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!