We were recently in Michigan on vacation. We stopped by one of my all time favorite place in the world, Nino Salvaggio’s. “Nino’s” as we call it, has the freshest produce, the most stunning flowers, the best meat and prepared food (which I usually avoid in most places) to die for. They have a cafe where you can order (I have a few suggestions!) and sit and enjoy. It’s perfectly lovely. The people who work at Nino’s are so nice. Despite being 40 minutes away, we were regulars most of the days we were in town!

I was hooked on their Michigan Cherry Salad with Chicken, Goat Cheese & Walnuts, I don’t have their recipe, but we did buy their walnuts, which are better than any walnuts I’ve ever bought and their dried Michigan cherries. (I wish we brought home some Love Em rolls #todiefor). While I would prefer to pop into Nino’s and order their Michigan cherry salad, we don’t have a Nino’s in Charleston, SC (hint, hint), so I had to try to recreate. Came close, it was delightful, here goes:

MICHIGAN CHERRY SALAD WITH CHICKEN, GOAT CHEESE & WALNUTS

• Romaine lettuce (we like a crunch)
• Chicken breast (thin) we olive oiled, S&P and grilled – slice into strips or rotisserie chicken!
• Michigan Dried Cherries, a big handful
• Walnuts, really good ones, a big handful
• Bleu Cheese crumbles, one big spoonful
• 1/4 cucumber sliced and seeded
• grape tomatoes, sliced (about 2 for each salad)
• red onion rings (sliced thin and soaked for 10 minutes, then dried)

Cherry Vinaigrette Dressing

• 1/4 cup extra virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon cherry (or other) preserves
• 1 teaspoon dijon
• S & P

Whisk all ingredients except EVOO. Once mixed slowly pour the EVOO into remaining ingredients while whisking to incorporate it all together.

To make the salads (this was a dinner salad – we didn’t have anything with it):

Add however much lettuce you want to a nice size bowl, add cucumber, tomato, red onion, bleu cheese crumbles, walnuts, dried cherries and top with chicken breast strips. Add vinaigrette and enjoy!

This was so delicious! Don’t skimp on the cherries (or the bleu cheese!) – If you have a good bread or roll that would be nice along with it like Nino’s serves.

Of course, if you’re in MI just pop in Nino’s and order one of their salads or check out the prepared food area and you will see an array of salads to die for. If I lived in MI I would start at the top and work my way through them and then start over. They’re that good. I kid you not!

🍒 Until next time…

✨ Take a moment to be grateful for at least one thing today – TODAY will be a good day, you’ve got this!