Pear, Goat Cheese, Walnut Winter Salad

This sweet, crisp salad celebrates all that winter has to offer in the Pacific Northwest, from rich goat cheese, to sweet cold-riped pears, and crunchy Oregon walnuts.

Adapted from a recipe at A Pinch of Healthy.com (image source)

Ingredients

• 1 bag Salad Mix (~ 1/2 pound)

• 1 pear, sliced

• 1 ounce goat cheese, crumbled, more if desired

• 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped (toast in dry pan if feelin’ fancy)

• Salad Dressing of choice: I love creamy dressings in the winter especially. They elevate your salad to a super filling meal and are always delicious. When I’m feeling like making my own dressing, lately I’ve been mixing together honey, lemon juice, and salt & black pepper for a sweet tangy dressing that goes great with this salad!

• Other additions: Add in dried fruits, other raw vegetables chopped small and thin, such as carrots and radishes. I also always like to put some raw alliums in my salad to give it a little punch. Raw onion or leek would go great! And as always, toss some croutons in there! Rip up some old bread or that old package of plain stuffing croutons from Thanksgiving in the cupboard and toss them around in the frying pan with a little oil, salt, and pepper. Yum!

directions

Toss your salad greens in a large bowl with your dressing of choice until the leaves are coated evenly. Toss in all your other elements and gently stir around to mix, but they will likely all fall to the bottom no matter what you do. You can always wait to put your other salad additions on until you plate the dressed greens for a more even distribution.