Antioxidant salad

One of the results of Christmas and New Year indulgences, is the inevitable tightening of the clothes. I used to seriously dream of having a drawer compartment in my stomach so I could keep on eating, and then when full, slide out the drawer and empty it and keep eating again. Since I am positive that won't be happening in my lifetime, the next best thing and the rest of many a NY resolution is to eat more healthily. I debated about whether to put this salad up, after all it was just one of my every day lunches and didn't seem fancy enough or blog worthy enough but the taste was so good, a sentiment repeated by my husband who also had some that I thought that I should.

I love anything that pops in my mouth: from the fattest caviar pearls to the humble corn kernel and Pomegranate seeds satisfy this pop lust of mine. One of the best things is that this salad is packed with antioxidants and good fats (from nuts and grapeseed oil) but it also looks  beautiful with the rubied pomegranate seeds scattered throughout. You could of course use avocado and I toyed with the idea of adding some gorgeous Persian Feta but I thought that might tip it into the less healthy category (the feta, not the avocado although some may argue about that).

I'll end off with an embarrassing story about myself. Just this morning, I put on some underwear, a novelty pair that I hadn't worn in a while but I felt were appropriate for today. I found myself struggling to get them on. My heart was racing and I panicked - had I gained so much weight over Christmas and the New Year that even my underwear was refusing to go past my hips? After much groaning and struggling and hopping on the spot, I finally got them on but they were tight and didn't fit so well. I pottered around the house for a good hour before realising that I had foolishly tried to squeeze my hips through one of the leg holes.

Antioxidant salad

An original recipe by Not Quite Nigella

Serves 2 as a lunch

• 120 baby spinach leaves, washed and patted or spun dry

• 1/2 pomegrante's seeds

• 1/2 Mango cut into cubes

• small handful of almonds, cut into slivers, skin on and untoasted

For dressing

• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

• 2 tablespoon POM Wonderful juice

• 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil

Step 1 - Combine all dressing ingredients in a jar and shake to combine.

Step 2 - Place all salad ingredients in a bowl and pour dressing over and toss to combine. You may not need all of the dressing depending on how heavily you like your salad dressed.

Step 3 - Eat heartly knowing that you're engaging in the Virtue after Vice ritual in a pleasurable way.