Dazzle your guests with this luscious first course salad.  It’s served with a blush colored Blueberry-Pomegranate vinaigrette.  Pears, pecans, and dried blueberries add lots of texture and fiber. What we love about this salad-it’s less than 200 calories per serving including the dressing. What a guilt-free dream!

Prep Time: 15 minutes (including the dressing)

Ingredients

1/4 cup Blueberry-Pomegranate vinaigrette (recipe follows)

4 cups spring mix

1 cup pears, chopped

1/4 cup dried blueberries

1/2 cup pecans, chopped & toasted

Instructions

1. Prepare the Blueberry-Pomegranate vinaigrette and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

2. Divide the spring mix, along with the pears to each of 4 salad plates.

3. Sprinkle each plate with the dried blueberries and pecans.

4. Drizzle the dressing over each salad.

Serves 4

Food Fact

Pears are among the few fruits that are picked while still green.  They ripen well off the tree. Pear trees are so hardy that they can bear fruits for a100 years or so.

Thomas Jefferson had a real fascination with pecans.  He decided to plant hundred of pecan trees and sharing the wonderful nut with friends.

Healthy Benefit

Pears are low in calories, fat, and sodium, and are a very good source of fiber, folate, and vitamin C.

Pecans have a good amount of fiber, are low in sodium, and have no cholesterol.  Their fat is of the good, monounsaturated variety.

Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 5

Blueberry-Pomegranate Vinaigrette

This delectable dressing is both sweet and tart.  The indigo hued blueberries are antioxidant jewels. We’re thrilled that 2 tablespoons has only 38 calories and 2.9 grams of fat.  The full fat dressing contains 164 calories and 16.4 grams of fat.  You’ll really enjoy this refreshing dressing on our Autumn Salad.

Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

1/3 cup pomegranate vinegar

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons Nancy’s Skinny Ranch Dressing

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon canola oil

1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum

Instructions

1. Wash and drain berries if fresh, or thaw if frozen.

2. In a blender, food processor, or mini-chop puree the blueberries with the vinegar.

3. Pour the mixture into a small bowl.

4. Whisk in the Nancy’s Skinny Ranch Dressing, sugar, canola oil, and xanthan gum.  Pour into an airtight container.

5. Store in the refrigerator for several hours to thicken.

6. Blueberry-Pomegranate Vinaigrette will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Makes 1 1/3 cups

Food Fact

These all American berries are related to both heather and the wild huckleberry.  They grow particularly well in the Northeast and are big business in the state of Maine.

Healthy Benefit

Blueberries are low in calories and sodium.  They contain fiber, vitamin C and potassium.

Shopping Tip

Pomegranate vinegar is somewhat new in the supermarket.  We found it at Trader Joe’s.  If you can’t find pomegranate vinegar, you can substitute raspberry.

When buying fresh blueberries, look for firm, plump, indigo-blue berries. Do not wash until ready to use to help prevent mold growth.

This entry was posted Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 1:03 am and is filed under Recent, Recipes. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.