Spinach Salad

For some reason, as of late, salad recipes have been jumping out at me from my recipe pages. Is it that my cookbooks are trying to tell me something, is my psyche sending subliminal messages, or is my body just craving more fresh veggies. Who knows! I do know that I have a huge amount of salad recipes and was all set to try a few out, even going so far as to put them on my breakfast menu, and this is about as far as I've gotten. No matter how good I want to be (usually in the evening after consuming a few m&m's) it is hard to actually put it into practice. I tend to fall back on my comfort foods, especially for breakfast, and seem to come up with plenty of excuses why I can't get chopping on those fresh fruits and veggies.

So, back to the spinach salad. The recipe calls this a crowd pleaser for a potluck so you'll have to adjust the amounts based on how much you and your eating partners would like to consume. Enjoy!

Spinach Salad
Serves potluck portions

8-9 ounces of fresh spinach or baby spinach
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans recommended)
1/4 cup finely chopped or grated onion (Vidalia or red onion recommended)
2-3 ounces bleu cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup dressing (raspberry-walnut vinaigrette recommended)

Always rinse the spinach before preparing the salad. Dump the spinach into a large colander, rinse, drain, and dry gently with a towel. Transfer to a serving dish. Toss the spinach with the dried cranberries, nuts, and onion. When ready to serve, pour dressing over the salad and toss. Add crumbled bleu cheese.