all.

Add in some garlic,

lime juice,

olive oil,

sugar, salt and pepper.

Oh, and I added vinegar too. Lets pretend I didn’t forget to take a picture of that step.

So, now comes the fun part…add the lid and blend!

You can’t tell but this blender is on, working it’s magic 🙂

30 seconds later and we have some awfully green, awfully amazing dressing.

So, grab your dressing and assemble your salad.

Into a large bowl {or two}, add in some lettuce, mushrooms, gorgonzola cheese, candied walnuts, red onion, avocado and celery. Weird combo, I know, but trust me! It’s good.

Drizzle with the dressing and get ready to LIVE. Forreals.

Store any extra dressing in an air tight container in the fridge.

Printable recipe below, friends! Have a great weekend 🙂

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5 from 1 vote

The Monica Salad

A yummy salad topped with candied walnuts, blue cheese, avocado, mushrooms, red onion and drizzled with a parsley vinaigrette.

servings 4 side servings

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

For the parsley vinaigrette:

• ▢ 3 cups curly parsley loosely packed
• ▢ 2 tablespoons lime juice or lemon juice
• ▢ 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
• ▢ 1 large clove garlic chopped roughly
• ▢ 1/3-1/2 cup olive oil
• ▢ 1 teaspoon sugar
• ▢ salt & pepper to taste

For the salad:

• ▢ 5 oz pre washed lettuce I used a super greens blend
• ▢ 1 ripe avocado diced
• ▢ 4 large baby bella mushrooms sliced
• ▢ 1/4 cup red onion finely diced
• ▢ 1/3 cup roughly chopped candied walnuts plain walnuts are ok too!
• ▢ 1/3 cup crumbled gorgonzola
• ▢ 1 stalk celery finely diced

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Place all ingredients for dressing into a high powered blender. Blitz until completely smooth. You may need to shake the blender a time or two to get things moving and drizzle in an extra tablespoon of olive oil. Once completely smooth, set aside.
• For the salad, add pre washed lettuce to a large bowl. Top with remaining ingredients and then drizzle generously with dressing. Serve immediately.

Nutrition

Calories: 367kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 7mg | Sodium: 217mg | Potassium: 706mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 4159IU | Vitamin C: 69mg | Calcium: 137mg | Iron: 4mg

Course: Lunch, Salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: monica salad