Gina's Spinach Salad

Submitted by Cowgirly

"My friend Gina is amazing- and once you try this spinach salad you'll see why. It's easy, you can prep it ahead of time and everyone (yes, everyone) loves it."

 

• Ready In: 20mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 4-8

ingredients

• SALAD INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups fresh spinach
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese
• 1 lb bacon (cooked and chopped)
• 2 (11 ounce) cans mandarin oranges
• 1⁄2 cup dried cranberries
• candied pecans (may substitute toasted slivered almonds)

• DRESSING INGREDIENTS (enough for 2 batches of above salad)

• 1⁄2 cup sugar
• 1⁄2 cup red wine vinegar
• 3⁄4 cup oil
• 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
• 1⁄2 teaspoon dry mustard (powder)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped onions

directions

1. Put dressing ingredients into blender, and puree -- toss with salad Ingredients and that's it!
2. Hint: You can prepare double the amount of the salad mix then save 1/2 the dressing and have 2 meals. This makes a great big salad.
3. Hint #2 : Don't put the dressing on until right before you eat if you want it to stay crisp!

Reviews

[loof751]

This is a great fresh and delicious salad! LOVED the dressing and it went well with the other ingredients. I didn't use the bacon this time but will definitely add it next time. Thanks for posting this great recipe! Made for Spring PAC 2009

 

[sugarpea]

Fabulous dressing, Cowgirly. The salad was great, too. I did cut the sugar back to 2T and found that just to our liking.

 

[milkyway8]

I've been making this dressing for 30 years now. instead of poppy seed, I use celery seed. You can also replace the dry mustard with a tsp french (yellow mustard)I also make a classic spinach salad with this dressing...spinach, sliced white mushroon, chopped hard boiled egg, red onion, and fried crisp bacon . I can vouch for this dressing as it is the most requested salad when I entertain.