My family loves this salad. I bring
it to picnics and potlucks on a regular basis. I’ve even had luck feeding it to
my son who hates to eat green vegetables. The salad is sweet and savory—with a
little bit of something that everyone loves. The bite of the blue cheese is
balanced by the sweetness of the fruit and candied walnuts. The red and yellow
fruit colors make this a very flashy salad.
Spinach Harvest Salad
Serves 6-8 as a Side Dish or 2-4 as a Main Dish
Prep Time 20 Minutes
1 pound Baby Spinach washed and dried
1 cup Fresh Berries (sliced fresh
strawberries, whole raspberries or blackberries), or dried cherries.
1 cup Orange-Colored Fruit (fresh sliced
mangos, drained canned mandarin oranges, or dried apricots sliced to ¼” widths)
1 cup Candied Walnuts (homemade or Emerald
Brand) broken into pieces
4 oz Crumbled Blue Cheese
1 cup Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing ( I
prefer the Wishbone brand of Raspberry Walnut Vinnaigrette)
Hint—strawberries
sliced lengthwise resemble the shape of a heart with a dark outer layer and a
soft pink inter layer. This salad looks great in a glass bowl! It can also be
made in a large 10 x 13 baking dish for a pretty presentation.
In a large salad bowl layer 1/3 of the spinach, 1/3
of the berries, 1/3 of the orange colored fruit, 1/3 of the walnuts, and 1/3 of
the blue cheese. Repeat until all of the ingredients are in the bowl. Drizzle
the dressing on top and give the salad a light toss to mix the ingredients. If
you toss the salad too hard the heavier ingredients will fall to the bottom of
the bowl.
Add grilled chicken for a great main dish!
Homemade Candied Walnuts—In a large non-stick skillet heat ½ cup granulated
sugar and 1 cup English walnuts over medium heat. Stir constantly. Sugar will
liquefy and walnuts will toast nicely. Once the liquefied sugar has coated the
walnuts, turn them onto a cookie sheet that has been prepared with wax paper or
baking parchment. Using a spoon or spatula, quickly separate the walnuts so
that they do not harden into a single clump. Be very careful not to touch the
candied walnuts when they are syrupy and hot.
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