Rainbow Chopped Salad

One of my Christmas presents was a subscription to Bon Appetite magazine. I cannot tell you how amazing this gift has been. Each month I eagerly await the arrival of next month's issue and then I spend undue amounts of time flipping through the pages and marking each recipe that I want to try. February's issue was no different - packed full of tasty meal ideas and the rainbow chopped salad was surely one of them.

My husband and I are moving to North Carolina in June, and we spent this past weekend looking for a place to live. After four consecutive nights of eating out (which was all delicious I might add), I decided that we were both desperately in need of some veggies. The only adjustment I made to this salad was substituting the hazelnuts for slivered almonds and it was delicious.This colorful salad is packed with fruit, nuts and cabbage and it's almost too gorgeous to eat...but we managed to anyway!

Adapted from February 2011 Bon Appetit

You Will Need for the Salad:

• 6 cups chopped romaine hearts
• 4 cups sliced red cabbage
• 1 large Fuji apple, halved, cored, diced
• 1 Asian pear, halved, cored, diced
• 1 mango, peeled, diced, or 2 Fuyu persimmons, peeled, seeded, diced
• 3/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (optional, but I used it and highly recommend)

You Will Need for the Dressing:

• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp finely chopped shallot
• 1/2 Tbsp honey
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Here We Go for the Dressing:

• Whisk vinegar, shallot, and honey in small bowl to blend
• Gradually whisk in oil and season dressing to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper

Here We Go for the Salad:

• Combine romaine and next 6 ingredients in very large bowl; toss to blend. Add dressing and toss to coat
• Divide salad among plates. Sprinkle with blue cheese, if desired, and serve

Serves 8
Happy Feasting!