Winter Citrus Salad #Recipe by @LibbyKlein

Libby Klein  The long, gray winter days have a way of making me feel a little low. Even though I'm an inside cat, I still love to bask in the sun on my back deck when the weather is lovely. The first time I saw this salad it made me feel like summer. It's funny how the winter citrus fruits have a way of making us think of sunshine and warmth.

I've seen a lot of variations on the winter citrus salad. Some of them include arugula (yuck!) Some include shaved fennel, and others include avocado. I didn't add any of those but you certainly could. I went for color above all else.

🍊To download and print this recipe click here.

Winter Citrus Salad

Yield: 6 Servings

Ingredients:

1 navel orange
1 cara cara orange
1 blood orange
1 pink grapefruit
3 kiwifruits
Arils from one pomegranate about ½ cup
2 ounces feta cheese crumbled
Zest and juice from one lime
¼ cup shelled green pistachios coarsely chopped
5 sprigs mint torn

 Directions:

Remove peel and pith from oranges and grapefruit with a sharp knife. Slice into thin rounds; remove seeds. Peel kiwifruits and slice into ¼ inch rounds.

Layer fruits on a platter and sprinkle with cheese, lime zest, pomegranate arils, chopped pistachios, and torn mint.  Squeeze or sprinkle the lime juice over the top. Serve immediately.

What is your favorite Winter Fruit?

Layla Virtue, a blue-haired, 30-something recovering alcoholic and former cop is trying to reinvent herself as a musician—between AA meetings, dodging eccentric neighbors at her trailer park, and reconnecting with her mysterious dad—in this ​unforgettable new mystery brimming with hilarity and heart.

Layla is taking her new life one day at a time from the Lake Pinecrest Trailer Park she now calls home. Being alone is how she likes it. Simple. Uncomplicated. Though try telling that to the group of local ladies who are in relentless pursuit of Layla as their new BFF, determined to make her join them for coffee and donuts.

After her first career ended in a literal explosion, Layla’s trying to eke out a living as a rock musician. It’s not easy competing against garage bands who work for tacos and create their music on a computer, while all she has is an electric guitar and leather-ish pants. But Layla isn’t in a position to turn down any gig. Which is why she’s at an 8-year-old’s birthday party, watching as Chuckles the Clown takes a bow under the balloon animals. No one expects it will be his last . . .

Who would want to kill a clown—and why? Layla and her unshakable posse are suddenly embroiled in the seedy underbelly of the upper-class world of second wives and trust fund kids, determined to uncover what magnetic hold a pudgy, balding clown had over women who seem to have everything they could ever want. Then again, Layla knows full well that people are rarely quite what they seem—herself included . . .

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her 
classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/

Roasted Squash, Spinach, Walnut, and Cranberry #salad #recipe @lucyburdette #cleansweepweek

LUCY BURDETTE: are you a fan of Pinterest? I confess that I find leafing through food boards very relaxing – almost like the effect that coloring books seem to have on other people. Of course I have boards for my Key West books, and mystery lovers kitchen, and the writers life, but I also have a catchall board called "Food, glorious food." And here is where I pin photos of dishes that looks delicious. Most of them are recipes that I think I could tweak to become low sodium. When I needed a new idea for a New Year's day side dish, that would include the cranberries I overbought from King Arthur flour, and the couscous buried at the back of my cupboard, I went to this board. And there I found a recipe from Gimme Some Oven that looked like a good start. She used cheese and commercial packets of toppings, both of which I removed. And I changed the kale to spinach...


And so here is what I offer for our curiosities from the cupboard week!

Ingredients

One small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced into half inch cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
Three-quarter cup couscous
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 to 3 cups fresh spinach
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup walnuts
Freshly ground pepper
Benton's Table Tasty

Lemon mustard vinaigrette (Whisk together 1 teaspoon good grainy mustard, the juice of half a Meyer lemon, and olive oil to taste)

Douse the squash cubes in olive oil, sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and Benton's table tasty, and roast in a 350 oven for 15 minutes. Remove the pan, stir the squash, and add the walnuts. Roast for another 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile bring the broth to simmer in a small pan, and add the couscous. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the couscous to cool.

Wash and dry the spinach and add to the salad bowl. When the squash and nuts and couscous are cool, distribute them over the top of the spinach. Sprinkle the cranberries over top of that.

When you're ready to serve, add the lemon mustard vinaigrette and toss well. Of course this would also be tasty with some added cheese if you're not watching sodium, say feta or goat or what used to be my favorite, gorgonzola.

KILLER TAKEOUT is coming in April, but available for pre-order today!

And you can follow Lucy on Facebook,
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Pinterest,
and Instagram! 

Sweet and Spicy Salad Pecans

 

  LUCY BURDETTE: Salad during the winter months can be a little dreary, don't you think? I so miss the good tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers that come out of our garden in the summer. But this recipe for sweet and spicy pecans jazzes up any winter greens.

2 cups pecans
1 and 1/2 TBsp butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp white sugar
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
several twists fresh black pepper
1/2 tsp Kosher salt

Melt the butter in a frying pan and saute the pecans for two minutes over low heat. Mix the sugars and the spices in a small bowl and then add them to the hot pecans. Stir the mixture over low heat for 8 to 10 minutes until the sugar melts and coats the nuts.

Spread the nuts on foil to cool. The nuts make a lovely addition to a winter salad. In this case, I used mixed greens, sliced apples, and pecans, topped with a balsamic vinaigrette.

 But they are also delicious by themselves. My sister makes jars and jars of these to give away as Christmas presents. They are that good!

 You can learn more about Lucy Burdette and her Key West food critic mysteries at her website or on Facebook or Twitter. 

Winter Salad with Black-Eye Peas and Spinach

Contrary to appearances, my diet does not consist solely of cookies and cheesecake. Every year I forget how much I love black-eye peas until New Year's rolls around. Remember Elizabeth's collard greens? Black-eye peas are also supposed to be served on New Year's Day for good luck. I'm told the greens represent dollars and the peas represent coins.

I've cooked black-eye peas different ways, but this is my favorite. It might horrify our Southern readers to imagine black-eye peas that haven't been cooked with fatback, or at least sprinkled with bacon, but this is delicious, easy to prepare, vegetarian, and actually fairly healthy! It's not just for New Year's either.

A few years ago, a friend asked me to bring a salad to a winter get together. She suggested some ingredients, but let's face it, in most of the US, store tomatoes in the winter are fairly blah. The ones sold on the vine are a little bit better, but still not the same as summer tomatoes. We won't even talk about the $5 red peppers! One of the pluses about this recipe is that it makes use of fresh veggies and fruit available now.

Winter Salad with Black-Eye Peas and Spinach

1 12 oz bag frozen black-eye peas
1/4 cup olive or canola oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (increase to 2 if you like a strong tang)
1 tablespoon mustard
1 good sized garlic clove, minced

fresh baby spinach leaves
1/4 red onion
clementines (if you hate oranges, substitute sliced pears)

Cook the black-eye peas according to the package.

Whisk together olive oil, honey, vinegar, and mustard, and stir in garlic. Pour 1/2 of the dressing over cooled black eye-peas and turn a bit to coat. Refrigerate for four hours or overnight.

Arrange spinach leaves on a platter, or on individual salad plates. Stir the black eye-peas (I think they're best if they come close to room temperature first) and mound in the center of the spinach. Slice the onion into very thin slices and scatter over the spinach. Peel the clementines and arrange on the spinach. Drizzle remaining dressing over the clementines and spinach.

Enjoy!