Roasted Chickpea, Pomegranate & Pear Salad

I concocted this roasted chickpea, pomegranate & pear salad when I was thinking of different fall flavors and ingredients that would pair well in a salad for Thanksgiving!  I was really pleased with how well it came out.  One change I would recommend is doing kale instead of mixed greens.  Mixed greens is just what I had but I think kale would be better since it’s a “stronger” green and can better hold the weight of all the other ingredients, and also last longer as the other greens seem to wilt under it after a day (which is fine, just means it won’t last as long for leftovers.)  Just massage the kale with a little olive oil first and you’d be good to go!  If you’re not into kale, though, feel free to use whatever green you prefer.

Roasted Chickpea, Pomegranate & Pear Salad

Ingredients

• 2 cans chickpeas, drained & rinsed
• Leafy green of your preference- kale/mixed greens/spinach etc.
• Pomegranate arils (I removed these manually from 1 whole pomegranate. Feel free to find them already separated if you can, it’ll save you some time!)
• 3-4 bosc pears, thinly sliced
• rosemary
• salt
• candied pecans or another flavored pecan (I found a maple pecan at the grocery store & it worked great!) or plain can work fine as well
• champagne vinaigrette

Directions

• preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with tin foil. grease sheet with avocado oil spray or other nonstick oil spray of your preference
• pour chickpeas into a large bowl, drizzle olive oil over top and add rosemary & salt to taste. stir to combine.
• add chickpeas to baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until desired crispiness
• remove & let cool before adding to salad
• Add all ingredients to the bowl over the greens, & add dressing just before serving!

Easy & so good!  Let me know if you try it!

xo,
Bess