A Thanksgiving Salad

Hope you all had (or are still having) a fabulous Thanksgiving!  For us, we just knocked off our 2nd out of 3 Turkey Dinners of the week…oh boy.

#1 – Friendsgiving at our house
#2 – Thanksgiving Day -  Dinner at my aunts
#3 – A Thanksgiving dinner at Brian’s Family in NH on Saturday

So much turkey! 

The only downfall to having an early Friendsgiving, is that I’m usually kind of sick of turkey by today.  Not completely, and I really enjoyed today’s dinner, especially the sides that were different than what I made (my aunt did garlic mashed potatoes and they were divine).

To counteract the Turkey dinner overload, I decided to bring a fresh colorful green salad!

I wanted something with a Fall-theme to it, but with lots of fresh veggies and fruits! 

I came across this salad on the Whole Foods website:
“Thanksgiving Green Salad”….sounded perfect to me!

This salad combined mixed greens, fresh chopped fennel, orange segments, dried cranberries, and candied pecans all tossed with a raspberry balsamic dressing! 

I also had the bright idea to add some crumbled goat cheese!  It’s pictured, but the cheese went excellent with the other ingredients.

I opted to peel and segment my oranges with a knife (I used 4 large navel oranges), instead of just peeling them and using the break-apart segments…I just think it looks nicer :)

I also have a few family members who can’t eat nuts or seeds, so I left the candied pecans in a bowl on the side so people could add them on their own.  I also had to strain the pureed raspberries to get rid of the seeds.

I packed the dressing in a mason jar and tossed the salad at my aunts house right before dinner!  From what I heard, it seemed everyone liked it!!  I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to re-create it at home.  I forget how much I love fresh fennel.

This girl needs to get to sleep now though…Black Friday tomorrow!!  I know most people won’t go anywhere near stores tomorrow, but my mom and I love it!  We don’t go all 1am @ Best Buy crazy, but we get to the mall around 7am…early, but not “crazy” early…yet early enough to not have to deal with traffic or finding a parking spot.  We browse around, try and get some Christmas shopping started, have an early-ish lunch, shop some more and head home :)  It’s just something we love doing together…although day after Christmas is my favorite (this is my 2nd fav…ok maybe 3rd after Birthday shopping ;)

Again, I hope everyone got to spend some time with family and/or friends today…those who you’re most thankful for :) 

Christmas will be here before you know it…