Spring Fever Salad!

Spring Fever has officially arrived at our house!! I came home yesterday afternoon and Jay had shorts on! It's not exactly THAT warm out yet, but he was just hoping I think:) We were having salmon for supper...and just weren't in the mood to have rice or warm veggies along side of it...and then i remembered THIS salad! Discovered it right before the Christmas holidays...made it for a few dinner parties, which was always hit...and then proceeded to make it literally, at every dinner while home for nearly two weeks over Christmas! Everyone kept requesting it! Even my dad who claimed that 'his plate had no room for green' at the first dinner, ended up asking for seconds! (He was too late though...the platter was scraped clean!) In fact, I don't think there was ever any left over...that's a huge thing! I love this salad for many reasons, here's a few...it looks beautiful on a platter for entertaining...it can qualify as a meal in itself...it's super simple to make...and everyone loves it! You could definitely swap the pomegranates for other berries come summer time. I prefer to make it with either red or black quinoa, but only because I think it looks prettier! Almonds could also be swapped for another nut of choice...or eliminated altogether! I use feta most of the time when making it, but soft goats cheese is also a great match..or no cheese at all to make this a vegan dish!

If you attended Cafe Docs back in January...you would have sampled this as an example of a Carbohydrate-Type meal. For all of you who requested the recipe for the dressing...here it is!

Enjoy!

Spring Fever Salad

The amounts listed will give you enough to make a large platter full!

2 cups cooked quinoa (cook according to package directions)
1/2 cup lightly toasted sliced almonds
1/2 large container of spinach
3/4 cup crumbled feta
1/4 cup finely sliced red onion (I almost never add this)
1 pomegranate, seeded

Dressing
4 Tbsp red wine vinegar...balsamic works well too
4 Tbsp olive oil
5 tsp honey
1 tsp dijon mustard
pepper to taste

Starting with the spinach, and then quinoa (cooled), layer all the ingredients on your platter. Whisk all the ingredient to the dressing together, drizzle over top of salad! Serve immediately:)