Healthy and tasty winter salad.

In a recent post, we talked about vegetables that are in season during this chilly time of year. This winter salad recipe honors seasonal vegetables and fruits. It includes other additions to round out the flavors and textures nicely. 

Winter salad ingredients:

• Use your favorite salad greens. Spinach or kale are great bases but if you prefer lettuce, that works too!
• Try pomegranates. These are in-season in early winter and are bursting with flavor.
• Throw in some walnuts. Did you know that walnuts create a warming action in the body, helping us stay cozy in colder months?
• Get creative with roasted root vegetables. Butternut squash, sweet potatoes or beets are a great addition to a winter salad.
• At the risk of sounding like your mother, eat your brussels sprouts. Try pan-searing them or shaving raw sprouts into your salad.
• Add goat cheese. It’s creamy and salty and will balance out the other flavors and textures in your salad.
• Go light on the dressing. Try a basic dressing of white wine vinegar and olive oil mixed with minced shallots, salt and pepper. It’ll enhance the other flavors.

The beauty of any winter salad is how much you can customize it. This salad can also shine with mandarin orange slices diced apples or dried cranberries. We also love it with shaved/thinly sliced fennel, carrots, or cabbage. And you can’t go wrong with any other nuts you find.

Also, if your pomegranate yielded tons of seeds or there was a sale on walnuts, just toss in more!

Pro Tip: Everyone has their own way of opening a pomegranate to get out those sweet, tart seeds. One way to do it is to cut off the top and bottom, segment them, and carefully guide the seeds out. If you need help, try YouTube for videos that will show you how.