My favorite salad!

Grrrrrr.
The pictures from my phone are blurry and it just doesn't capture the awesomeness of the things I find awesome enough to take pictures of.
Like...

My new favorite meal! Seriously the most delicious salad that I have ever made myself at home. Maybe that's not saying much, but anyway I think it's great!

For years I've been looking for the perfect salad dressing. Most bottled dressings you can buy at the store are too sweet for me. If you're looking for a sweet dressing, that's fine. But I don't want sugar to be the second ingredient in my vinaigrette. When I lived in San Diego I got the Trader Joe's balsamic vinaigrette. That's really good. I don't live anywhere near a Trader Joe's at the moment. I've tried making my own mix of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and stuff, but it never turns out like my mom's does (the champion salad-maker in my book) and it's actually pretty hard to find real balsamic vinegar if you know what to look for. Oohhh, it's sooo delicious! I could drink the stuff!

Anyway, so the other day I found this new dressing called the "New American Dressing". After reading the ingredients, I knew it was what I was looking for.
 So, here's how to make my awesomely simple and delicious favorite salad (with my trick for how to dress every bit perfectly evenly every time)!

In a large-ish bowl combine:
Mixed greens
1/2 of one apple, thinly sliced and then cut into pieces
(I used fugi apples because that's what I had, but any kind would be good. Pears are really yummy, too.)
1 handful of dried cranberries
1 handful of chopped pecans (you can do raw, but it's sooo much yummier with candied ones. You can find them in the salad section at the store--or just toss some raw ones in a pan with some butter and sugar for a bit. It's really easy).
Okay, so now you pour the dressing on--you usually don't need more than 2 Tbsp because it gets distributed so well--and here is my trick (maybe I'm not that unique in doing this...I've just never seen anyone else do it, so I guess I just assume...)
Put a dinner plate on top of the bowl

Now, with both hands hold on really tight so you don't drop it, and SHAKE! Shake like you mean it! Swirl it around in the bowl and do a little dance around the kitchen while you're at it! Okay well, you don't have to do that part, but I like to ;)
It really only takes a few seconds of shaking and to get everything evenly covered. Once you try it you get an idea of what works best for you. Now, look at what it looks like when I lift the plate off! I get so excited to see how beautifully it turns out (yah, I don't get out much...I get waaay too excited about food)

Isn't that great?!? Yeah...now I have to go eat. :)