Pomegranate-Champagne Vinaigrette Salad

Wow! I cant believe it has been over a month since my last post! Its crazy just how busy the holidays can be. We did a ton of traveling too, we spent about a week in Utah with my in-laws for Christmas. Unfortunately there wasn't very much snow on the ground, most of it had been melted by all of the rain. There was just enough for us to play in it though. And we went skiing Christmas day, which was a little challenging since the snow was like ice - I was literally scared to fall because the ground was so hard, lucky for me I didn't even fall once!

I got a bunch of cookbooks for Christmas, I cant wait until I have time to read them all. I also got a new digital camera - my old one was severely broken - The flash wouldn't work (I guess I dropped it one too many times). Its a Cannon, like I had before :)



For New Years we rented a cabin with some of our friends. That was tons of fun! We were hoping that we would get snow in Northern Arizona, and we did just before we got up there. It was so gorgeous and the snow was so much fun to play in. We spent on of the afternoons sledding too.



Not sure if you can tell by this photo, but that's me face first in the snow with the sled on top of me. I was the first to try out our sledding location

We played Just Dance! on the Wii until it was almost midnight until we rang in the new year. Even though I played it for hours, I didn't get any better..Its just tons of fun so I play it even though I suck. I think there may have been video evidence of how bad I suck/get really into the songs, but I don't think they have put them on youtube (thank goodness!)


Now all of the holiday craziness is over and its back to the usual. Before pomegranates are completely out of season, I will be sharing with you the rest of the recipes I made for my POM dinner party.

I had received persimmons in my bountiful basket the week of my party and couldn't decide what to do with them. There are two common types of persimmons. There are hachiya persimmons that are great for baking (think persimmon bread or cookies) and there are fuyu persimmons, which are normally just peeled, sliced and eaten. I had the fuyu type, so I had to come up with something non-baking related. A salad was the perfect way to use them. Paired with the pomegranate arils and this lovely vinaigrette, it made for a stunning salad. I used a champagne vinegar to make it a little different than your average vinaigrette, but you could definitely substitute a white wine vinegar or any other.

Pomegranate-Champagne Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
Dressing:
1/4 cup pomegranate juice
1 1/2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1 teaspoons minced shallots
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Salad:
6 cups mixed salad greens
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
Red onion - thinly sliced
Cucumber - chopped
3 Persimmons - peeled and sliced

Directions:
Combine juice, vinegar, shallots, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add salad greens, pomegranate seeds, cucumber and persimmons; toss well to combine. Serve immediately.