Healthy Recipe Ideas #6: Roasted Pecans and Fresh Pears with Mixed Greens (For Lunch!)
Today’s lunch idea: Roasted Pecans + Fresh Pears with Mixed Greens. Sweet + savory + crunchy, with a bright lemony vinaigrette. Roasted Pecans and Fresh Pears with Mixed Greens Makes 4 servings. Adjust ingredients as needed. Ingredients: ½ cup of raw pecans 4 cups of mixed greens of choice (spring mix, baby spinach, or arugula) ¼ red onion, thinly sliced in rounds, cut in half 1 ripe pear Vinaigrette: 2 tablespoons of vinegar of choice Juice of ½ lemon (≈1.5 tablespoons) ½ clove of garlic (or ½ teaspoon minced garlic) ¼ teaspoon of ground cumin ½ tablespoon of raw honey ½ teaspoon of Dijon mustard ¼ teaspoon of sea salt ⅛ teaspoon of pepper 1 tablespoon of fresh minced parsley 2 chopped green onions 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil Directions: - Roast raw pecans in a 350° F oven for 5–8 minutes or until browned. Be careful not to burn nuts. - In a large salad bowl, toss together greens and onions. - Top with cooled roasted pecans. - Just before serving, peel pears, cut in chunks, and place on top of salad. - Top with either variation of the Everyday Basic Vinaigrette below, and toss all of the other ingredients right before serving. Vinaigrette: - Add to a blender the vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, honey, mustard, sea salt and pepper, and blend. - Add the fresh chopped parsley and onion, and blend. - Add oil and blend (if possible, slowly stream in oil through an opening in the top of the blender). Serve at room temperature.