Nothing says Summer better than a salad. I love the freshness and the ease of a salad. A salad pairs perfectly with a hot day, an outdoor party, BBQ’in, lemonade, and a Summer breeze.
Today I have a delightful salad recipe for you that is loaded with spinach…yum, plus it has a added surprise…bacon…double yum.
Summer Spinach Salad
Let’s make the dressing first.
You will need:
1 cup oil
3/8 cup rice vinegar, 3/8 cup white vinegar, 3/4 cups total
3/4 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
3/4 teaspoon ground mustard
1 medium purple onion, thinly sliced
First combine everything but the onions. Mix well.
After slicing the onions really thin, like so…
…you will put the onions in the dressing. Place the dressing in the fridge and let the onions marinate in the dressing. I normally do this for at least an hour but it really can be up to six.
Time for the salad.
You will need:
1 bag of baby spinach
1 head of iceberg lettuce, torn into bite sized pieces
1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup small curd cottage cheese
6 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped into pieces
After your dressing has marinaded the desired time, start your salad.
Combine all of the salad ingredients, do not put on the dressing yet. Here is a secret I have for serving salad. Do you hate how when you mix up your salad all the yummy toppings sink to the bottom? Then when you go to serve it, no one can get to OR see the delightful toppings? I hate it too…
So here is the solution. Mix your salad ingredients in one bowl.
Then gently dump out the bowl onto a different serving platter. The toppings will almost perfectly disperse evenly.
With your salad all assembled, you can either evenly coat the whole salad with the onion poppyseed dressing OR you can serve the dressing on the side allowing each person to put on their perfect amount of dressing.
This salad is sure to be a crowd pleaser at your next Summer get together…hey in fact, the Fourth is just around the corner…go ahead take this as your side. I am sure you will get sparkling reviews!
About Todays Post
we are having a party this weekend for my grandpa’s 80th birthday and I am in charge of bringing a salad- this couldn’t have been posted at a better time!!!
ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yummo!!!! I am making that for the 4th. Thanks for sharing.
Fantastic!! Made this for a party Friday night and it was a hit. I picked it because I have gestational diabetes and was looking for something I could eat a lot of, if necessary. This was perfect! It’s also ridiculously easy to make–an added bonus at 36 weeks pregnant! Thank you.