Pear Pomegranate Salad

This is the salad we had for Thanksgiving this year, and I think we're going to have it again for Christmas dinner. I got this recipe from an Our Best Bites cookbook, and changed it just a tad. I used bottled dressing instead of making my own, left out a lime, used red leaf instead of romaine, and sugar coated my pecans in the oven. Loved the salad especially the pomegranate seeds which I never buy, so they made it exciting. :) 

Pear Pomegranate Salad
adapted from Our Best Bites
1 head red leaf lettuce, washed and chopped/torn
1 (14 oz) bag baby spinach
Seeds from one pomegranate
2 ripe pears, chopped or thinly sliced
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup sugared pecans
Dressing ( I used half balsamic vinaigrette, half poppy seed)

Combine and toss salad ingredients. Drizzle on dressing. Serve immediately.

Notes:
This recipe makes a lot of salad, so I would recommend only putting the dressing on what you think will be eaten immediately. An easier route would be to put all the ingredients out and have people design their own salad.

Another dressing that would be good with this salad is this Red Wine Poppyseed Dressing.

The fastest way to sugar pecans is to combine 1/2 cup pecans and 1/4 cup sugar in a skillet and stir until sugar melts over med low heat for about 15 min. I like to do mine ahead of time in the oven. Using the following method.

Sugar Coated Pecans
1 egg white
1 T water
1/2 pound pecan halves
1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Grease one baking sheet. In a mixing bowl, whip together the egg white and water until frothy. Add pecans to egg whites, stir to coat the nuts evenly. Remove the nuts, and toss them in the sugar until coated. Spread the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet. Bake  for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.