It could be that it’s spring. It could be that I’m turning the big 3-5 this weekend. Either way, I’ve decided I need to eat more vegetables in an effort to stave off mortality, because I can think of absolutely no theoretical downside to eating more vegetables.
I may or may not have invested in a juicer, but that’s a whole post on its own. Other fun things that I’ve done these last few days: cleaned out my fridge, stocked it full of greens I don’t usually use (not salad mix, I’m talking crazy things like Kale, huge bunches of Parsley and Red Swiss Chard), and got myself a small winter share from a local CSA to see how I like it.
But I have to fix my relationship with salad. Salad and I don’t have a good history. You see, ten years ago when I was in the best shape of my life, I was at the gym 3-5x a week and on a diet they call The Zone. If you’re unfamiliar with The Zone, let me just put it this way: It’s like clean eating with a dose of Weight Watcher points. You have to eat food in a very particular ratio. You are not supposed to eat “bad” carbs like bread and rice. And you have to eat all of it.
While that doesn’t sound bad, just picture this: you need three blocks of carbs (carbs are the PITA), and an ENTIRE HEAD OF LETTUCE only counts as one.
I don’t know why they bother to differentiate “meals.” You will spend virtually the entire time you are awake grazing and hating the very idea of having to eat, because it doesn’t matter to a diet that you are only a 5’4″ female. I actually got griped at for eating too much fruit in order to reduce sheer volume. Needless to say, I think I ate through four lifetimes worth of salad in 18 months, because every salad could fit in a bucket.
Moo.
Anyway, happy thoughts, I am no longer committed to eating lettuce by the head. And my CSA sent me my first weekly newsletter with a Betty Crocker recipe that had a pear salad with no goat cheese in it.
I am pretty sure it’s a law somewhere that you can’t put pears in a salad without some form of goat cheese.
I haven’t picked up my share yet, but this salad ironically was made with all things I had on hand: I had some Bosc pears left over from my last grocery shopping trip and a stick of herbed unripened goat cheese that had been intended for a dinner party that had been cancelled. I had a tub of mescaline mix and a handful of pecans.
Behold, a delicious and fancy four-ingredient salad that I probably could have eaten safely on the zone. And never did, because trying to tailor recipes to a point system is also a PITA. It’s too bad, I might have hated eating less if their recipes looked more like this.
The sweetness of the pears and maple syrup in the dressing and the mellow smoothness of the goat cheese pairs excellently with slightly bitter greens like Arugula.Pear Salad with Dijon-Maple Viniagrette
Serves
4
Prep time
10 minutes
Allergy
Milk, Tree Nuts
Dietary
Diabetic, Gluten Free, Vegetarian
Meal type
Salad, Side Dish
Misc
Gourmet
Ingredients
Dressing
Salad
Note
Directions
Salad
Step 1.
Wash all greens and plate by the handful. Decorate with pears, nuts, and cheese.
Dressing
Step 2.
Whisk all ingredients except for the oil together until smooth. Then whisk oil until incorporated. Drizzle by the spoonful over the top of the salad.
Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker / Plan B Organics Newsletter.
FYI – I didn’t hate The Zone–I actually lost 12% of my body fat and gained much lean muscle mass doing the diet/exercise thing–I just hated eating 5 huge meals a day. It also made me feel physically ill when I cheated and ate pizza, for whatever this may be worth.
Olga @The EuropeanMama says
Oh this salad looks amazing! But you don’t have to use goat’s cheese. You can use blue cheese! I have a wonderful recipe for a chikory salad with pears, nuts, and blue cheese, it’s delicious but who says you can’t skip the blue cheese if you want to go vegan?
Food Retro says
Blue cheese would be an acceptable substitute 😉 And yes, you can always skip if you’re vegan
Courtney says
Pears and goat cheese = best combo ever.