Pomegranate Pear Salad with Maple Nut Dressing

Pomegranate Pear Salad Recipe with Maple Nut Dressing

Serves 4. Approx 140 calories.

Ingredients

• 1/3 - 1/2 cup almond butter
• juice from 1 lemon
• 6 Tbsp water
• 4 Tbsp 100% pure maple syrup (if you’re using Grade B, just use 3 Tbsp)
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 6 cups mixed greens (I used a mix of 1/2 dark winter greens and 1/2 spinach)
• 3 pears
• 3/4 cup pomegranate arils (or use blueberries and/or strawberries instead)

Directions

Prepare dressing in a small bowl by whisking together almond butter, lemon juice, water, maple syrup and cinnamon. Let sit for about 5 minutes while you slice pears thinly and extract the pomegranate arils (or make your kids do it, or buy the arils already extracted). Toss greens in dressing, just a couple tablespoons at a time, until leaves are just coated. Top with sliced pears and pomegranate and serve immediately.

Note: You’ll have leftover dressing for tomorrow. If your fam isn’t going to eat the entire salad in one sitting, don’t toss greens in the dressing. It’s nice to toss, because the greens are evenly coated and you don’t have huge blotches of dressing running throughout your pear salad recipe. But it’s not worth it if your greens are going to be wilted the next day. Know what I mean?

green bean and chickpea salad with cherry tomatoes and red onion

ingredients
700g green beans
175g chickpeas, drained and rinsed
225g cherry tomatoes, halved

dressing ingredients
3T white wine vinegar
4T olive oil
salt and pepper
3T finely chopped fresh basil
1 red onion, diced

method
Wash, trim and halve the green beans and cook in boiling, salted water until tender, about 4-6 minutes. Drain, refresh in cold water and drain well. Put the beans, chickpeas and tomatoes in a serving bowl.

Mix the vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir in the basil and onion and check the seasoning. Mix with the salad and leave to stand before serving.

variations
add 1t finely grated lemon rind to the dressing
replace the basil with thyme
use borlotti beans instead of chickpeas

aubergine salad with pomegranate seeds, herbs and feta

ingredients
3 small-medium aubergines
5 T olive oil, plus more for brushing
salt and pepper
1 pomegranate
juice of 2 lemons
1 clove garlic
fresh parsley
fresh mint
175g crumbled feta

method
Wash the aubergines and cut into 1cm thick slices. Sprinkle with slat and leave to stand for about 15 minutes. Rinse with cold water and pat dry with kitchen towels. Brush the slices on both sides with some of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill on both sides under a hot grill until golden brown.

Meanwhile, slice the pomegranate and carefully remove the seeds. Mix 5 T olive oil with the lemon juice. Press the garlic into the oil and lemon juice dressing and stir to combine. Sprinkle the warm aubergine slices with the dressing, toss and leave to stand for 2-3 minutes. Pick the leaves from the parsley and mint sprigs and mix with the aubergine slices. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Put the aubergine salad on a platter and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds, scatter with crumbled feta and serve.

variations
use courgettes instead of aubergines
use courgettes and aubergines (I used one green and one yellow and it was delicious!)
use fresh basil instead of pomegranate seeds
use sun-dried tomatoes instead of pomegranate seeds
use coriander

warm lentil salad

ingredients
275g brown or Puy lentils
1/4 English cucumber or 1 Perisan cucumber, diced
1 C cherry tomatoes, quartered
5 radishes, cut into small sticks
2 carrots, finely diced or shredded
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 red onion, finely diced
1 T finely chopped fresh parsley

dressing ingredients
2 T safflower oil (I used olive and it was good)
4 T apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

purslane or other greens to serve

method
Place the lentils in a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Turn heat to medium-low, cover and simmer about 30-40 minutes or until tender. Drain well.

In a bowl, mix the lentils with the prepared vegetables. Add the chopped parsely.

Make a dressing from the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the lentil salad and mix well. Serve on a bed of purslane or other greens.

variations
add new potatoes
add chopped coriander
add fresh spinach

black beans and rice

This recipe is so good and super-easy to make. We eat this all the time, and we never get tired of it.

ingredients
1 can black beans, not drained
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 t ground cumin
1 t dried oregano
pinch salt
1/2 t black pepper
1 T red-wine vinegar

rice - I always use brown rice

tomatoes
cucumbers (preferably Persian)
fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
fresh coriander
fresh lemons (and limes if you like)
olive oil
ground cumin
ground coriander
ground pepper
sumac

plain yogurt

directions
Put the rice on to cook.

Heat the beans, spices, and vinegar in a saucepan, including the bean juice, over medium heat until the liquid reduces a little, about 7-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop the tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley and coriander in a bowl. Add the lemon (and lime) juice, olive oil, and spices to taste. It can be as juicy as you like.

When the rice and beans are done, serve the rice, beans, salad and yogurt as you like. I usually spoon them into a flat soup bowl separately but touching, and then mix each bite as I go along. I also like to drizzel olive oil and grind some pepper onto the top of the whole thing.

Mandarin Chicken & Rice

This is a really good recipe when you don't have a lick of groceries in the house, and you need dinner on the table in 25 minutes. Every single ingredient here can come from your food storage (if you choose) and it is really easy to make.

The ingredients are completely approximated, so you can dump in whatever you like or have on hand. I've made it dozens of times, and it's evolved over the years. I use it as a rough guideline, as opposed to an actual recipe.

Mandarin Chicken & Rice

Chicken - I throw some boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the oven until cooked and then chop / tear them into bite sized pieces and set aside.  Alternately, you can use canned chicken (I've only tried the Costco brand) if you don't have fresh or frozen chicken.  Drain and set aside.

1-3 cans of mandarin oranges.  Drain and set aside but make sure to reserve all of the liquid to use in the sauce.

Mushrooms - I like to use smaller sized fresh mushrooms and there's no need to slice them.  If yours are a little larger then cut them in half.

Rice - Go ahead and get it cooking because dinner will be ready soon.  We've also tried this over egg noodles and that tastes good too.  I prefer  rice, but either will work.

To make the sauce, first you saute the mushrooms for a few minutes in your pan.

Next add 2-3 cans of cream of mushroom soup (depends how many people you are feeding).

Whisk in the mandarin juice and a good splash of soy sauce (about 1/3 cup).

Add some garlic & ginger.  I use the freshly chopped refrigerated kind.  I use about a tsp each or so. 

Add a good dash of pepper and a bit of salt to taste (the soy sauce is salty already).

Next you need to decide how thick you like your sauce.  I usually add a little more liquid in the form of milk or water.

When you're just about ready to eat, add in your chicken and stir while it gets nice and hot in the sauce.  You want to heat it through without cooking it any more. 

Last thing you do is gently stir in the mandarins, as they tend to break up if you add them earlier.

Serve over hot rice (or noodles).

Enjoy!