Sweet Spinach Salad

 

 

Like many of you, my family has been stocking up on groceries due to the coronavirus.  And while it’s all good to be prepared, this has caused one recurring issue. A lot of the food is getting pretty close to its expiration date….  Specifically the big box of spinach that we purchased from Costco. I mean even after a week of eating spinach with practically every meal we still have tons of the stuff.  And I’m not a fan of wasting food, so we had to use it up! That’s when my mom remembered an old recipe for sweet spinach salad that she hadn’t made in years. She clamored on about how great of a salad it was, and I figured, what the hell do we have to lose?

 

The recipe in question is one that she received from the wife of someone she used to work for named Mrs. Gump.  And no, she’s not related to Forest. Anyways the recipe she had is as follows.

Now, to be honest, When I first saw the list ingredients I thought that it sounded a little iffy.  I mean ketchup, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and rice vinegar aren’t necessarily things that you would normally associate with one another.  But she insisted that it was good, so I felt like I had to humor her. Plus what’s wrong with trying new things, right?

 

So we ended up making it, with a few modifications of course, and all I can say is WOW!  I’m telling you this is an AMAZing salad. And that’s saying something because I usually don’t like sweet salads, but this stuff is good…..  Oh so good. And it pairs with so many things such as grilled meats, or pasta. So if you’re willing to give it a try then let’s get into the recipe.  You won’t regret it!

 

Tips, Tricks & Suggestions

• The original recipe from Mrs. Gump added bacon and hard-boiled eggs to the spinach salad.  However, I wasn’t really feeling like boiling eggs, or frying bacon so instead I used dried cranberries and walnuts.  That being said the key to the recipe is the dressing and the spinach. So feel free to add other things like cheese, vegetables, or other types of nuts that you either like or have on hand.
• If you don’t like the idea of ¾ cup of sugar in the dressing then you can easily swap it out with Splenda, honey, or agave syrup.  However, you will need to adjust the amounts for each. For Splenda only use ¾ of a teaspoon, for honey use a ½ cup, and for agave syrup use a ⅓ cup.
• I will say that this recipe does make a lot of salad so feel free to reduce every ingredient by half.  Or do as I do and make the salad dressing and then toss the salad for the servings you need over the course of a few days.
• Check out some of our other salad recipes like broccoli salad, arugula & mushroom salad, and shirazi salad.

 

 

Sweet Spinach Salad Recipe

 

Total time: 10 minutes

 

Servings: 10

 

Ingredients

 

15 oz. of Spinich

1 to 2 Cups of walnuts

1 to 2 Cups of dried cranberries

 

For the dressing:

¾ Cup of Sugar

⅓ Cup of Ketchup

¼ Cup of Rice wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce

2 Tablespoon of vegetable oil

½ an Onion

 

Instructions

 

1. Make the salad dressing: Get out a blender and add all of the salad dressing ingredients to it.  Then blend it on high for about a minute until the onion is completely pureed. Transfer the dressing to a jar and let it sit in your fridge until it is cool.

 

2. Assemble and toss the salad: Get out a large bowl and add the spinach, nuts, and cranberries to it.  Then pour half of the salad dressing over everything and toss until every piece of spinach is coated in the dressing.  Taste it and add more dressing if you feel it needs it.

 

3. Serve the sweet spinach salad in bowls along with some of the reserved dressing and enjoy!

 

 

Try out these other spinach salad recipes that I recommend

From Taste of Home

From Gimme Some Oven