Pear & Walnut Salad

I was walking through Whole Foods and this was their taste demonstration in the produce department.  I immediately bought the ingredients I needed, and made it that night to go with our dinner.  It was easy and I have never sweetened walnuts like this.  I learned something new!  Yum!



*Ingredients:

• 1 c walnuts
• 1/4 c honey, divided
• 5 oz. mixed baby arugula & spinach
• 6 abate fetel pears (don’t let this scare you...try any pear)
• 1/4 c fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 c apple-juice-sweetened cranberries
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt

With your well stocked panty and fridge, you may not even need to make a special trip for this recipe.  Use what you got!  

Method:
Preheat oven 350 degrees. Drizzle 2 T of the honey over the walnuts and mix to coat evenly.  Arrange walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and bake in the preheated oven for 7-8 minutes, until golden brown.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, blend together the remaining honey with the lemon juice and sea salt.  Slice pears into the 1/4” slices and place them in a bowl. Pour the lemon honey mixture over the pears and allow them to sit for a couple of minutes before pouring it over the greens.

Add cranberries and walnuts and toss together until well mixed.

Serves 6


*Note:
Of course, I didn’t follow the recipe, because that is what I do. Because I enjoy greens and my husband does not enjoy the “sweet” ingredients in his salads, I made the bulk of this salad with the arugula and spinach, I used only 1 pear cut up in pieces- not 6, and sprinkled in the other ingredients to taste.  What is important here is to note the simplicity of the salad dressing, and that a healthy salad dressing is easy to make.  Parmesan cheese slivers would be great on this as well as blue cheese.  Make the portions bigger and serve with your choice of protein; salmon, chicken or steak.

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