Meet this salad: your new favorite winter lunch. Just 7 ingredients, sweet, tangy, fresh, and hearty, yet healthy. You'll love this one.
I realize this post might not be the most timely. If you’re snowed in, chances are you’re not reaching for a cold salad – BUT it’s not snowing here and nothing will ever stop me from craving big bright salads for lunch. (If you need something hot today, click here, here, or here).
My lunch salads are what I would call “kitchen sink” style. I toss whatever veggies I happen to have into a bowl… often with chickpeas and a bit of feta cheese or a scoop of hummus. For crunch, I add toasted nuts and/or hemp seeds. And to bring it all together I almost always have a sweet element. This time: soft, juicy ripe pears. (If you don’t have pears, diced apples would work well here too!)
Pear & Arugula Chickpea Salad
- a few big handfuls of arugula
- 1 ripe pear, cored and chopped
- ¾ cup cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup diced cucumber or thinly sliced fennel
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts
- ¼ cup hemp seeds
- optional (but recommended): ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons chopped scallion
- salt & pepper
- Whisk dressing together.
- In a small bowl toss the chickpeas with a bit of the dressing and some salt and pepper. This step is optional, but I find marinating the chickpeas for a few minutes helps them become more flavorful.
- Toss all of the salad ingredients together with as much dressing as you like. Season to taste. Add a bit of feta cheese, if you like.
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Great salad recipe Jeanine! It’s a challenge to incorporate gluten-free dishes in parties; this is an easy recipe and very healthy too. I particularly like the fusion of dried apricots in the dish with other elements.
Hi Lisa, I’m so glad you loved it – and that you found some gluten-free inspiration!