Since the last, oh, thirty days have been about sugar, carbs and more carbs – oh, and cheese! We can’t forget cheese! – I think it’s high time we talk about salad.
This salad isn’t chock-full of vegetables, it isn’t one of those salads with celery, cucumber and every water-packed vegetable under the sun that you think you’ll actually burn more calories chewing than you’ll ingest.
I realize those are the types of salads most people want to eat to maintain their weight after holiday indulgences, but if you’re young and on a budget – or not young and on a budget – there’s no sense in racing to the store when you have the fixings for a perfectly good salad in your fridge and pantry.
All you need to have on hand is some fresh mixed baby greens, fresh baby spinach and some high-quality balsamic vinegar.
Chances are you already have blue cheese because you made pears with brie cheese and prosciutto as a pre-Christmas dinner appetizer.
Your pantry is stocked with cranberries from the cranberry sconesย that you gave to your coworkers.
You have pecans from the addictive cinnamon spiced pecans that you haven’t stopped snacking on since December 1.
It’s quite simple, really.
Take the least of the evils from your holiday cooking and baking extravaganzas, toss them with greens, and you’ll be back on track – so you won’t even have to swear off everything delicious come January 1.
- 4 cups mixed greens
- 2 cups baby spinach
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup blue cheese
- ¼ cup pecans
- Balsamic vinegar, optional
- Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl. If desired, drizzle with your favorite high-quality balsamic vinegar in lieu of dressing.
30 Comments
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Susan
January 5, 2011 at 4:41 pmThis sounds delicious and just what I need right now! I’ve never tried using just balsamic on a salad but I’m going to try it.
Island Vittles
December 30, 2010 at 2:31 pmSuch a pretty salad! And I love that you included blue cheese in a detox salad! I guess we should wean ourselves off slowly…Theresa ๐
fooddreamer
December 29, 2010 at 9:08 pmMmm, I love this sort of salad. I love dried fruit and nuts, they really add a great deal more texture and complexity. Great recipe!
Lentil Breakdown
December 29, 2010 at 1:52 pmThanks for stopping by my blog. I’ve been making a salad like this for a few weeks with cranberries, apples, walnuts and feta on arugula or water cress. Not exactly low-cal, but so good!
Tracy
December 29, 2010 at 11:34 amLove this “detox salad!” I’d enjoy this even if I didn’t eat way too many sweets. ๐
Dawn Hutchins
December 29, 2010 at 9:55 amThis looks really delicious. This is more my kind of salad than a celery and cucumber one!
Roz
December 28, 2010 at 6:13 pmYour photo and recipe make me want a salad…NOW!!! ๐ Hope your day is a good one.
Tasha
December 28, 2010 at 8:36 amI always adore a salad like this- but then, I suppose you could put blue cheese on just about anything, and I’d probably think it was wonderful. In any case, the salad is lovely and so is your blog. Thanks for the visit to mine.
Reeni
December 27, 2010 at 9:52 pmMy body is craving a salad so bad right now! This is exactly what I need – such a delicious combo of flavors!
Cookin' Canuck
December 27, 2010 at 9:32 pmDetox is definitely needed here! This salad, with the much of sweet, salty, and crunchy, is right up my alley. I hope you had a great holiday, Maris!
Sues
December 27, 2010 at 5:48 pmThis looks perfect!! And I love blue cheese in salads because just a little adds a ton of flavor!
polwig
December 27, 2010 at 10:52 amI love spicy/sweet nuts in the salads, so yummy plus the addition of blue cheese and sweet cranberries, yummy… Merry Christmas
Kylie @ A Hungry Spoon
December 27, 2010 at 4:37 pmI love this salad! I take a giant variation of it for my lunch every day to work: spinach, chopped apple, halved grapes, feta cheese, toasted pecans, and dried cranberries.
And I couldn’t agree more–I’m definitely feeling the need for a little post-holiday salad detox time ๐
Kylie @ A Hungry Spoon
December 27, 2010 at 4:37 pmI love this salad! I take a giant variation of it for my lunch every day to work: spinach, chopped apple, halved grapes, feta cheese, toasted pecans, and dried cranberries.
And I couldn’t agree more–I’m definitely feeling the need for a little post-holiday salad detox time ๐
Ben
December 27, 2010 at 3:15 pmI need to start eating more salads like this. I love the ingredients, simple and delicious.
Shannon
December 27, 2010 at 3:13 pmdetox or not, this is one delicious salad ๐ and if you haven’t eaten all of those candied nuts, might as well throw those on!
and flowers pick themselves
December 27, 2010 at 12:02 pmlooks delicious! hope you had a fab holiday!
xo Alison
Julie
December 27, 2010 at 10:15 amLooks like a beautiful and delicious idea!
Sommer@ASpicyPerspective
December 27, 2010 at 9:43 amYUM! I could eat that for breakfast right now!
Johanna GGG
December 27, 2010 at 6:58 amThanks for visiting my blog – I love your detox salad – feel like I need to eat a big bowl of it
Sharlene
December 26, 2010 at 1:34 pmSimple and delicious. My kind of meal!
Joanne
December 26, 2010 at 1:34 pmMy resolution for this year is to lose all of the weight I gained last year (going from marathon running to not running at all really takes its toll on your waistline!) and why not start with this salad! Looks delicious.
Andrea@High/Low
December 26, 2010 at 8:57 amI’m craving a salad right now and yours looks so good! Happy holidays Maris!!
Ellisha Caplan
December 26, 2010 at 8:44 amThis is perfect! Thanks for the great idea!
daryl
December 26, 2010 at 8:25 amI have been on a salad kick lately and am going to make this one
LimeCake
December 26, 2010 at 8:05 amI could do with that salad right about now! It looks delicious! Happy holidays!
Kulsum at JourneyKitchen
December 26, 2010 at 7:31 amHey there! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog ๐ and glad I found u !
Love salads with nuts! To be precise I love everything going on in this salad.
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen
December 26, 2010 at 5:32 amI just made a version of this type of fruit, nut and cheese salad to take to Christmas dinner! I used a mix of salad greens, some dried cherries and golden raisins, feta cheese and topped it with pine nuts and dressed it with a balsamic vinaigrette. I love mixed salads like this.