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Cranberry-Pecan Garden Salad

Cranberry Pecan Salad

This colorful, crisp, Cranberry-Pecan Garden Salad will be a great starter to a festive holiday dinner. Vibrant greens, dried cranberries, red onion slices, roasted pecans and blue cheese crumbles. This wonderful salad is tossed with a creamy lemon poppyseed dressing.
4.95 from 20 votes
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Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 165kcal
Author: Pat Nyswonger

Ingredients

For the Salad

  • 1 head frisée about 3 ounces (see notes)
  • 5 ounces arugula
  • 1/2 medium red onion thinly sliced
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup roasted pecan halves
  • 4 ounces blue cheese crumbled (1 cup)

Lemon-Poppy Seed Salad Dressing

  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1 cup avocado oil or olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon black poppy seeds

Instructions

For the Salad:

  • To a large salad bowl, separate and add the frizzy yellow-green leaves starting at the center and work toward the edges, removing the leaves from the base pulling out as much as desired.
  • Add the arugula, sliced onion, dried cranberries, pecans and blue cheese crumbles.
  • Cover the salad bowl with plastic film and refrigerate until serving time.

To Make the Lemon Honey-Mustard with Chia seeds Salad Dressing:

  • In a mini-blender or regular blender add the garlic, mustard, honey salt and lemon juice. Process until well blended. While the blender is running, slowly add the oil and process until thick and creamy.
  • Transfer to a small pitcher or jar and whisk in the poppy seeds. Cover with plastic film or jar lid if using, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve:

  • Transfer both the salad bowl and the dressing from the refrigerator, remove the plastic film and drizzle just enough of the dressing over the salad to lightly coat when tossed. 
  • Refrigerate the remaining dressing.

Notes

Salad greens can be substituted with:

  • spring salad mix
  • fresh spinach
  • watercress
  • mâche
  • romaine
  • butterhead lettuce
  • baby kale
The nutritional value for the salad do not include the values for the creamy lemon poppy seed dressing.  Assuming 1/2 cup of the dressing will be sufficient the values per serving are: Cals., 82, Fat 8.7, Sod. 35mg, Carb. 1.8g, Sugar 1.6 Pro. 0.2

Nutrition

Serving: 1 | Calories: 165kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 11mg | Sodium: 244mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g