Special Occasion Spinach Salad

This is a recipe my wife and I have tinkered with and molded to our likes. We make it for special occasions, as the title suggests. Some of the ingredients are simply "to taste," so feel free to tinker with the proportions to suit your own tastes.

• Ready In: 20 mins
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1 (5 1/2ounce) package fresh spinach
• 4  slices bacon, fried and crumbled
• 1 (4 ounce) bag candied walnuts or 1 (4 ounce) bag pecans
• 1  red pepper, diced
• 1⁄3 cup dried cranberries
• 1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 (4 ounce) container  of crumbled blue cheese
• 1⁄3 cup  raspberry-walnut  vinaigrette (or to taste)

Directions

1. In a large salad bowl, toss first 7 ingredients. Add desired amount of dressing and toss with remaining ingredients. Enjoy!