Wonderful salad for the holiday seasons. Great to serve for dinner at home or to take to a family gathering during the holidays.
I don't give out 5 star ratings as often as I used to but we really enjoyed this salad and it is a definite keeper. I made a few small changes: chopped green leaf lettuce instead of romaine, roasted pecans instead of cashews, at least twice as much apple and pear and about 2 TBS less sugar. I wanted to have everything ready about an hour before it was time to toss everything together so I tossed the sliced apples and pears with some of the dressing. Besides staying nice and white they absorbed some of the wonderful dressing flavor. We enjoyed the Swiss cheese, but I want to try this with blue cheese next time. I think the sweetness of the dressing and the saltiness of the blue cheese would be perfect. 12/2004 Update 9/2007: I finally made this using blue cheese and I love it! My husband and I both liked it much better than the swiss cheese and this is the only way I will make it from now on.
Read MoreThis recipe is very yummy! I gave this a three star rating because I changed it a bit as follows: 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon dijon 1/3 cup veg. oil Everything else I kept the same. I felt that there was way to much sugar, and oil. With fiddling with the amounts I found it can increase the actual taste over sweetness. Increasing the Dijon mustard, and decreasing the sugar brings out the lemon, and Dijon tangy-ness that creates a more subtle taste.
Read MoreI don't give out 5 star ratings as often as I used to but we really enjoyed this salad and it is a definite keeper. I made a few small changes: chopped green leaf lettuce instead of romaine, roasted pecans instead of cashews, at least twice as much apple and pear and about 2 TBS less sugar. I wanted to have everything ready about an hour before it was time to toss everything together so I tossed the sliced apples and pears with some of the dressing. Besides staying nice and white they absorbed some of the wonderful dressing flavor. We enjoyed the Swiss cheese, but I want to try this with blue cheese next time. I think the sweetness of the dressing and the saltiness of the blue cheese would be perfect. 12/2004 Update 9/2007: I finally made this using blue cheese and I love it! My husband and I both liked it much better than the swiss cheese and this is the only way I will make it from now on.
This was very popular at our family dinner. The combination was different and tasty, but next time I will cut down on the sugar for the dressing. It was a little too sweet. *UPDATE* I have tried this recipe with swiss, cheddar, and parmesan...and I think it is best without any cheese at all. To save time, I will often use bottled lemon poppyseed dressing and prewashed organic greens. I also use what ever nuts I have on hand but I like slivered (not sliced) almonds the best. This salad is ALWAYS eaten all up at church potlucks.
This recipe is very yummy! I gave this a three star rating because I changed it a bit as follows: 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon dijon 1/3 cup veg. oil Everything else I kept the same. I felt that there was way to much sugar, and oil. With fiddling with the amounts I found it can increase the actual taste over sweetness. Increasing the Dijon mustard, and decreasing the sugar brings out the lemon, and Dijon tangy-ness that creates a more subtle taste.
I made this recipe last year for Thanksgiving. It was my husband's and my first Thanksgiving after our wedding, and his parents, as well as my whole family were coming over to our new home. This salad impressed their socks off!! I made a great impression. Since then, I have been asked to make it for every family occasion, including Christmas, four birthdays, Easter, Memorial day, 4th of July and Labor day. It is a wonderfully easy, yet elegant salad. (Especially to impress your in-laws!)
Wow - what a fabulous, yet elegant salad to serve at a holiday get togther or anytime for that matter! It's got a wonderful combination of flavors, colors and textures. The dressing is absolutely delicious and the proportions are spot-on, if I had to change anything I would use just a little less sugar. But other than that is was perfect. I just threw everything into a mini-food processor and gave it a whirl then poured it into a container and added the poppy seeds last and just shook it up. I used butter lettuce vs. romaine and toasted walnuts vs. cashews. I soaked my apples and pears in lemon water so they wouldn't brown. The Swiss cheese was very good and next time I might try a blue cheese or even a feta. Great recipe that's very easy and something you'll want to make again!
I served this 2x in the same week! LOVED it! I made my dressing the day before so all the flavors would blend. Great! I used feta cheese (no swiss)and used Red Onion. I also cut up the fruit a few hours before and drizzled on some of the dresing, NO brown spots at all because of the lemon juice. I used a fresh lemons...the Best! Yeah it makes too much dressing for this serving...but it keeps well to throw on more salads, or it would make a great chicken marinade ... don't ya think?!!
This is one of the best salads I have ever made! I used about 2 cups of monteray jack cheese, 2 apples and probably another 1/2 cup of cashews. It was perfect and the dressing is to die for! It actually makes quite a bit of dressing, so you could easily add more lettuce and still have plenty of dressing.
I made this salad for a party and 9 people requested the recipe! That let me know it's a winner. It is now a favorite of my husband and me. If I use a standard bag of pre cut/washed romaine lettuce then I halve the dressing recipe. I often use 2 pears instead of the 1 apple, 1 pear. Also, often add a few more cranberries since they are so pretty. Even my kids love this salad. An inspired combination.
This was a new addition to our New Year's Day meal, and it was fabulous. I made it exactly as written, except for substituting toasted pecans for the cashews and adding a bit of extra sugar to the dressing. At first, a few people looked a bit skeptical and only put a little bit on their plate, but absolutely EVERYONE had seconds. It was a huge hit and I will certainly be making it again.
This was absolutely delicious! I had to substitute a shredded cheddar/Montery Jack cheese combination for the Swiss but everything else was the same. I LOVED the salad dressing though I only used 3/4 of it even with extra lettuce. That just left me with more for another time! I put all the ingredients together (except the poppy seeds) in a large bowl and blended them with a hand bleder, then added the seeds and blended a little more. The dressing was so well mixed and didn't separate, much as I suspect would happen with a table-mounted blender- just less mess and steps! Thank you Nora for a recipe I could eat all day!
I would actually give it 3 1/2 if I could. It was good, but seemed like it was missing something. I used Havarti instead of Swiss. Still, if you are looking for a fruity salad, this doesn't even come close to the Spring Strawberry Spinach Salad found on this site.
Unique and delicious! Served this to a large women's group and it vanished in a heartbeat. Saw ladies going back for seconds...but it was all gone by then! Terrific salad, one that I will make often. Does make alot of dressing, I didn't use quite all of it. May have been a smaller head of romaine lettuce that I used. Very good recipe, thanks for sharing!
I have been making this salad for several years, and each time have to go back to find the specifics for the dressing. Although this is not where I found the original recipe, it is the same. I read reviews of people changing things- please don't! Keep the swiss! Keep the cashews!! Keep the dressing- don't buy it!! Don't double the fruit!! If you don't like swiss, or cashews, poppy seed or craisens- make something else! Just sayin...
This has become one of my "go to" salads for important dinner parties, and for everyday meals when I want a treat. Everyone loves it. The flavors and textures are wonderful together. As other reviewers have said, I cut down on the sugar, probably by about a half. I have also sometimes substituted goat cheese crumbles for the swiss, which I actually prefer, but that's probably a matter of personal taste.
Made this as directed with the exception of using less poppy seeds, however it was REALLY well received at both potlucks I've taken it to. Thanks so much for sharing.Reason I opted to use less poppy seed is several members of our church community told me they had dental bridges and those pesky little seeds get caught underneath them.
I made one change, which was to use toasted pecans (on hand) in place of the cashews. This salad is the perfect mixture of sweet, mellow, and tart - "fierce," as one friend described it. I took a 12-serving batch to a dinner party for 6 people, and we polished it off! 10/4/2017: This recipe makes more dressing than I need. I either leave the dressing ingredients alone and double the size of the salad, or make the salad as-is and cut the dressing in half.
Good but very sweet and I love sweet things. I would make again but cut the sugar at least in half...I never thought I would say that!
This was really good! The hubby loved it and said he wants it with every meal!
Delicious salad. Perfect balance of flavors and textures. Highly recommend to serve the dressing separately and let guests choose desired amount. Use fresh lemons - it is worth it. Will definitely make again.
Had this at a luncheon and it was one of the best salads I have had in a very long time.
I made this at the last moment with ingredients I had on hand, but it was awesome! The lemon dressing I had made the night before was awful and I had company coming so I had to improvise. I found this recipe and made a few changes. I didn't have an onion but the dressing needed something so I substitued minced ginger-wow! This was amazing! I also kept my greens, crunchies, fruit and dressing separate so my guests could add what they wanted. Six people finished the whole salad. I used 1/3 cup walnuts, 1/3 cup almonds and 2 T flax seed-toasted-for my crunchies. The fruit I had on hand was 2 clementines, 2 granny smiths and 1/4 cup dried cranberries. My salad greens included 5 oz. of baby lettuces and half a package of spinach. Can't wait to make this again-thanks!
I've been making this recipe for about 4 or 5 years now for Thanksgiving & Christmas. It is always a hit. I cut up the apples & pears & put it right in the dressing. This keeps the fruit from turning. I just toss it up before serving. It is the perfect winter/holiday salad. I always say I'm going to try it with walnuts or almonds, but always stick the cashews.
REALLY EXCELLENT SALAD!!!!! The dressing is to die for! I didn't toss it all together...i just served it on the side---a permanent addition to my recipe file!
This salad was quite delicious. I couldn't find everything perfectly, so I made small substitutions: plain walnuts instead of the candied pecans. This salad was very very sweet, and in the future I might add less sugar and/or a bit of vinegar.
I love salads. This one is no exception. Delicious. I made this just as the recipe is written. I wouldn't change a thing.
Yummy and so refreshing. Huge hit with my family. I used thinly sliced swiss instead of shredded and added grilled chicken breast to it to serve as a dinner. I also mixed the dressing by hand and didn't have any problem getting the ingredients incorporated. Delicious !!!! You can easily set aside some of the dressing to use at a later date, and I would definitely recommend dipping the sliced fruit in the dressing prior to assembling the salad. It prevented the fruit from browning. One caution...this salad definitely gets soggy as it sits so not as good as leftovers.
Made this last night for an office salad luncheon. Used strawberries instead of pear and shallot instead of onion. It was amazing. Had 3 people ask for the recipe afterwards.
Terrific; great combination of flavors and textures. I generally don't toss my salads with dressing, rather let people dress according to their preference. Everyone at my table enjoyed it. I roasted the cashews with melted butter... yummy!
This salad received rave reviews tonight at the dinner table. Made with spinach instead of romaine and applewood cheddar instead of Swiss. Added some sliced green grapes (because I found them in the fridge) Very versatile salad recipe. Will defiantly make this or some variation of this again!
I take this salad to family get-togethers, always with raves and no leftovers. I use Splenda instead of sugar and cut the oil by half with no appreciable taste difference.
Made this salad for a pot-luck Holiday Dinner and it was the hit of the evening! Great combination of flavors that complimented each other. I've made several times since, the best results when I use freshly sqeezed lemon juice in the dressing. A winner!
awesome! A very nice pick-me-up for our wet winters and gray skies, like sunshine in a bowl. Thank you for sharing. I used red onion and it tinted the dressing pink. So pretty.
Made this as a Christmas salad and have made it about a dozen times since! This is such a light, crunchy, flavorful salad; even my children look forward to having this. I've now added chicken breast to make it a meal in itself.
I made this for a family party, and everyone loved it! It was nice to have something a little more interesting than the typical tossed salad. The lemon poppyseed dressing was delicious. As the maker of the salad, I got the leftovers, which were great for lunch the next day. The only change I made was to use cheese curds, because I love them, and I'm not so crazy about Swiss cheese. Thank you for sharing a delightful recipe!
I love this salad!! I made it again this Saturday and my hubby said "this is the best salad I ever had"! Dressing is delicious!
Definitely way way way too much dressing! Cut in 1/2 if not 1/3 and then just drizzle small amounts at a time and toss to coat. A little big goes a long way - just a light coating. Just make sure you wait to put on the dressing until ready to serve, otherwise lettuce gets soggy. Used red leaf lettuce the 2nd time which was just as good if not better. I used 2 apples which may be why I didn't miss the crunch of the romaine. I now make this salad with pecans and omit the cheese.
Are you kidding?? This is a ten star recipe...meant for special people, special times, special dinners. I made this salad for our Annual Trivia Christmas party with rave reviews. Here's just a couple of things I did to make it my own. I used butter lettuce which I think is excellent with fruit - expensive but well worth it. To save time, I bought Marie's poppyseed dressing which is excellent, and replaced the swiss cheese with a generous amount of blue cheese on top of the salad. Beautiful presentation and more importantly, DELICIOUS!!
This was such a great salad! I loved the combination of fruits. I did make one change. I used walnuts instead of the cashews. I just like walnuts better. Will definitely make again!
WOW! The flavors all came together for me in the salad dressing. Tasted great! I didn't add the cheese and I used olive oil instead of vegetable oil and it was amazing! Perfect salad for winter dinner parties. Sure to impress!
I made this for my Super Bowl dinner party. When I described to my family what was in it, I had a lot of funny faces and negative comments. Well, were they all shocked how much they loved it. It had such a great taste and it was so easy!! If you're not too sure if you'll like it, I suggest you try it because you might shock yourself. Thanks for the great recipe!!
Very good salad; great textures and flavors from the fruit. I used baking sugar which is a little more fine than regular sugar - I halved the sugar and it was still pretty sweet. Next time I'll use even less sugar.
This was not as special as I was hoping. The dressing was okay, the cheese rather unnecessary, so overall not a special holiday salad. Makes way too much dressing for the amount of salad too.
This salad is AMAZING!!! It was a great addition to our holiday meal. I took the one reviewers advice and added a small amount of dressing to the apples and pears so they didn't turn brown. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. Thanks so much for this tasty treat!
Amazing! I forgot to add the cranberries. I used feta cheese. I used mixed greens. Delicious.
This is a very refreshing salad. I used this recipe for a dinner party we went to and got rave reviews. I used Monterey Jack cheese instead of swiss. Soo good!
I made this recipe once and now don't dare have a major family dinner without it!
I really love this salad! I got this recipe off of this site a while ago and I can't tell you how many times I have made this. Every time we have a family gathering I make this and it gets devoured (and most of these people are salad eaters). The key is the wonderful dressing! If I don't have pears, I will just use apples, and most of the time I use raisins. Thanks for this yummy recipe!
Excellent! Served on Christmas Eve. I used mozz instead of swiss since I had it on hand. Too much dressing for us...I had about 1/3 of the recipe left.
I made this salad for dinner tonight. I mixed in some red leaf lettuce with the romaine. After reading the reviews, I used 1/3 cup of sugar. I am allergic to them so I left out the onion. I used fresh lemon juice and feta cheese. I also used almonds instead of cashews only because I did not have any. That all being said, this salad was delicious. I left the dressing on the side and poured over the salad at the table. The dressing is tangy and sweet. I have enough dressing to have on more salad tomorrow. So glad I tried this and will be making this salad again.
Excellent recipe!! I served it at Thanksgiving and it made a very pretty (and yummy) addition to the table.
How do you say winner! A friend made this and put some fresh sliced strawberries in it. Any kind of nuts works: pecans, walnuts or toasted sliced almonds. (I know strawberries aren't a winter fruit)!
I served this salad with our uncle's 96th birthday dinner, and everyone loved it! It reminded me more of spring than of winter--the fresh tart/sweet flavors of the lemon juice/sugar mixture on the crisp greens woke my taste buds up and put them in a happy mood for the rest of the dinner! If you don't have a pear, just put in extra apple; and instead of just the dried cranberries, I used a dried berry mix consisting of cranberries, cherries and blueberries, which were great. I will definitely be using this as one of my main salad recipes, and I would imagine this will taste awesome on a hot summer day on our screened porch in August.
This salad is amazing! I used an emersion blender and the dressing emulsified nicely. I used gruyere cheese (close to swiss) and chopped Sugar Coated Pecans (from this site) because that's what I had available. I think you could change those 2 ingredients up to suit your tastes. I would add a lot more lettuce if you are really serving 12 people!
We made this for our Christmas dinner, and it was a big hit! A wonderful compromise for both the green salad and the fruit salad factions in the family - and everyone was happy! No left-overs, though. A definite "keeper".
This was disappointing for me. The flavor of the swiss cheese just didn't seem to blend with the rest of the salad.
The dressing is very easy to make and has a great taste! I used Honey Dijon-mustard because that was all I had on hand and it was great.
Very good and easy. I added mandarin oranges. I will be making this salad again.
This is an excellent salad, as written! Will try blue cheese next time, although swiss was good. Why would someone change the recipe then rate it 3 stars??? This is 5 star for my fam. of 4!
Every single time I make this salad people demand the recipe. It's SO good and very versatile. We like to add more of the fruit/nuts/cheese than the recipe calls for because that's how we like salads; but the flavor blend is awesome. I would highly recommend making the salad dressing as it appears in the recipe - I have yet to find a bottled dressing that complements this salad so well.
This was delicious. I made the dressing exactly as the recipe indicated. It was phenomenal and it kept well in the fridge. I made 2 slight changes. I used blue cheese instead of swiss and used toasted walnuts instead of cashews. This was excellent
Great salad! Everyone raves about it every time I serve it. I didn't peel the apple and pear so it added a little more texture and color.
absolutely delicious, really, and so so easy!!! very highly recommended, make it, you won't be disappointed!
This recipe was delicious! The salad dressing portion was the best. I took it over to a Thanksgiving dinner and the hostess pleaded with me to leave the leftovers-- and for the recipe! I would definately make this again.
I made this for a dinner with my boyfriend's parents, and it was a big hit. Even though my boyfriend usually rebels when fruit is involved, he really enjoyed this salad and has asked me to make it again soon. All of the ingredients are very complementary.
I make this often, and have just resorted to the bottled poppy seed dressing. When I take it somewhere I always mix it up there - the crisper the better!
The dressing compliments the flavors of the cashews, apple and cranberries. DELICIOUS!
This recipe is so good that I wish that I had doubled it for my party! All the women were asking for more. I could have had one recipe of the dressing and doubled everything else and it would have worked fine. This is definitely a keeper!!!
Great salad. I only use about 1/4 of the dressing on the salad, and save the rest for another time. Also, I only use 1/3 cup oil, rather than 2/3 cup. I used fresh lemon, just a shake of salt, and dried onion flakes.
My FAVORITE salad to bring to parties! Always always always a hit. Everyone wants the recipe. No substitutions, no changes. A wonderful salad.
I made this for our Christmas Eve buffet table and got rave reviews from everyone! I doubled the recipe, but followed it completely. The ingredients really go well together and it was the first salad to be completely eaten up (we also had an antipasto and caesar salad). Thank you.
This was so refreshing! Thank you! As others suggested I substituted with Feta cheese, pecans and two apples, eliminating the pear. I also think using fresh lemons (4 large for serving 16) gives a very light flavor. Since I was taking it to a church potluck, I cut up my apples the night before, putting them in a canning jar with water and Fruit Fresh. Had lovely white apple pieces to mix up at last minute. Addition: made this again with Jonathon apples and they turned to much overnight. Use a firm, crisp apple! Believe I used Gala or Fuji first time.
Fabulous! and easy!? What more do ya want in a recipe than that? Thanks Nora! (oh, we used dried onion flakes for a quicker version......, still good...., will likely do the same in the future.......)
Very tasty dressing, but used barely half the sugar it called for, and I still thought it was sweet.
Very good salad, though I made enough modifications that I'm not sure I can rate it fairly. Substituted Annie's papaya poppyseed dressing for homemade, pecans for cashews, and boucheron goat cheese for swiss. It was delicious--one of the first dishes to be wiped clean at a potluck party last night!
This is simply the best salad I've tasted. I alter it a little with dried cheries (my kids like it better that way). Also, I don't peel my fruits because it adds more color to the salad. I frequently omit the swiss cheese. Also, I use about 1/4 of the recommended dressing. This salad is a clear winner no matter how you fix it!
I followed the recipe as written except I used 2 heads of romaine and it was a big hit at Christmas dinner. There was plenty of dressing for two heads of lettuce. It made enough for 14-16 people.
I didn't have pears so I used strawberries. Also used dried cherries instead of cranberries as it was out of stock. My family loves it even my son who isn't keen on salad! I will make it again!
This salad is great! Everytime I make it there are several requests for the recipe. I usually add more lettuce, fruit, & cashews. The dressing goes a long way.
This salad was a big hit at our Christmas gathering. Very festive looking and very tasty! I cut the amount of sugar by 1/2 and then added a little more to suit my taste. I also used a dry fruit mix that included dried cherries and pears in addition to cranberries.
This is absolutely one of the best salads I've ever made! The ingredients provide a wonderful flavor contrast and interesting texure. ALWAYS a favorite whenever I've served it!
This is the second time I've made this recipe! I made it for a work potluck about two years ago. It's great and easy to put together. I leave the peels on my fruit for color.
Great recipe! I make a few changes but I make the dressing exactly from this recipe. This salad is delicious!
I have made this before and added strawberries. I have also used Gargonzola. Adds a great flavor too!
This was very interesting. I think it was too sweet and would be very good if I cut quite a bit of the sugar.
Try it with out the half cup of sugar. Lord knows we in America need to take in less sugar. Only in American will you see sugar in a green salad!
Like everyone says - this is delicious just as written! For variety, I was looking to replicate the Costco spinach salad with poppy seed dressing and this dressing was amazing! Try this dressing over fresh spinach, tomatoes, boiled eggs, red onion, bacon, shredded mozzarella cheese, craisins, and walnuts. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.
