Pomegranate, Orange, and Avocado Salad

Ted and I were out walking the spaz (aka, Mulder the Puppy Boy) the other day, and we passed a house we often pass, and I happened to notice that an ordinary looking bush that borders the sidewalk is a pomegranate bush. How did I know? Because I happened to spy a beautiful pomegranate buried deep inside from the corner of my eye.

See how lovely it is, hidden in there? Backtracking a bit, Ted’s mom came to visit last weekend, and she brought me a beautiful pomegranate and some avocados. So for Halloween, I was trying to decide what to make, and found a recipe for stuffed peppers where you make the peppers look like Jack-O-Lanterns, and I made it low carb (cauliflower rice) for Ted, and I made a salad on the side with spinach, arugula, pomegranate, avocado, and this amazing goat cheese.

The key to the cute pepper recipe is that you cook the peppers ahead of time, THEN stuff them, so they don’t get so wrinkled and mushy. I don’t remember the recipe where I first saw the jack-o-lantern, but the stuffing is from this recipe.  We had it last night, and I loved the salad so much that I had to make it again tonight.  But pomegranates are $2.50 to $3.00 each here, and they GROW here, I cannot imagine how much they are elsewhere.  So I went back to that bush from our walk, and I stole a pomegranate.  I know, I am a bad, bad person.  I didn’t see many on the bush, so either they have harvested them themselves, neighbors/passers-by have taken them, or the bush just doesn’t produce many.  But wow, they’re so good.  Side note, last year I bought some pomegranate seeds at the grocery store, thinking I would save myself some trouble, and they were slimy.  Don’t do it.  They’re worth a bit of work.

I have an avocado plant, that I grew from a seed, but I don’t know whether it will ever produce fruit. I hope so, but according to this site, it may be awhile.  I think it’s 6 or 7 years old now, but I don’t know if there is another in the neighborhood to mate it with, maybe it has to be grafted, blah blah blah.  Anyway, the salad is SO good. If you have access to greens, oranges, avocados, pomegranates, and goat cheese, make it. (The recipe calls for feta cheese, but I’m not a big fan..too dry, I prefer chabis…)

Pomegranate, Orange, and Avocado Salad

Ingredients:
For the Salad:

• 8 cups mixed salad greens (I used a spinach/arugula combo)
• 1 cup pomegranate seeds (I just used the seeds from one pomegranate)
• 2 small oranges, peeled and sliced (More is better here, if you can find blood oranges to mix the color, that is nice too)
• 1 large avocado or 2 small avocados, pit removed and sliced
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese (feta is blah, go for chevre/chabis)

For the Dressing:

• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup white wine or white balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I skipped this…used the orange juice from the oranges, and I used maybe 6 oranges instead of 2, because YUM)
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon zest (I skipped this, too)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Coarse salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Place the greens in a large bowl. Top with pomegranate seeds, orange slices, avocado slices, and crumbled feta cheese.
2. To make the dressing, combine olive oil, vinegar, orange juice, lemon juice, lemon zest, and honey in a small bowl or jar. Whisk until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Drizzle dressing over the salad and serve.

Note-the dressing recipe makes a lot, which is nice so you can make this salad multiple times. Cover and store the dressing in the refrigerator. I like to keep it in a jar so I can shake before using and add it to my salad. It will keep for up to 2 weeks.

(I just divided the dressing ingredients by 1/3, and still had enough for salad for 2 nights)