Avocado-Orange Salad with Toasted Pecans

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As most of you know, I’m on a diet. I’m trying to lose 20 pounds by March 31, and I’ve been sharing each painful, funny step with you along the way, triumphs and failures. Sometimes, diet food feels like punishment. But… sometimes I happen across that perfect combination of healthy ingredients, flavors that complement each other perfectly, and my meal actually feels like a reward at the end of a long day of work.

This Avocado-Orange Salad with Toasted Pecans is definitely a reward. Especially because it’s so easy to make. The most difficult part is peeling the orange. I confess… I was feeling lazy, so I bought a tangelo, which is much easier to peel. (Yes, at times I am just that lazy.)

The recipe makes four salads. I made these for lunch for my husband and me, so I had to cut the recipe in half. I never used to be able to save half an avocado until the second day. Even when I put it in a Ziploc bag and tried to get all the air out, the flesh would turn brown and icky. But a while back, I invested in this avocado saver, and it really works well. As soon as I cut the avocado in half, I nest the pit in the avocado saver and then strap it in. I put the whole thing in the fridge. On Day 2, the avocado is still in pretty good shape.

Recipe: Avocado-Orange Salad with Toasted Pecans

Baby spinach or mixed salad greens
1 orange, peeled, separated into wedges, and cut into chunks
1 avocado
½ C cooked turkey breast, diced
2 green onions, sliced
½ C pecan halves
1 T seasoned rice vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 T olive oil

Heat a small nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Once it’s warm, toss the pecans in the pan and heat, stirring constantly, just until you start to smell the nutty goodness.

Divide spinach or salad greens onto four plates. Put an equal portion of orange, avocado, turkey, onions, and pecans onto each plate. Drizzle with vinegar and oil.

Green Salad with Turkey and Cranberry Vinaigrette

Yesterday, I cooked a boneless turkey breast on the grill. I wanted to use the leftovers today in a salad, and I thought that cranberry vinaigrette sounded like a nice dressing for it. Sadly, I didn’t have cranberry vinaigrette on hand. Is that a staple in anyone’s pantry?

I looked up some recipes online, but they all called for a bag of cranberries, which was another thing I didn’t have. I find that most new recipes arise out of laziness. Or maybe it’s agoraphobia. All I know is that I wanted cranberry vinaigrette, but I did not want to go to the store. I wanted to use the can of cranberry sauce that I had bought at Thanksgiving but forgot to serve. Was
that so wrong?

It turned out surprisingly delicious. I’m always surprised when I make up recipes and they taste good. They don’t always, I swear. But I’ll probably never tell you about the ones that don’t because I want you to keep coming back to this blog, and I don’t think you will if I post recipes for inedible food.

Cranberry Vinaigrette

1 can of whole berry cranberry sauce, whole berries set aside
½ cup of olive oil
¼ cup of red wine vinegar
¼ cup of water
1 t. Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

Garlic Croutons

Adding to the deliciousness of the salad were homemade garlic croutons. O…M…G! They were so easy, too! I pressed three cloves of garlic through the garlic press into a small bowl and then poured about a quarter-cup of olive oil over it. Let that sit for about 20-30 minutes, then pour it over a sieve into another bowl. The oil becomes infused with garlic flavor. Toss with cubed bread and bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes, flipping once.

The hardest part about the croutons was cutting the bread into little chunks. It required delicacy, and I’ve never been the delicate type.

Salad

I lined the plate with a bed of salad greens, added sugar snap peas, green onions, the turkey, croutons, and reserved whole cranberries. I used bleu cheese, but if you don’t like bleu cheese, then romano or parmesan would be good, too. Drizzle with the vinaigrette.

Let me know what you think! Would you change anything if you tried the recipe? This recipe and many others will be available as printable PDFs on my website, www.susanmallery.com, as soon as we finish the redesign.