Crunchy Winter Salad
I’m sharing an easy recipe for Crunchy Winter Salad today in a vain attempt to counter all the cookies, cocktails, and bacon I consumed over the weekend. A few days of healthy eating cancels out a weekend of eating ALL the things, right?
riiiiiggggghhhhht.
EATING SALAD IN THE WINTER MONTHS
I have a much harder time eating salad during the winter months. My body craves more warming foods so I tend to get my veggie quota in by the way of soups and roasted veggies.
Except for when I don’t.
The past few weeks I’ve been eating way less vegetables then I’m used to. WHY? I don’t know why. Because brownies taste better than broccoli? Because cheese is more satisfying than kale? It’s just a thing right now and I’m working through it.
How do you increase your veggie intake when all you want to eat is cookies and burritos?
Seriously.
CRUNCHY WINTER SALAD
The produce isn’t exactly abundant at the grocery store right now. (Totally an excuse, yes?)
I live in what feels like the tundra this time of year and our “growing season” feels so far out it hurts. I’m trying so hard to create veggie centric dishes right now to get myself back on tracked. This salad relies on year round ingredients and lots of crunch for texture. It also has little chunks of Havarti cheese and toasted pecans which I’m pretty sure is what makes the salad. Baby steps back into the world of veggies, ok?
Cheese = life
INGREDIENTS FOR WINTER SALAD
Hardly a recipe and more of a guideline, here are the ingredients for this salad:
–baby romaine mix is my fave though arugula or mixed greens work too
–quartered radishes for a crunchy, spicy bite
–sliced celery is so underutilized in my mind
–fuji or other sweet apple is the way to go here
–toasted pecans for some added protein and, well, nuttiness
–havarti cheese is creamy, decadent and so freaking good
–my go to & favorite vinaigrette
TIPS FOR EATING MORE VEGETABLES
When I’m in a salad drought like I have been, I find that it takes some creativity to get more veggies into my diet. I’ll roast a big batch of mixed vegetables at the beginning of the week and incorporate them into the rest of my meals. My favorite way to get more veggies in is to try new-to-me recipes. I get bored of making the same dishes over and over so if I make a new salad or side dish, I’m way more likely to eat it.
Also, cheese. Cheese in anything makes me more likely to eat it! 🙂
OTHER SALADS YOU MIGHT ENJOY
Greek Pasta Salad
Butternut Squash and Wild Rice Salad
Mason Jar Turkey Taco Salad
Kale Caesar Pasta Salad
Have a fantastic week and thanks for reading! xo, Kelley
photos by Deborah DeKoff/recipe by Mountain Mama Cooks
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Crunchy Winter Salad
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Pin RecipeDescription
A crunchy inspired salad perfect for the winter season!
Ingredients
- 3 packed cups of mixed greens or baby romaine
- 3 celery stalks (about 1 cup), thinly sliced on the diagonal
- ½ cup thinly sliced radishes
- 1 apple, cored and thinly sliced
- 3 oz Havarti cheese, cubed
- ½ cup toasted pecan halves
- 1/4 cup of My Favorite Vinaigrette
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the greens, radishes, celery, apple, and cheddar. Drizzle with the desired amount of dressing on top. Toss to combine. Top with pecan halves and serve immediately.
Notes
You could use any vinaigrette here. I use the recipe for My Favorite Vinaigrette and subbed out the dijon for a whole grain mustard and the balsamic for an apple cider vinaigrette.
3 Comments
The salad may be good, but the advertisements are making it impossible to copy and paste. Your recipes are good, but this advertising and breaking up your recipes makes it not worth the time to try and copy them.
Hi Maria. At the top of each post there is a ‘jump to recipe’ button. If you click that it will take you straight to the recipe where you can print it very easily. It costs me money to run and maintain the site and in order to offer my readers FREE recipes, the ads are necessary. While I understand that it might be annoying to take the extra few seconds to scroll through to get to the recipe, please understand that I’m running a business and it’s part of the deal. And, yes, the salad is good. 🙂
Great side salad. Pretty to look at, easy to make, and not overpowering so it can go with most anything. I used gouda cheese instead of havarti because that’s what I had. Thanks for a great recipe!