Brussel Sprout and Cranberry Salad

I'm back from Texas. If any of you follow me on twitter, you know that I was quasi-scandalized by the most recent trip down South (ok, not really, I was just out of my element and had cashew nightmares...shudder), but I'm back and will not be flying anywhere until my honeymoon in a month!

Yea, I know, I still have to drive to Iowa and Wisconsin between now and then, but let's focus on the positives here, ok folks?

Hawaii...sandy beaches...not a cashew in sight...

Anyways, I had the sudden realization that I would be wearing a bathing suit in less than a month. This realization caused me to binge shop for a bathing suit on jcrew.com and then swear to eat salads between now and then.

I sent the bathing suit back. So you can only guess how my salad diet is going.

In all honesty though, I don't really believe in the traditional understanding of dieting. I haven't weighed myself in almost 5 years (yup, I even ask the nurses NOT to tell me what the scale says when I get my yearly checkups), and am generally pretty happy with the way I look. Sometimes I struggle, but most of the time I realize that I'm not willing to give up eating pizza and ice cream, so therefore, this is how my body is going to look. And I'm ok with that. I try to do some form of exercise almost every day, but if I miss a run or yoga class, I am pretty forgiving.

Some might call this lazy.

I don't :)

ANYWAYS, back to the salad. I decided to give Skinny Bitch another chance and thought that a salad was a relatively easy option that was hard to screw up. And the salad option they had in the book sounded AMAZING.

"Pomegranate and Brussel Sprout Salad." I love brussel sprouts and I love pomegranates...WINNING.

Unfortunately, the salad I ended up concocting had little resemblance to the one described in the recipe.

Here's what I did wrong:
-First off, couldn't find any pomegranates. I should have maybe decided to do something else when I realized a title character was going to be missing from the recipe. I used some dried cranberries instead.
-I forgot the tofu. But I'm ok with that because I think the intention of including the tofu was to trick your eyes into thinking you were eating feta. I don't like tricks or surprises.
-Didn't have roasted hazelnuts, used raw.
-Didn't have mirin, so used sherry again.

The colors, I tell you, the colors!

Despite all of the substitutions, this was DELICIOUS! The dressing especially was great. I loved the cranberries and can only imagine what pomegranate seeds would have done to the recipe, so I highly recommend this one.

Here's the recipe for "Brussel Sprout and Pomegranate Seed Salad" adapted from "Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook."

Ingredients:

-3 cups brussel sprouts
-1 cup thinly sliced radicchio
-2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
-1/4 dried cranberries
-1/2 cup orange slices (I used clementines)
-1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts
-1/4 balsamic vinegar
-1 tablespoon soy sauce
-2 teaspoons sherry
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1 garlic clove, minced
-1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
Pepper, to taste

Directions:

Steam the Brussel Sprouts 3 to 5 minutes, or until soft (this took me like 10 minutes for some reason). Place in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Cut them into quarters. In a large bowl, toss together the Brussel sprouts, radicchio, romaine, cranberries, orange slices, and hazelnuts.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, sherry, oil, garlic, and rosemary, for the dressing. Heat a small frying pan over medium heat and pour in the dressing, cooking until the mixture begins to bubble. Add to the salad and toss. Season with pepper, to taste.