Summer Salad with Spinach, cranberries and roasted almond- light and refreshing!

2014-08-18
  • Servings : 4
  • Prep Time : 5m
  • Cook Time : 1m
  • Ready In : 6m

What does summer mean to you?

My childhood summers remind me of fresh lemonade or nimbu sharbat as we call it in India, watermelon, sugarcane juice and afternoons spent playing lots of card games with my cousins.

When the sun blazes down on you, hot and spicy meals are a big no-no. All one wants to eat is a nice light salad.

Last night, all I wanted was to quickly put together something that would really liven my spirits. I peeped into my fridge and found some lovely baby spinach sitting in there.

So I thought to myself, This looks good.. a excellent way to boost the iron content in my food.

So I got hold of my new Oxo Salad spinner and popped the leaves in. It is very important to spin the leaves and get rid of the excess water. Makes the salad taste so much nicer.

Normally using the salad spinner is a chore, but this smart little gadget from OXO, sure is the best one out there.

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For starters, it vacuum sticks itself right onto the table, and at the press of a button, keeps on spinning until you hit the brakes, just another button to stop. Saves time.. and elbow grease. You might not develop those triceps yet, but hey!

 

Then I remembered my mum’s advice of always having Vitamin C along with an iron rich meal. Did you know that Vitamin C helps absorb iron from food better?

So out came an orange, to go into the dressing… interesting, eh?

This was a good chance to use my new little salad dressing shaker from OXO.  There are shakers and there are shakers but this one beats them all. Can’t tell you how cute it is.

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It is the Pikachu of Pokemons. Small but mighty.

I love orange zest- just the citrusy smell of the zest is enough to lift my spirits. Some oil, seasonings, shake, shake shake and minutes later, a lovely tangy dressing was made.

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The mighty Duo!

The mighty Duo!

 

See how beautifully it emulsifies. Just love this shaker.

Dinner was splendid- and all shaking and stirring was delegated!

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I’m sure you’ll love this salad- light, fresh, crunchy and tangy- it will be the highlight of your meal.

Ingredients

  • Baby Spinach leaves- 1 cup
  • Onion, thinly sliced- 1/4 cup
  • Feta cheese, crumbles- 1/2 cup
  • Sliced almonds, roasted- 1/4 cup
  • Dried Cranberries- 1/2 cup
  • FOR THE DRESSING:
  • Balsamic vinegar- 3 tbsp
  • Orange juice- 3 tbsp
  • Orange zest- 1 tsp

Method

Step 1

Wash and clean spinach. Spin it in the salad spinner, and place in a serving bowl.

Step 2

Crumble the feta cheese. Slice the onions.

Step 3

Add half of the feta or goat cheese and onion. Toss together gently.

Step 4

Add the dressing ingredients to the shaker. Shake, shake, shake.

Step 5

Pour over salad . Mix well.

Step 6

Garnish with remaining cheese and cranberries.

Step 7

Serve straight away.

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