Spinach + Pear Spring Salad

Good Afternoon! This morning I hinted towards a side salad recipe I wanted to share with you and… well… here it is.

With the sunshine and warm temperatures finally showing face, I can’t help but to want to make everything a little more springy, including my food.

When we were asked to bring a salad to Easter dinner, I took it as a challenge to try something new and now I can’t stop eating it.

Here’s hoping you enjoy pears, spinach, and blue cheese as much as I do!

Ingredients

Salad:

4 pears, cored and sliced

2 bunches fresh spinach leaves (roughly 2 bags)

1 1/2 cups blue cheese crumbles

1 cup red onion, thinly sliced or diced

Dressing:

3 Tbsp. vinegar

3 Tbsp. olive oil

3 Tbsp. honey

3/4 tsp. ground pepper

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cook time: 15 mins.

servings: 10 – 12

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You can easily cut this recipe to serve 4 by cutting everything down a third. Example, use 1 Tbsp. vinegar, oil, and honey in the dressing and 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles, 1/3 cup red onions, and about 1 1/2 pears instead.

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, honey, and pepper.

2. In a large bowl, add the pear slices and a just a little bit of the dressing and toss to coat. (Skip this step if you’re preparing the salad ahead of time.)

3. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, pears, onions, blue cheese crumbles, dressing, to toss and coat. Refrigerate any leftovers.

This is a great salad to serve immediately at home or even take to a dinner party later on. Simply prepare the ingredients ahead of time and mix them together when you’re ready!

Looking back, I should have sliced the pairs a little thinner, and would have preferred to cut the onion in thin slices rather than chopping it.

Regardless, I prepared this salad early in the morning and served it later at night as part of dinner. To make it travel better, I combined all of the ingredients but the dressing into a large serving bowl, covered it, and didn’t mix it together until close to serving time.

Just minutes before eating, I drizzled on the dressing and tossed everything together with tongs. To avoid making a mess, I actually used two big serving bowls, then transferred everything back into one.

Everyone seemed to like the combination of ingredients, and the picture above was taken a day later, which tells you it also holds well without becoming too soggy.

Gotta love leftovers!