Pear Salad with Feta Cheese

I’ve been racking my brains for weeks trying to come up with a good healthy salad for a family holiday celebration. If your family is like mine, they toss out every health habit they’ve held dear all year long and go bonkers for carbohydrates, meat proteins and fat. So, I leave it up to everyone else to bring the sugary desserts, high fat dips and cheesy vegetable productions, and I provide fruit and vegetable salads. Of course I’ll indulge with the rest of them, but I also want some healthier options to choose from. One I’ve adapted from a number of sources is as follows:

Pear Salad with Crumbled Blue Cheese

1/2 C. seedless, all fruit raspberry preserves (blackberry would be excellent too!)

1/4 C. pear balsamic vinegar

1 tsp. dijon or brown mustard

1/4-1/3 C. olive oil

6-8 C. salad greens (spinach would be great too)

3 pears cored and chopped

3/4 C. finely chopped red onion

1/2 C. pecan or walnut halves

1/2 C. feta cheese

A couple pinches of himalayan salt and black ground pepper.

Heat preserves and pear balsamic vinegar in a pot until it boils. Remove from heat. Add mustard and olive oil to the pot and stir well. In a separate bowl toss the greens, chopped pears, onions, pecans, salt and pepper. Add preserves blend to the bowl and toss well. Sprinkle desired amount of crumbled feta cheese over the top and serve.