I finally went to the grocery store yesterday and picked up fresh produce. I want to start making more salads at home rather than dining out all the time. I bought new dressings and more ingredients for the salad fixes. Plus making salads is quick, involves less clean up, and they’re filling. Today for lunch, I made a apple cherry avocado salad . I had been looking for a new “crunch” for my salads and started playing around with different ingredients. I can’t wait for you to try this salad and experience the new crunch!
Ingredients: *4 Cups Spring Mix Lettuce, *2 Tablespoons of Salad Dressing, *5-7 fresh cherries pitted and diced, *1/2 small apple, *1/2 medium avocado, *1/2 medium cucumber, and *1/4 cup uncooked couscous.
Since I’m adding fruit to the salad, I chose a neutral vinaigrette dressing. You don’t want anything too savory with the mixture of fruit. I couldn’t imagine biting into a cherry dipped in ranch. Raspberry vinaigrette, honey mustard, and red wine vinaigrette are great options.
Wash the cucumber and add it to the salad before the avocado and before you add the dressing.
You can add more vegetables into your salad like radishes, carrots, zucchini, broccoli, onions, or bell peppers.
Add the two tablespoons of dressing and toss the cucumber and lettuce.
Top the dressed salad with avocado, apples, cherries, and uncooked couscous. Not only does the couscous look absolutely adorable on the salad, but it gives it a healthy crunch. They kind of taste like ramen noodles before they’re cooked. It’s just a healthier alternative to croutons.
Linda @ Fit Fed and Happy says
That last photo…it just looks so delectable I can’t believe it.
Jamie @ ThatDoctorGirl says
Nice idea for a crunch!
Sara says
That looks awesome!!!! Dinner tonight. Couscous is a great alternative to the yummy ramen crunch. You amaze me sister!!!! I love my shirts too. I have them all lol. Couldn’t resist
Erin says
it really surprises me that you purchase bottled salad dressing instead of making your own. it’s super easy! all you need is a blender, an acid (vinegar), a fat (olive oil, bacon fat, avocado oil, coconut oil), an emulsifier (mustard, raw egg yolk), kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, a bit of sweetener, and whatever else you want! It’s best to use room temperature ingredients. Add all ingredients to a blender except the oil, then blend for a few seconds. While the blender is still running, slowly drizzle in whatever fat you use. Perfect dressing every time and takes just seconds. No soybean/canola oils and no stabilizers or thickeners. delicious! 🙂
Vicky says
This looks amazing, will definitely be trying this out!
Livi @ Eat, Pray, Work It Out says
I love adding fruit to a summer salad for some fun extra flavor!
Tiffany says
When I put fruits on my salads I add Greek yogurt instead of dressing.
Kit-Kat says
I love couscous! I’ve never ever tried it uncooked before, so I’m going to give this recipe a go! 😀
Katie says
I know this salad doesn’t have chicken, but when you put chicken on salads I know you have said you like it cold. How do you cook and store it? Also, I think Taralynn probably knows that it is possible to make your own salad dressing, but sometimes when living a healthy lifestyle we need to cut corners somewhere to make time for other parts of our lives! Keep doin what you do girl, I love it!!
Sandra says
Hi Taralynn,
Just wanted to let you know that I nominated you for the Dragon’s Loyalty Award. If you don’t know about the award, check out my blog post about it here: http://theartofcare.weebly.com/kiss/the-dragons-loyalty-award
I nominated you because I have been reading your blog and you seem to have a lot of the same views about food and eating that I do. I also think your blog is a great resource for other home cooks.
Keep up the great work!
Sandra
http://theartofcare.weebly.com
Sila says
Hey Taralynn! I just wanted to ask, is there any way that i can contact you? I’ve been following you for almost a year and i appreciate you so much that you can’t imagine but i have a few questions to ask. If you can give me your e-mail adress or anything else to write you, it’d be great. If that’s not possible, i can ask my questions on here too.
Thank you so much for inspiring thousands of people, take care! xx
jacki says
delishious!