There are two reasons we pay attention to what we eat, because we’re hungry and because our bodies need nourishment. In today’s society, overloaded with processed convenience foods, paying attention to the nourishment of our bodies is of paramount importance.

Many items you may read or hear about tell you to stay away from this ingredient or that ingredient and for the most part I would heartily agree with those sentiments. But another way to pay particular attention to the nourishment of our bodies is not by avoiding foods but by including a wide variety of fresh and nutritionally-rich ingredients.

Few meals speak the word nourishment more than a salad. Yes, some salads can be high in saturated fat and processed ingredients. But, if you make salads yourself you can be sure of getting the freshest, tastiest and most nutritious ingredients on your plate.

Enjoying salads several times a week is nutritionally wise. So it is good to have a wide variety of ingredients and flavor profiles to give your taste buds the change of pace they need. Here’s a recipe for an orange pecan salad, this can be just a suggestion because there are so many variations to be achieved. As an example the recipe for this salad does not call for any meat, however, feel free to add 2 to 4 ounces of grilled or baked chicken breast, cooked shrimp or some other lean sliced meats.



Orange Pecan Salad

with Fennel

Serves 4

½ medium red onion, thinly sliced

1 fennel bulb sliced, (fronds, outer layer and core removed)

2 large oranges peeled and segmented

½ cup toasted whole pecans

½ cup feta cheese, crumbled (or herbed goat cheese)

8 cups spring greens

Dressing

2 Tbl balsamic vinegar

2 Tbl red wine vinegar

1 Tbl Dijon mustard

1 Tbl mayonnaise or sour cream

3 Tbl chives, minced (or green onion)

½ tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

a few grinds of black pepper

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing until emulsified. Place your greens and the fennel in a large bowl, drizzle with half of the dressing and toss to coat the greens evenly. Sample the greens and, if you have enough dressing to satisfy your taste, divide the greens among four plates. Arrange the rest of the ingredients on top of the greens in an attractive manner.



Look for Chef Darrel’s blog on the website of our sister paper, Daily-Chronicle.com. Anyone with questions or comments for Chef Darrel is welcome to call him at 630-235-0672.