Kathy’s Spinach Salad with Sweet Onion Vinaigrette (and three lucky winners)

December 7, 2011

in Blog Posts, holiday, Salad

Many of you know that my sweet mother-in-law passed away shortly before we had our little girls.  Many of my memories of her revolved around food.  She was such a wonderful cook and a gracious hostess.

Several of my favorite recipes come from her collection…almond cake, fresh peach dessert, orange rolls (coming soon) and her signature spinach salad.

This salad has become one of my most requested recipes.  It’s wonderful because  most of the ingredients are in my pantry or fridge.  The dressing is so delicious…no one guesses that the vibrant pink color comes from a purple onion.

Salad ingredients:

•  10 oz. spinach
• 1 granny smith apple, thinly sliced
• 3/4 cup toasted almonds (350 for 8 minutes)
• 1/2 lb crisp bacon (I never use the bacon…the cyclist won’t eat the stuff…it’s delicious either way)
• red onion slices (optional)

Sweet Onion Vinaigrette:

•  1/8 of a red onion
• 1/3 cup salad oil (I use canola)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp salt

Puree dressing ingredients in a blender.  Toss salad.

We served this alongside a quick macaroni and cheese (using my Shirley J universal sauce mix).

Thank you all for entering the drawing, and for sharing your time saving tips!  The three lucky winners are…Steven (“I like to make a large crockpot of chili, and then it becomes my lunch for the week!”), Courtney (“I don’t have any time saving meals tips – I more just have a few back up meals for when I am short on time – spaghetti, yoshida’s chicken, quesadillas – things that don’t take a lot of time and I always have the ingredients on hand.”), and Lindsey (“When I do go through the effort to make something it has to make 1. Another night of leftovers or 2. Leftovers plus an extra pan for the freezer.”)  So the three of you, email me your address and I will have Shirley J send out your prize packs!  megan@bake-aholic.com

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