Because my fresh, DVine salad of shaved Brussels sprouts, thinly sliced watermelon radish, honey crisp apple, canDied walnuts & a light mirin vinaigrette is so visually beautiful, colorful, healthy and a perfect compliment to traditional Thanksgiving fixings, it’s now a welcome and lauded favorite at our table. Way easier to make than pie, financially and farm sustain-ably responsible here’s what I prepared for 15 adults & 6 children.
I simply popped the (all organic) Brussels Sprouts off their stems 
and discarded the rough outer leaves in preparation for the shaving of the sprouts on a mandolin which I did when I got into Providence Wednesday evening.
I prepped the canDied walnuts Tuesday night when I tested the recipe. I looked at 3 recipes for candied walnuts 2 of them were so complicated it was stupid. I found one to go with: 1/2 C walnuts to a 1/4 C sugar melted in a pan over a medium high heat then pour the melted sugared nuts out onto an aluminum foil or parchment paper lined tray. It takes almost the amount of time to prepare the canDied nuts as it does to write it down. That’s it, sO a cup at a time I toasted the walnuts quickly then added 1/2 a cup of coco palm sugar, shook the pan at the beginning to even everything out then as the sugar melted and caramelized I stirred the nuts and sugar with a rubber spatula, poured them out onto a tray and that was it. I made 2 Cups of canDied walnuts. I probably used about 1 Cup roughly chopped for the Thanksgiving salad for 20+.
One stipulation at our Thanksgiving is that the dish you bring must be prepared in advance and able to be served room temperature. Because of the apple & radish I was granted permission to simply prep these ingredients & dress the salad when I got to my cousin’s house. I also felt the color of the raw shaved Brussels sprouts left much to be Dsired so I blanched off very quickly and shocked about half the amount of the shaved Brussels sprouts I had. This helped to pump up the color on a whole as well as varying their texture.
I sliced the watermelon radish in slab like sections
which I then went at with a corer tp get log like pieces which I passed across the mandolin giving me perfect dime size slices of a beautiful pink radish bite. 
I sliced the apple into 4 wedges, whacked the core out, then thinly sliced the wedges then sliced through that making small julienne style pieces.
Mix well with your hand or serving forks. Sprinkle with sea salt, I used my Salt of D Earth, Fall Equinox Blend, mixed again then dressed the salad with a light mirin vinaigrette which I made by whisking 1/2 C mirin to 1/4 C rice wine vinegar and a strong pinch of seasoned salt. I did not use a splash of lemon but I might in the future and I’m also thinking I might do equal amounts of mirin to vinegar.
Clearly there’s a wide open field of greens and dreams to play with here. May this inspirae you to whip up a crunchy, nutrient rich, healthful, Dlicious salad, even in the midst of the winter.
Winter salads, there ya go, I’m off and running with this concept.
Hit me up to see what I’m experimenting with now.
COOK MORE, SPEND LESS, FEEL BETTER!!!