Spinach Salad with Dried Cranberries & Walnuts

Our local grocery store had some great looking spinach the other day (which is very unusual). I decided a spinach salad with cranberries, carrots and walnuts dressed with balsamic vinaigrette was just the ticket.

I don’t like my salads soggy; I prefer a light touch on the dressing. I had this great idea (or, at least, I thought it was great at the time) to spin the spinach with the dressing in the salad spinner (after washing the spinach, of course). I thought this would put a nice, light coating of dressing on the spinach before I added the other ingredients. Well, about the only thing I succeeded in doing was making a greasy mess out of my salad spinner. Very little dressing, if any at all, actually adhered to the spinach. I think I’ll stick with tossing salad and dressing the old fashioned way from now on.

This spinach salad makes a colorful side dish. You could also throw in some cooked chicken breast to make it a more complete meal. It’s low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol and is a good source of Fiber, Magnesium, Potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate and Manganese. The dried cranberries do add some sugar, so adjust the quantity (or use a different fruit) if necessary to conform with your diabetes eating plan.