Thursday, April 24, 2014

Warm Spinach Salad


I like bacon.
In fact... I love bacon. Sue does too. Her motto is "Bacon Makes Everything Better". It's true. 
We could fry up a pound or two of it and just dig in.
Unfortunately society tends to look at you sideways you when you just eat bacon and nothing else. 
I had to come up with a way to eat bacon but make seem like it was just a coincidence that I was doing so.
Like...no, no, no, I'm eating a healthy and nutritious salad - what do you mean there's bacon in there?
*tah-dah*
Bacon salad. 
Ummm.... I mean.... spinach salad which just so happens to also have bacon in it. 


Warm Spinach Salad

Ingredients
Dressing
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 pkgs Sugar Twin Stevia
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
1/4 tsp paprika
dash of Worcestershire
1 clove garlic, minced
salt & pepper

Salad
5 cups baby spinach, torn
3 slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 of a purple onion, sliced thin
12 grape tomatoes, halved
5 button mushrooms, sliced

Garnish
2 pecan halves, finely chopped
1 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, shredded

Directions
In a small bowl whisk together the vinegar, Stevia, sesame seeds, paprika, Worcestershire, garlic, and salt & pepper. Set aside.


Place the 5 cups of spinach onto a serving plate (or bowl). Set aside.


In a large frying pan over medium heat, cook bacon until it just starts to crisp. Add in onions, tomatoes, and mushrooms.


Cook and stir until mushrooms soften - about 2 - 3 minutes.
Stir the dressing into the frying pan with the veggies. Simmer 2 - 3 minutes until veggies reach your desired level of doneness and dressing thickens slightly. 
Use a slotted spoon to remove the veggies and place them on the spinach. Then take a spoon and drizzle as much of the dressing from the pan over the salad as you like. 
Sprinkle with the chopped pecans and Parmesan cheese.


The spinach wilts a little from the heat of the veggies and makes this a lovely dinner that doesn't feel like a salad. I love the tangy dressing but found I didn't have to spoon too much on the salad as the cooked veggies retain a lot of the flavor and moisture. 
According to Myfitnesspal, the nutritional count is - 354 calories, 22 carbs, 16 fat, and 25 protein. 
That's for the whole recipe - it is a single serving!
(Salad only - 326 calories, 16 carbs, 15 fat, and 24 protein)
(Dressing only - 29 calories, 6 carbs, 1 fat, 1 protein)


See... it's healthy to eat bacon. 

Be sure to visit Hun...What's For Dinner and Mama Buzz for some fabulous links!

3 comments:

  1. I agree with Sue, "Bacon makes everything better." Of course, I also say that about butter. Beautiful salad - made even better by the bacon!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Jean :) (We agree, butter is fantastic too!)

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  2. Oh YUM! Extra bacon on mine please, LOL. Thanks so much for sharing with us at Simple Supper Tuesday.

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