Autumn Salad with Dried Blueberries, Pears, and Pecans

Dazzle your guests with this luscious, simple-to-make, first-course salad.  It’s served with a homemade blush-colored Blueberry-Pomegranate vinaigrette. Pears, pecans and dried blueberries add lots of texture and great flavor.  The skinny for 1 salad including dressing, 126 calories, 7 grams of fat, and 4 Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS.

Prep Time: 15 minutes (including the dressing)

Ingredients

¼ cup Blueberry-Pomegranate vinaigrette (recipe follows) or use a store-bought dressing such as Girard’s Light Champagne

5 cups spring mix

1 cup pears, chopped

¼ cup dried blueberries

¼  cup pecans, chopped & toasted

Instructions

1. Prepare the Blueberry-Pomegranate vinaigrette and store in the refrigerator until ready to use. You’ll only use ¼ cup for this salad but this dressing will taste great with a variety of salads.

2. Place 1¼ cups spring mix on each salad plate. Top each with ¼ cup pears.

3. Sprinkle each plate with 1 tablespoon dried blueberries and 1 tablespoon pecans.

4. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of dressing over each salad.

Makes 4 first-course salads

Food Facts
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 a 100 years or so.

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

Healthy Benefits
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.

WW POINTS PLUS 4

SKINNY FACTS: for 1 salad with 1 tablespoon Blueberry- Pomegranate Vinaigrette 126 cal, 7g fat, 1g sat. fat, 16g carbs, 3g protein, 3g fiber, 47mg sodium, 6g sugar

FACTS:

Skinny Blueberry-Pomegranate Vinaigrette

This delectable dressing is both sweet and tart.  The indigo hued blueberries are antioxidant jewels.  You’ll really enjoy this refreshing dressing on my Autumn Salad. The skinny for 1 tablespoon dressing, 21 calories, 1 gram of fat and 1 Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS.

Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

½ cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

⅓ cup pomegranate vinegar

½ cup + 2 tablespoons Nancy’s Skinny Ranch Dressing

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons canola oil

⅛ 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 1⅓ cups (21 tablespoons)

 

Food Fact
Blueberries 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 Tips
Pomegranate vinegar is somewhat new in the supermarket.  I 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.

Weight Watchers (old points) 1
Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS 1

SKINNY FACTS: for 1 tablespoon 21 calories, 1g fat, 2g carbs, 2g protein, 0g fiber, 38mg sodium, 1g sugar

FAT FACTS: for 1 tablespoon 82 calories, 8g fat, 3g carbs, 0g protein, 1g fiber, 525mg sodium, 14g sugar