Thanksgiving Salad

I'm so pleased to be a part of a Thanksgiving Side Dish Round Up  with some fabulous Texan bloggers.  

Tin Tin & Livia - German Red Potatoes 

The Coers Family - Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes 

Mooshu Jenne - Zesty Green Salad

I love the holidays.  All of them.  But Thanksgiving is my favorite.

I grew up in an environment where we had big family holiday gatherings.  Thanksgiving being one of the biggest with extended family and friends who had no family close by all in attendance.  When I reminisce on my childhood, many of my fondest memories are of those Thanksgivings.

We had Thanksgiving dinner every year while in England without fail.  It was of the utmost importance for me to have Diva grow up and know the joys of sitting at the kids' table and sharing our home and food with friends immersed in a spirit of thankfulness.

Through those meals, we established our own Thanksgiving traditions and life had come full circle:  growing up, our family had always taken in those with no family for the holidays and here we were with no family, being taken in by our friends for the holidays.  We can never express how humbled and blessed and thankful we are to have had them in our lives.

Our Canadian expat friends were always gracious enough to forgo their October Thanksgiving to join in our American one in November.

Over lots of coffee, Miranda (a Canadian) and I would sit down and make a list of all of the traditional elements of our Thanksgiving meals:  Turkey, Ham, Dressing, Sweet Potatoes, Nuts, Cranberries, Apples, Pumpkins, Corn, Green Beans, Carrots, Relish Tray, and Pie.  Then we would thumb through cookbooks and find recipes that used one or more of those elements to be passed out to the families that would be celebrating with us.  It was our English Thanksgivings that introduced our English comrades to the joys of fried turkey, green bean casserole, and pecan pie.

It is in tribute to all of our Thanksgivings spent in J.O.E. (Jolly Olde England) that I made this salad.  It has many of the traditional elements in it.

Thanksgiving Salad 

2lbs. Sweet Potatoes, peeled & diced into 1/4" cubes
Bag of Washed & Cut Greens (Mustard, Collard, or a mix)
1/3c. Cranberry Sauce
1/4c. Red Wine Vinegar
1 tsp. Thyme
1/2c. Pecans, toasted & chopped
Olive Oil
Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Preheat baking sheet in oven at 350F.
Go around a bowl a couple of times with olive oil.  Put the diced sweet potatoes in the bowl along with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Toss to coat thoroughly.
Spread sweet potatoes on the baking sheet and bake.  Give the baking sheet a good shake after 10 minutes and put back in the oven for a further 5 minutes or until cooked through.
In a saucepan, put cranberry sauce, vinegar, and thyme and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until the cranberry sauce has melted.  Once it has melted, whisk in 1/4c. Olive Oil.  If using whole berry sauce, you may want to whizz up the dressing ingredients with your hand blender.
In a wok or large pan, go around the pan once with oil.  Heat up the pan and put the greens in the pan, cooking them until they are just wilted; you still want some integrity in the greens.  Season with a pinch of salt & pepper.
Toss the greens and sweet potatoes.  Sprinkle the pecans and drizzle some dressing over the salad.

This is part of Full Plate Thursday and See Ya in the Gumbo.