Sumptuous In-Between-Meals Salad with Vinaigrette Dressing

My sister and I were discussing the pattern of  blood sugar levels and how to maintain them through the day. She suggested that we have small portions of food spread over five or six meals a day, balancing the carbs, proteins and fibre ratio well. She told me about someone who would count and eat 12 boiled chickpeas and after another two hours something light and similar. That intrigued me and inspired to follow the small portions per meal and a mid morning snack.
The pattern works fine, but I am lazy to soak and boil or sprout legumes everyday. So I had to look for alternatives with vegetables. The idea of a colourful salad could be interesting and I read up a few that I may want to try.
I have in my stock lot of different toasted nuts that I add to the salads for the extra crunch. I read up something with sautéed pears and plums with nuts and rocket leaves with a very simple vinaigrette. That was in my mind to try and when I bought some pears that were crunchy, I wanted to try it. I did not saute' the pears, used them as they were. I had some green grapes and sour apples to go into the salad with cherry tomatoes and nuts. The dressing and a hint of sweetness with some sugar candy made a perfect mid morning snack.

Sumptuous In-Between-Meals Salad with Vinaigrette Dressing

Ingredients:
Serves two people
All measures are variable as per individual taste

1 Crunchy pear
2 small green apples (partly sweet and sour)
10 -12 cherry tomatoes cut in halves
15 numbers green grapes halved
a fistful of mixed toasted nuts
1 teaspoon sugar candy(optional)

Vinaigrette Dressing:
2 tablespoons Olive oil
2 teaspoons Balsamic vinegar
3 pods of garlic minced and crushed to infuse

Method:
Make the dressing by mixing the oil and vinegar. Chop the garlic to a mince and drop it into the liquid. Crush with a spoon to infuse the garlic in the vinaigrette.
Cut the pears and apple in thin slices. I retained the peel as they held the crunch in the salad.
Place them in a salad serving bowl/ dish.
Add the tomatoes and grapes.
Toss the nuts in and the sugar candy.
Pour the vinaigrette and give a toss.
The salad is ready to serve/ eat.

The sweet, sour and pungency from the vinaigrette make this one a very welcome  and colourful mid morning snack.
The No Croutons Required event is jointly hosted by Lisa and Jacqueline. This April 2015 edition is hosted by Jacqueline. I am sending my salad to the event.