Merry Berry Salad for the Holidays

I am "Italian by Marriage,"  IBM for short, and as such will be serving a Christmas Dinner rooted in the Italian Christmas Eve tradition known as the Feast of the Seven Fishes.  When Grandma cooked, the meal consisted of breaded smelts, savoy cabbage with oodles of garlic, Christmas bread, and "I-oh-ies," (no one could ever tell me how to spell that one!) which is spaghetti noodles dressed with olive oil and minced garlic.  Most of the grandchildren were elated when grandma could no longer find smelts in the store and switched to a white fish instead.  In fact, the great-granchildren devour this meal now that it is breaded fish, fancy garlic bread, salad, and I-oh-ies.  And while the recipes have changes, the spirit of the meal has not, and we look forward to this tradition every year.

One of the salads that we have substituted for savoy cabbage is Merry Berry Salad.  It is a festive-looking salad boasting chopped green and red apples and cranberries and drizzled with a from-scratch cranberry dressing.  It, too, has become a favorite and also makes for a great potluck dish during the holiday season.  Prepare the dressing the night before so that the flavors can marry and quickly put the salad together the next day.  Wait until serving time to add the dressing to avoid soggy lettuce greens.  I wish I could remember where I first saw this recipe to give proper credit to the creator of this very yummy salad!

Dressing:

In a blender, combine the following and process until smooth.
1 C cranberries (I use craisins)
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C apple cider vinegar
1/4 C apple juice concentrate
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground mustard
1 tsp. grated onion (I use 1/4 tsp. onion powder)

Slowly add 1 C Canola oil and continue mixing on low.  I have often used 3/4 C oil and 1/4 C water.

Yield is 2 1/2 cups of dressing which is a lot and is usually enough for 2 salads or one very large salad unless you like lots of dressing on your greens.

Salad:
10 oz. mixed salad greens (I often use romaine and spinach)
2 medium apples, red and green, diced
1 C shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 C dried cranberries
1/2 C slivered almonds, can be toasted