Winter Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette
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By now you all know that I’m part of the Sunday Supper Movement. I can hardly believe that the Sunday Supper Movement turns 4 this year! While I haven’t been a member since the very beginning, I joined about 6 months into it and have been going strong for 3 1/2 years now. I’ve met some wonderful people (both online and in real life), enjoyed a conference with many of these people, and have sharing amazing recipes every Sunday. 
Today there is no real theme except kicking off the new year with Sunday Supper. Since I like to make healthier dishes in the new year today I’m sharing a delicious salad. I like making salads with dinner. It’s something easy that I can make and it adds a vegetable to our plate. My normal combination of salad is iceberg lettuce, carrots, peppers, onions, cheese, bacon bits, and croutons. Occasionally I’ll add in some other vegetables that we have in the refrigerator but that’s about it.
While I love our salads, sometimes I get bored. It’s the same thing with a different dressing. I don’t really know why I don’t make my own dressing more because it’s so easy to make. I have a great balsamic vinaigrette I make and a pretty tasty Asian vinaigrette. They each take just minutes to make but I never take the time to do it.
This past weekend I decided I was tired of my plain old salad. Since it’s getting colder out I thought a winter salad topped with a citrus vinaigrette might be fun. I combined mixed greens with candied pecans, dried cherries, red onions, fresh pears, and pepper jack cheese for an awesome winter salad.
When it came time to make a dressing I made a homemade citrus vinaigrette using fresh squeezed orange juice. It’s the perfect combination of fresh produce with sweet, tart, and spicy all in one bowl. It’s delicious on this winter salad.
- For the salad:
- 6 c. mixed greens
- 1/2 c. dried cherries
- 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 pear, thinly sliced
- 1/2 c. candied pecans
- 3/4 c. Pepper Jack cheese, shredded
- For the dressing:
- 3 T. fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1/4 c. red wine vinegar
- 1/4 c. olive oil
- 1 t. black pepper
- 1 t. salt
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 t. Dijon mustard
- To make the salad put the mixed greens in a large bowl.
- Top the salad with the dried cherries, red onions, pear, candied pecans, and Pepper Jack Cheese. Set aside.
- To make the dressing combine all of the ingredients in a bowl with a tight lid. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds.
- Serve the salad with the dressing on the side.
I often lose interest in lettuce when the weather turns cold but added fruit and a tangy citrus vinaigrette will catch my eye.
This is the perfect winter salad. The citrus vinaigrette is the perfect thing to beat the winter chill.
I love adding fruit and nuts to my salads. It adds texture and makes them so much more interesting. This salad sounds perfect to me.
I love everything you’ve put in this salad!
Love this salad! So many great flavors!
This IS an awesome salad—love all the yummy ingredients and the citrus dressing sounds fabulous, too!
Didn’t really that you were actually part of SSFamily since its early year. How cool! And this salad looks like perfection to me. I love all the ingredients you add on the plate and perfect for a healthy start in 2016!
Fruit and nuts always add such a great pop to salads. This looks wonderful!
Who doesn’t love a good winter salad! I love making my own dressings, I’ll never buy store bought again, thanks for a new one to try. We must have started Sunday Supper around the same time because I came in around 6 months after it was born too! So happy I got to meet you last year and hope to see you again this year! Happy Sunday friend!
So glad I got to meet you too! That’s funny that we started around the same time. Here’s to another wonderful year of Sunday Suppers