Apple or Pear and Spinach Salad

Some flavors just belong together, and the apple/pear with spinach and bacon is exceptionally tasty. I got the basics for this recipe somewhere long forgotten, but as it stands it exists with my tweeks. While I eat only small amounts of fruit, this salad is one place where I live dangerously.

Apple/Pear Spinach Bacon Salad

(serves 2)

For the Salad:
4 cups organic baby Spinach
1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced
8 oz. Fresh Mozzarella, sliced or diced (feta is good too)
1 apple or pear thinly sliced
1/4-1/2 cup pine nuts, walnuts, or pecans– toasted
4 slices bacon crisp then crumbled

Dressing:
1/4 cup bacon dripping
1/4 cup olive oil (walnut or macadamia nut oils are also good)
4 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tbsp sherry vinegar or any light vinegar                                                                                                                                 5 drops stevia                                                                                                                                                                       1 tsp dijon mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Assemble:
Combine spinach leaves and red onion slices in large bowl.
Blend oil,vinegar,mustard, salt & pepper together–then add bacon drippings and oil and whisk until blended.
Toss the ingredients in the bowl with some dressing to lightly cover. Salt and pepper to taste.
Plate each serving and arrange apple/pear slices on top.
Add mozzarella, bacon and pine nuts to each serving.
Drizzle with additional dressing.

Have You Met the Wedge Salad?

While it seems I have known this incredible salad forever, I only got acquainted about eight years ago. I don’t know how long it has been around but in the form I know it, I think it is not that long. One reason I initially avoided it was the very high fat in my pre-HFLC days. Another was iceberg lettuce. I used to hate iceberg lettuce because it had no real flavor and was bitter.  Organic iceberg is another story. My spouse loved this salad, so I decided to make it better with safer and tastier ingredients. This is now one of my favorite salads, and it easily packs for an away meal.

Bonus: Iceberg has great crunchiness.

The Wedge

one serving

one quarter head of organic iceberg lettuce

2 slices crisp bacon, crumbled

1 tablespoon blue cheese dressing (Marie’s or homemade)

1 ounce blue cheese crumbles

1 Tablespoon scallions or chives

opt: diced tomato

Assemble attractively.

opt: chop lettuce and mix with toppings.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:

Amount per Serving
Calories 311
Calories from Fat 249.1
Total Fat 27.68g
Saturated Fat 10.34g
Cholesterol 33.33mg
Sodium 710.96mg
Total Carbohydrate 6.55g (net 4.3)
Dietary Fiber 2.2g
Sugars 2.18g
Protein 11.13g

Wilted Salad

If you have never had wilted salad you have been missing a treat. My mother used to go to a stream near our house in the country, and come back with a big bunch of watercress (which has a very nice slightly peppery taste);  we knew this meant a bacon laden meal of goodness. You can use the same technique on dandelion greens, baby spinach, spring lettuce, leaf lettuce and the like, with no-fail good taste. These numbers are for about  3-4 people, and an estimate at best–this serves two as a main dish in my house.

6 cups rinsed and dried  watercress

6 strips of fat bacon

salt and pepper to taste

Do this when everyone is seated for the meal. You want the salad made right before you eat it.

Tear or cut the cress into a large bowl. Fry the bacon in a skillet until crispy; remove and break into pieces. Pour the hot bacon dripping over the cress, add sqlt and pepper, and mix well, then dish out the cress to the salad plates (hence the term “wilted”);  top with a generous sprinkle of  the bacon. Enjoy!

Watercress is just the kind of green our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have relished.

Cobb Salad

A simple yet very tasty salad. This recipe is for two servings.

2 hard boiled eggs, sliced

4 Tbs crisp bacon, crumbled

4 cups mixed salad greens

4Tbs gorgonzola or other blue cheese

2 Tbs scallions/green onion

3 Tbs vinegar & oil dressing ( I add 1 Tbs of rasperry mashed if I have on hand)

I mix all the ingredients, but the eggs, in a large bowl so that everything gets well coated with the dressing.  A sprinkle of sliced almonds makes it all pretty.

Easy Chicken Salad

This chicken salad is so easy, and so versatile, I don’t know why I don’t make it more often since my husband and I both love it.

Chicken breast, boneless, 3-4 halves

mayonnaise

salt & pepper to taste

Optons: tarragon/ parsley/diced celery/thinly sliced scallion–I prefer tarragon sprinkled in with the mayo.

Poach the chicken breast in an inch of water until the temperature is 160F or done; add salt and pepper and allow to cool,  then cut into chunks of roughly 1″ to 1 1/2″, then mix with as much mayonnaise as you want, along with tarragon, or other options. Will improve over night.

Looks very pretty on a bed of lettuce with a light sprinkle of herbs, or a few mandarin orange slices.