Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Lettuce Eat Salad



I made this pretty salad for Thanksgiving this year, where it got it's name "Bailey's Lettuce Eat Salad". I threw it together in under 30 minutes, dressing and all, and was super pleased/surprised at how much everyone loved it! It's a great winter salad; full of beautiful, nutritious ingredients. The dark greens and endive offer a slight earthy bitterness, while the pomegranate seeds are sweet, tart, crunchy and full of antioxidants. The fennel offers crunch, help with digestion and a unique licorice flavor. Add some pumpkin seeds and a killer garlic balsamic dressing and you've got yourself a fancy grown-up salad.



This recipe is very loose, with no measurements or hard quantities because that is how I made it. This was my first time using a pomegranate in it's whole form, and I loved getting those little gems out, it wasn't as intimidating as I thought. I just scored it from top to bottom 4 times, cracked it open and pulled out the seeds.


Salads can get dull, but they're important for our health. I hope that if anything, this post inspires you to brighten up your salad life and try some new flavor combinations.


Lettuce Eat Salad
By Bailey West, B.S. Nutrition/Dietetics

Salad:
Dark leafy greens
1 bulb fennel, thinly sliced
1 pomegranate, seeds only
2 bulbs endive lettuce
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds

Dressing:
1/2 cup tahini
Juice of 1 lemon
3 medjool dates
3 cloves garlic
Balsamic vinegar, to taste
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

1. Layer the greens, sliced fennel and endive in your favorite salad dish. Sprinkle on top the pomegranate and pumpkin seeds.

2. Combine ingredients for the dressing in a food processor and process until smooth.



1 comment:

  1. Bailey, thank you for sharing this beautiful winter salad! I am planning to make this for Thanksgiving tomorrow and am really excited to see what the fennel adds...I have juiced it several times but this will be my first time using it in a salad. Hooray for new, healthy recipes!
    -Alex

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