Pineapple Crunch Chopped Salad

A vibrant crunchy salad with a creamy lemon avocado ginger dressing featuring so many beautiful colors and sweet juicy bursts of fresh pineapple! Topped with a bit of crumbled marinated feta and toasted walnuts, this heart healthy salad is a definitely palate pleaser with a serious crunch factor that’s perfect as a light lunch or served alongside a juicy burger, chicken, fish or pork.

My son and I decided yesterday that we’d get takeout burgers from our favorite burger place in town for the first time in a YEAR, so I was trying to eat light all day to save space for that burger. My son suggested I have a salad, so I took his advice and made a really pretty salad that was indeed light, with a serious crunch factor. It had some staying power, too … I didn’t find myself getting hangry even as I waited over 30 minutes for them to prepare our burgers.

Look at all those colors! Such a treat for the eyes after a long, drab COVID winter. Spring has finally arrived and I always think salad when the weather starts to warm. Of course, here in the Midwest, the first warming was just a teaser … after our first taste of warm temps, we plunged back into a snowstorm, but now a week later, that late snowfall is melting off and spring growth is starting to appear. I see the crocus leaves start to peek out, the daffodils and irises are starting to grow. Soon my yard will be awash in spring color. I’m SO excited!

How this Salad Helps Lower Cholesterol

Since takeout burgers are not exactly heart health food and I really need to watch my cholesterol to keep my heart healthy, I planned my salad accordingly, to help keep me on track with my health goals.

• Pineapple – the ‘star’ ingredient in this salad, sweet juicy pineapple is rich in vitamin C and fiber, both of which make it a great choice for lowering your cholesterol, plus it’s rich in bromelain, which helps with digestion
• Celery – celery is amazing for adding crunch to a salad, but it also is super high in fiber, which picks up cholesterol and sweeps it out of your system. Celery also includes phthalide, a chemical that lowers stress hormones, allowing blood vessels to expand and relax and let blood flow.
• Carrot – Another fiber-rich food where pectin is the main source of fiber, carrots have also been shown to lower cholesterol, amongst other health benefits.
• Red Cabbage – red cabbage contains 36 different kinds of anthocyanins which reduce the risk of heart disease. Cabbage also helps lower your LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol.
• Avocado – while avocados are high in fat, avocados contain unsaturated fat (the kind that helps lower “bad” cholesterol), plus they’re rich in fiber and they also help you absorb the nutrients in your food
• Walnuts – walnuts are high in calories, but eating 2 oz of walnuts a day can have serious positive impacts on your cholesterol AND they don’t appear to contribute to weight gain

The Perfect Creamy Dressing

To balance out all the crunch and juiciness in this salad, I wanted a nice creamy dressing. After deciding on avocado for all of its amazing cholesterol-busting (and digestive health) qualities, I added in a little bit of mayo, a little bit of Greek yogurt, some olive oil and fresh ginger root (which not only tastes delicious, it settles the tummy and aids in digestion). It needed a bit of sweetness, so I added in just a couple teaspoons of honey and that did the trick.

In my opinion, you don’t need all this dressing for the salad. I used about 2/3 of it to lightly coat all the veggies with flavor and tucked away the rest for another salad, another day. If you want more dressing, then by all means go for it. The nutrition calculations below include ALL the dressing.

What else to do with a pineapple?

If you’ve purchased a big, juicy pineapple and you’re looking for some more pineapple recipe inspiration, you KNOW I’ve got ideas for you! Below are some pretty pics, but look under the gallery of photos for links to the recipes.

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• Pineapple Plank Salmon
• Tropical Pineapple Mango Coleslaw
• Spicy Pineapple Mango Chicken Salad
• Maple Cinnamon Grilled Pineapple
• Grilled Honey Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken
• Pineapple Blueberry Margarita

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