healthy living

Following a weekend traditionally made up of non-stop eating, I figured we could all use a salad 😉 Exhibit A:

Believe it or not, until a few months ago I “hated” pears. I’d tried them as a little girl, decided they were “gross” and then never tried them again for probably 15+ years. I can not believe what I’ve been missing!!! When searching around for cocktail ideas for work, I kept coming across pear recipes and decided to overcome my ridiculous fear of pears and surprise, surprise… I completely fell in love with them! You guys, I’m SO happy about this… I think they might be my new favorite fruit and I crave them constantly. When I had a few left over from shooting this, I decided to put them to work in a new salad and figured it would be a nice change of pace from my go-to greens. I found this recipe for a Honey Dijon Balsamic Vinaigrette (yes, it’s even better than it sounds) and knew that the flavors would pair insanely well with pear.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients

5 oz. Mixed Greens (I used spring mix + arugula)
3 oz. Goat Cheese
1 Pear
1/2 cup Glazed Walnut Pieces (I used Fresh Gourmet brand – available in the salad or crouton aisle)

Ingredients for Dressing

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic (minced)
1/2 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
3/4 cup olive oil
Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients for dressing until thoroughly mixed. I like to put everything in a mason jar and shake it up to get an even consistency. This also makes it easy to save leftovers 🙂

2. Combine spring mix, walnuts and goat cheese. Drizzle with dressing and mix. Top with sliced pear and serve with a crisp chardonnay. This and this are both great options for Chard 🙂

Cheers!

You people KNOW what I’m taking about… and if you don’t than you’re either 1) Miranda Kerr (a freak of nature) 2) a personal trainer and work out for a living so you can never, ever really feel fat or 3) lying to yourself. Life is going along its merry way, Halloween passes, the temperatures start to cool (so you’re embracing your fantastic layered fall fashions) and then BAM! Out of nowhere Thanksgiving rolls around and you WAY over indulge. But seriously, how many times a year do you get turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, candied yams or sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and PUMPKIN PIE ALL TOGETHER?!? So you justify and let it slide, tell yourself next week you’ll be better and then suddenly you’re in the midst of 700 work parties, company retreats, holiday gatherings, Hanukkah celebrations, shopping excursions, picking up a few last minute gifts instead of making it to yoga (or if you’re like me, having an absolute meltdown over finals and not enjoying a single moment of the holiday season AGAIN because for some reason you just HAD to go back to school to pursue your dreams). And then BAM! Christmas. Same story as Thanksgiving, but maybe worse because there are way more desserts at Christmas and by then your stomach is twice the size it was in June so you can naturally eat more. I know. Gross. Amongst all of the travel to see loved ones, you grab a snack in the airport, consume way more Starbucks than usual because the Peppermint Mochas only happen once a year and share your favorite restaurant hot spots “back home” with your significant other. And then you decide to throw a New Year’s party when you get back from the traveling, cook up a storm, drink way too much champagne and way over indulge AGAIN. Football bowl games (aka more food/booze) for the next few days (GO GREEN!), and then you hop on the next flight to Vegas because hey, who doesn’t need a little family birthday party/reunion in the CITY OF INDULGENCE after having just indulged your face off for the past MONTH?!? Of course you make lengthy (yet completely realistic and attainable) New Year’s resolutions (PUHlease), work out ten times harder than you have since October and then reward yourself with two brownies and a cake pop. I mean FOR REAL. It HAS to stop.

That being said, I spent last evening Pinning away healthy food inspiration to try to regain some sort of excitement for cooking, healthy, fulfilling food in my own kitchen and here are some of the images/recipes I can’t wait to try out. Don’t believe me because I’m always snapping shots of cheese, burgers and waffles? Here is the proof.

{Refreshing. Image via}