Healthy Meal Alert: Spinach Granola Salad with Raspberry Yogurt Vinaigrette

Isn’t this salad beautiful? I just love the colors.

What’s more than just the colorful hue of the salad, is the flavor. In the summer months, I really like to pump up the volume on my salad intake. I eat salad year round…but when summer rolls around I typically have a lot more in good quality produce choices.

I actually saw the idea for this salad in Cuisine at Home Magazine. I had never even heard of it until I was staying at my sister’s in Chicago and her husband showed it to me. It’s a fabulous magazine and great for those who are starting out cooking. It has great step by step photos and explains everything….but has fabulous inventive recipes, too! (And no…they aren’t paying me for this free PR)

I made this salad with my homemade granola. I ALWAYS have it in the house because my husband takes it to work to eat with fruit and yogurt daily. If you want the chunks in the granola, just don’t stir the granola when it comes out of the oven. Let it cool, and then you can break up the chunks into desired pieces. I hear laying a cookie sheet on top while it cools works great too, but I’ve had good luck with the former instructions without dirtying another cookie sheet.

What I love about this salad that it’s FULL of good for you ingredients. If you look at a nutrition guide…all of these items will be listed. It’s full of omega 3’s, calcium, anti-oxidants, and folic acid. You won’t even know while eating it….it’s that amazing. Use a good olive oil, the flavor really makes a difference. Don’t fret too much about the fat in the olive oil, it’s got more of the ‘good for you’ fats, plus you need a bit of fat in the food to actually absorb these vitamins anyway.

Enjoy!




Spinach Granola Salad with Raspberry Yogurt Vinaigrette
Recipe derived from: Cuisine at Home Magazine, June 2009

1 bag spinach
½ -2/3 cup granola chunks (see my homemade granola recipe)
½ cup fresh raspberries
½ sliced peach or mango
½ cup shelled edamame, steamed

Raspberry Yogurt Vinaigrette
½ cup olive oil (I used Storm Ranch)
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar (Alessi makes a decent one that’s easy to find at most grocers)
1 teaspoon non-fat vanilla yogurt (you can use plain if you would like and any ‘fat’ content you wish is up to you)
Freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt to taste

Directions: Assemble the salad ingredients into the bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, raspberry vinegar and yogurt. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the desired amount of dressing on the salad and toss. Serve immediately.

Tip: If you plan on serving this later in the day, just save the dressing until you are about to serve it. The dressing should be stored in the refrigerator, but bring it down to room temp to mix back together.

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