Winter Greens Salad With Flax Seeds, Shaved Beets, and Radishes

Slicing beets paper-thin with a mandoline is much faster than roasting. Tossed with a simple vinaigrette, their natural sweetness compliments bitter, hearty winter greens like endive, frisée, and radicchio. Some shaved parmesan, radishes, and toasted flax seeds finish this simple salad off.

Winter Greens Salad With Fennel, Citrus, and Creamy Citrus Vinaigrette

This easy winter salad with bitter greens, shaved fennel, citrus, and a sweet and creamy citrus vinaigrette would do equally well with a light lunch or dinner, or as a side dish for a larger feast.

Radicchio, Endive, and Anchovy Salad

Bitter greens like radicchio, Belgian endive, and parsley take on a surprising sweetness when paired with fennel and celery dressed in an aggressively savory anchovy vinaigrette.

Green Bean Salad With Pickled Peppers and Anchovy Dressing

Tender-crisp green beans tossed in a savory dressing flavored with anchovies and Worcestershire. Hot and tangy peperoncini, shallots, and pine nuts finish the salad.

Green Salad With Pickled Mushrooms, Cucumbers, Onions, and Pecorino

Bright pickled vegetables make for a bracing, refreshing salad that goes great with grilled meats.

Kale, Apple, and Pancetta Salad

With slightly bitter kale and radicchio, crispy-salty pancetta, tart apples and sweet maple syrup, this hearty winter salad hits all the right taste buttons. It's also just a beautiful salad. Be sure your apples aren't too sour, especially if using Granny Smith—you'll need a little sweetness to balance out the tartness of the vinaigrette.

Puntarelle Alla Romana (Puntarelle Salad With Anchovy and Garlic Dressing)

In this classic Roman dish, crisp, juicy shreds of puntarelle, the mild-mannered bitter green, are tossed with a potent anchovy- and garlic-heavy dressing.

Apple Salad with Candied Walnuts and Cranberries

This Apple Salad is a celebration of textures and flavours! Crispy juicy apple, leafy salad, candied walnuts, plumped cranberries with a vinaigrette.

Roasted Pear Salad With Endive, Blue Cheese, and Hazelnut

This hearty, sweet, and savory salad combines roasted pears with bitter endive, rich blue cheese, and toasted hazelnut. It's the perfect salad for either the autumn or wintry weather.

Healthy & Delicious: Mixed Greens with Pears, Pecans, Blue Cheese, and Honey Balsamic Dressing

If I had my druthers, salads would be made of nuts, cheese, and a fruity dressing with a few leaves of arugula sprinkled on top. Alas, those druthers miss the whole point of a salad, which "should" be a light, healthy meal. I'm not alone, though. Visit any restaurant, and you'll find salads packed with heavy (albeit delicious) add-ons, making them slightly less nutritious than a bag of Big Macs. But it doesn't have to be that way.