Lovely Orange-Fennel Salad

This salad was inspired from the first course offered by Sarma on thePure Food and Wine Valentine's Day Menu posted here.

The combination of fennel, avocado, and pomegranate sounded so good. To keep it on the light side for my lunch today, I did not add avocado, but will when I make this again:) I used the orange flavor from Sarma's dressing, and added orange segments to my salad instead.


For the Salad
1 small bulb fennel(aka anise), sliced thin
1 orange, supremed*
1 small avocado, cubed
2-3 Tablespoons pomegranate arils
strawberry hearts:), optional for garnish

1. Combine fennel, orange segments, avocado if using, and pomegranate arils.

2. Pile on a plate, and decorate with strawberry hearts:)

3. Serve with a sweet dressing. I used the one that follows.

*supremed is just a fancy word for segmented:) Simply cut off both ends of the unpeeled orange, and slice off the rest of the peel while resting a cut end on the cutting board. Once the peel is removed, cut between the membranes of the segments and remove the orange segments:)

For the dressing:(a variation of my sweet orange dressing)

1/2 orange, peeled (can use zest, if desired)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon raw coconut vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1-2 teaspoons agave, or a soft, pitted medjool date
pinch of salt and pepper, optional

Combine all dressing ingredients in magic bullet or blender until creamy.

I was inspired to use the coconut vinegar from this post by Fayinagirl of the incredible Gluten-Free Vegan Family blog. I made her awesome avocado timbale yesterday for dinner, and loved it! Thanks Julie:)!!
* sorry had to post a screen shot of my saved recipe since Julie's blog is gone. So sorry for all the broken links from other blogs. I never posted the actual recipes from other blogs, and many have now sadly disappeared. Thanks to everyone who contacted me about broken recipe links. 

I immediately fell in love with the coconut vinegar:) It was the first time I used this lovely raw vinegar. I loved the subtle sweet coconut flavor. It made a delightful difference in the dressing:)


Hope you all did not mind my daily postings this week! I guess I was making up for lost time while I was away:)

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and Valentine's Day.

{{{BIG HUGE VALENTINE HUGS TO ALL!!!}}}