The idea for this salad started with an orange my husband picked from a tree in my cousin’s back yard over Christmas. Their neighborhood used to be part of a large orange grove north of Los Angeles. Many of the trees still remain and theirs bears incredibly sweet, seed-free fruits.
My husband picked quite a few oranges, more than we wanted to carry back with us, so after giving one to a guy in the hotel elevator and eating a few ourselves, we arrived back in frigid, wintery Chicago with a ray of California sunshine peeking out of my carry-on bag.
As I was starting my New Year’s resolution (see this post), I wanted to make a delicious, “clean” (that’s my term for food that is high in nutrients and low in calories) salad with this beautiful fruit. I like to add sliced almonds and pomegranate seeds to the salad. Vegetarians can add goat cheese. There’s something good for everyone!
Ingredients
½ bag baby spinach leaves
1 orange – peeled and diced
1 blood orange – peeled and diced
1 pink grapefruit – peeled and diced
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
optional toppings – sliced almonds, goat cheese
Salad Dressing
Juice from one lemon
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp. agave nectar (optional – this salad is sweet enough on it’s own)
Directions
- Place salad dressing ingredients in a small jar and shake to mix.
- There are two ways to make the salad: (a) place a layer of spinach leaves on serving dish, pile diced fruit on top of spinach, sprinkle pomegranate seeds over dish, if desired add almonds and/or goat cheese on the salad, then drizzle salad dressing over everything; or (b) place all ingredients, including salad dressing, in a large bowl and toss until dressing lightly coats everything, then arrange on serving dish.
- If there will be left overs, store in fridge, keeping salad dressing in separate container so it doesn’t wilt the spinach.
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