Pear, Pecan and Celery Salad

I have a confession to make. I don't like fruit. In fact, some of you might have already noticed that up until today I didn't even have a fruit label in my sidebar. I'm not proud of this characteristic. I'm just coming clean with you and hope you won't judge me too harshly or think I'm some type of unhealthy barbarian because I almost completely shun this particular food group.

I guess when I get right down to the nitty-gritty of this dislike, it's not even really a dislike. It's more that I tend to think of fruit as dessert instead of a regular part of the rest of the meal. And IF I'm going to have dessert, I'm going to splurge and go for something with a little more tooth-rotting capability, like cookies or cake.

However, all that's about to change. You read it here first, folks. Mags the fruit shunner is going to make herself eat fruit on a regular basis. I may have to start out slowly at first, but you can expect to see more recipes that include fruit on my blog in the future. We'll start with this pear salad, OK?

Pear, Pecan and Celery Salad (adapted from Penzey's Spices) Serves 4

2 ripe pears, cored and thinly sliced
2 celery stalks with leafy tops, thinly sliced on the bias
1/2 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2-3 TBSP sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2-1 tsp sugar (optional)
1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles
1/4 cup dried cranberries

Divide the pears and celery among four salad plates, arranging nicely. Sprinkle with the pecans, cheese and cranberries. Mix the oil and vinegar together with salt and pepper. Add optional sugar if your pears are more tart than sweet. Drizzle the dressing over the salads. Top with a bit of the chopped leafy celery tops.