After a holiday season full of rich, fancy foods, a big salad may be in order this week. And, this is a big salad!
My friend Suzanne Tustin shared this recipe (one of her favorites) with us a few months ago. We've probably made it 25 times since then - and still loving it.
This salad makes a great lunch for holiday guests, or a light dinner for those nights when the candy cravings started early in the day.
Suzanne tasted a salad similar to this at the Monkey Cat Restaurant in Auburn, and tried to replicate the dressing at home. Thus the name: Suzanne's M-Cat Salad.

- Salad
1 head romaine
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup toasted pecans, broken into pieces
½ cup gorgonzola, crumbled
1 ½ avocados cut into chunks
1 pound honey roasted turkey (I like to purchase a ¾- inch thick chunk) skin removed and cut into bite-size cubes
¼ cup Parmesan, shaved with a potato peeler into wide strips,
2 large shallots, thinly sliced and caramelized in olive oil - then cooled to room temp
1 recipe of Suzanne's M-Cat dressing
Place all of the ingredients in a large salad bowl, toss with Suzanne's dressing and serve!

- Suzanne's dressing
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ cup canola oil
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 clove garlic, minced
Mix all of the ingredients in a shaker bottle and shake well. If you have the Good Seasons cruet, simply add the vinegar to the "V" line, the soy sauce to the "W" line and the oil to the "O" line.
Susie can be reached at suziven@hughes.net