Before I give you this pear salad recipe, let me just say one little bit about salads in general. They’ve become much more popular the last several years because of the trend in sweetening things up with fruit, candied nuts, and super sugary dressing. But this makes salads so misleading! You think you’re being good by ordering a salad (and sure, you’re getting some great nutrients in those greens) but all that sugar and other super freaky ingredients in common salad dressings do a whole lot of counteracting! Calorie-wise, you’re no worse off ordering the cheeseburger or the pasta dish. I’M NOT EXAGGERATING. And nutrient wise, let’s just say you’re not absorbing near the amount of nutrients as you think you are, when you drench your greens in junk.

But DANG, those sweet salads are soooo delicious, aren’t they? So, I found a solution. Let’s just say that

you’re going to want to marry me

after you try this salad.

There’s a popular restaurant chain where I live that has risen in utter fame and glory due to a salad they make that features crushed-to-fine-powder almonds mixed with sugar and cinnamon, sprinkled over a fruit-topped green salad and heavily drizzled in a maple dressing a la high fructose corn syrup. Sound amazing? Well here’s the healthy version I invented. Some guests I had over the other night gobbled it all up so I couldn’t even pack some for lunch the next day.

Serves 4
313 Calories
15g Fat
47g Carbs
5g Protein
5g Fiber

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?