5 Easy Winter Salad Recipes

Everyone knows that the holiday season can be a time where you pack on the pounds, but these 5 easy winter salad recipes can stave away your cravings. By incorporating some of your favorite winter foods in smaller proportions, they help both satisfy the emotional hunger that winter often brings and keep your calorie intake at acceptable levels. And, best of all, they are really easy to make. Read on to see some suggested winter salad recipes you can try this year.

1. Smoked ham and pomegranate winter salad. Nothing says winter delights like some smoked ham. Combine about three ounces of ham with three heads of Belgian endive lettuce, one sliced onion, two whole scallions, a tablespoon of Dijon mustard and some olive oil to taste. The ham can be warm or cold (though warm is recommended on really cold days). Prep time for this salad is minimal and it doesn’t need any dressing after the olive oil and Dijon mustard treatment.
2. Warm winter salad. Post-Thanksgiving winter days often call for finding a way to use tons of leftover turkey. For a hearty salad, mix together a head of lettuce, about a half cup of gorgonzola, a few carrot slices, three cups of warm, shredded turkey, six tablespoons of sherry vinegar, four teaspoons of Dijon mustard and about two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Depending on whether you want something sweet, a few pear slices also go well with this salad. Served warm, it is a great tasting and creative use of leftover turkey.
3. February fruit salad. In late winter, the anticipation of spring and cravings for fresh fruit often hit. To satisfy it, toss together two peeled and diced oranges, a cup of red grapes, a peeled and diced kiwi, a cup of bean sprouts and a half cup of sunflower seed sprouts. The juicy sweetness of the fruit goes together deliciously with sprouts, enough so that you don’t really even need dressing.
4. Winter green salad with pears and sugared walnuts. This salad requires a little more prep time, but the results are delectable. First, mix six cups of chopped romaine lettuce with two thinly sliced pears and some pomegranate seeds. To make the sugared walnuts, combine two cups of walnuts with one tablespoon each of maple syrup, sugar, walnut oil and ground cinnamon. Put that mixture on a cookie sheet and bake for twenty minutes at 375 degrees. When they come out, simply put them over the lettuce and pear mix.
5. Winter garden salad. This true garden salad utilizes greens that you can readily find in winter months. For the salad itself, mix a half head of chopped lettuce with a cucumber’s worth of slices, sliced green pepper, a half cup of diced celery, four radishes and about three medium sliced tomatoes. Toss those together, and drizzle a mixed dressing of one-third cup of olive oil, one-eighth cup of vinegar, some salt, some sugar and a minced clove of garlic. Like most winter salads, it’s a great side dish for turkey or ham servings.