Am I the only female who fears fouling a friendship by foregoing Friendship Bread?  (By the way, welcome to “F Day” of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.)

Am I the only one who gets palpably flustered when I see a friend approaching with  a Ziploc bag of yeasty goo?  I’m not faulting the friend; it’s me.  I’m terrible at saying, “No.”  When I see that fragrant bag of starter, I see Failure with a capital F.  I know I will fail the friend and the floppy bag of bread waiting to be born.

My friend, Ruth, never approached me with a Ziploc bag, but she did graciously give me a recipe or two.  Conveniently, one of them starts with an F – Festive Tossed Salad.  Actually, she emailed it to me on December 9, 2004.  I’ve since re-typed it to share with other friends, but I’ve kept the original one I printed off.  Ruth and I now live 1,000 miles apart, but every time I pull that faded, stained, messy old thing from my recipe box, I have a chance to think of the lovely friend and talented cook that gave it to me.  I think I’d even let her approach me with a Ziploc bag.

Festive Tossed Salad

Dressing:

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 tbsp finely chopped red onion

1 tbsp lemon juice

2-3 tsp poppy seeds

1 tsp prepared mustard

1/2 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in a blender, food processor or salad dressing shaker and blend thoroughly.  Refrigerate until needed.

Salad:

6 cups torn Romaine or red leaf lettuce

4 cups spinach

1 cup crumbled Feta cheese

1 cup shredded Swiss cheese

1 medium pear or apple, cored and cubed

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup chopped cashews

2 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

In a salad bowl, combine the lettuce and other salad ingredients.  Drizzle with desired amount of dressing.  Serves 8-10.