With a perfect mix of crunchy nuts, fresh fruit and exhilarating dressing, this recipe is guaranteed to bring you a refreshing feel this holiday season! Pihu Jain / Daily Nexus
I don’t know about you, but the moment the clock strikes midnight on Nov. 1, it’s “White Christmas” and hot cocoa all the way until Jan. 1 (honestly, most years I even start in August, but that can be our secret). Growing up, I always felt at peace during Christmas time, no matter what was going on in my life. My fondest memories are of sitting in Macy’s at the Santa letter station, requesting a real cat for the umpteenth year in a row, walking through malls with festive decorations glimmering, snow and a chill in the air, class parties with candy canes and marshmallows and DIY Christmas ornaments. But, above all, I relished in the culinary aspects of Christmas. Certainly, I enjoy the decadence of the dishes that holidays require, from green bean casserole to mashed potatoes to gingerbread houses caked in icing — yams, all things roasted, buttered, chocolate covered, dusted with cinnamon. These are a must.
However, in my day-to-day life as a college student here in Santa Barbara, without any snow in sight and miles away from the place I call home, I find myself searching for little moments of holiday nostalgia, especially when eating so lavishly is often out of the budget and hard to carve out time for. I crave something that evokes feelings of cheer and warmth, the freshness of impending change in the air and something yet to be realized in the new year. That’s when I stumbled upon this holiday salad recipe, as I threw some vegetables and dressings in my fridge together and found myself whisked away to a night at the Rockefeller Center, staring up at the big beautiful tree with a candy cane and a smile in my heart. This recipe is, like all salads, extremely open to modification, which I more than encourage.
Holiday Salad Recipe
Yield: 2-3 servings
Duration: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 cup pomegranate seeds
- 2 cups spinach (or any salad greens you like)
- ½ cup pine nuts
- ½ cup walnuts
- ½ cup pumpkin seeds
- 1 apple, cubed
- ½ lemon (squeezed)
- A dash of rosemary
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Feta cheese to top
Instructions:
- In a large bowl, throw together your greens, pomegranate seeds and apple; mix thoroughly
- Coat top evenly with honey and squeezed lemon; mix thoroughly
- Add all the nuts and seeds listed above, and mix again
- Top with dash of rosemary and feta cheese
- Enjoy!
If you don’t have all of these exact ingredients, fear not! I encourage you to follow your instincts, adding whatever strikes your fancy and elicits feelings of warmth and joy that you associate with the holidays, because the holidays, like this salad, are universal and meant to be enjoyed by all in their own way. One thing that I definitely will recommend is that you balance out your wet and dry ingredients, so that your salad is neither too soggy nor too dry. For the right balance, I would add half dry, half wet ingredients, and don’t be shy with your dressing! I wish you all the best holiday season this year, enjoy!
A version of this article appeared on p. 14 of the Nov. 7, 2024 edition of the Daily Nexus.
