Pomegranate Apple Salad with Maple Vinaigrette

During the milliseconds of free time I had in my 9 hour day at school today, I was daydreaming about baking things. Fall is my favorite season, and I love to bake pumpkin bread and bars, squash cakes, apple crisps, crumbles and tarts of all shapes and sizes, and many other sorts of seasonal deliciousness that I simply hadn't had time for in the last few months because of finishing school.

I'm sure that fantasy will get fulfilled tomorrow when I start my work week as a baker, then I'll probably be day dreaming about doing Range of Motion exercises with someone, but the grass is always greener as the old saying goes.

 However, my running schedule is way off these days, and my sitting for copious hours at a time schedule is WAY up, so I decided to make something healthy for tonight's dinner instead. So I daydreamed up a number of different salad concoctions, making a  mental list  of ingredients, and came up with a Pomegranate Apple Salad with a Maple Vinaigrette, and it turned out pretty darned fabulous if I do say myself.

Pomegranate Apple Salad with Maple Vinaigrette(four servings)

- I package of Mixed greens

-1 pomegranate, seeds only

-1 medium apple ( I used honey crisp)

-1/4 red onion

-1/4 cup craisins (or raisins)

-1/4 cup sliced almonds

-1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese

-1/4 cup blue cheese

Dressing:

-2/3 cup olive oil

-1/3 cup apple cider vinager

-1/2 cup maple syrup

-1 T. orange zest

-1/2 T. Dijon mustard

-1 clove of garlic

-1 t. each salt and pepper

Directions for assembly:  Distribute  greens, sliced apples, crasins, pomegranate seeds, almonds and cheeses  in salad bowls. Combine ingredients for salad dressing in a bowl and whisk to combine. Drizzle dressing over salads and serve. Vinaigrette lasts about a week in fridge.

Need I say more?

 The honey crisp were amazingly sweet, the blue cheese and cheddar gave it an awesome salty contrast, and the almonds and  pomegranate seeds gave it a nice complex crunchiness. 

And Maple vinaigrette = Awesome.

This is a new fall favorite, a healthy and tasty salad that could be easily made a meal with the addition of protein, some ideas on my mental list were roasted chickpeas with cumin and cinnamon, Tofu baked in apple cinnamon liquid smoke ( Freaking yum!!!), bacon or chicken.

I think you should try making it with all those additions.

See, for all the years of getting barked at and reprimanded for daydreaming in school finally has proof of really being productive after all!