Spinach Pear Salad
Spinach salad with fresh pears, white cheese, pecans, dried cranberries, and a pear vinaigrette dressing.
Equipment
- 2 drinking straws (use straws with different-sized holes)
Ingredients
Salad
- ¼ cup pecans, chopped and toasted
- 2 slices white cheese, cut into shapes
- 1 Bartlett or Anjou pear, thinly sliced and unpeeled
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 cups baby spinach
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ⅛ cup red onion, very thinly sliced
Salad Dressing
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons pear preserves or pear jam
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
Instructions
Salad
- Toast the pecans in a large skillet on low to medium heat, stirring frequently. Remove the pan from the heat when they are starting to brown. Cool.
- Use a mini ghost cookie cutter to cut out ghost shapes in the cheese, or hand-cut the ghosts. Use the end of a small straw to cut out the eyes. Then use a larger straw to cut out a mouth. Squeeze together the end of the straw to make the mouth an oval shape. Set aside.
- Toss the cut-up pears with lemon juice.
- Place washed spinach into a large salad bowl. Add the cranberries, cooled pecans, onions, and pear slices.
- Toss with the salad dressing.
- Insert the ghost-shaped cheese pieces into the salad so that you can see the eyes and mouth.
Salad Dressing
- Place the olive oil, rice vinegar, pear preserves, salt, and pepper into an electric blender (or use an immersion blender).
- Blend for several seconds until well mixed.
Notes
Pears
Anjou pears are also known as d'Anjou.Ghosts
Hand-cut 2-inch ghosts or use a mini cookie cutter about the same size.Nutrition
Calories: 306kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 4gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 8mgSodium: 119mgPotassium: 277mgFiber: 3gSugar: 18gVitamin A: 2901IUVitamin C: 15mgCalcium: 120mgIron: 1mg
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