Recipe Box, Blueberry, Orange & Almond Spinach Salad

the Painted Apron

3 years ago

This is a lovely warm weather salad,

full of fresh blueberries and mandarin oranges

It’s light and refreshing and sure to tickle your tastebuds!

Crisp romaine lettuce, baby spinach, mandarin oranges,

cucumber slices, and fresh blueberries

make up the salad

Fresh orange juice, poppy seed dressing

and sliced almonds top the salad

Place the salad ingredients in a bowl and add the fruit and cucumber

The inspiration recipe has a homemade poppy seed dressing

made with orange juice, {recipe here}

but I had a good bottled Poppy Seed dressing in my refrigerator

so I simply squeezed half a fresh orange over the salad

Squeeze the orange over the salad and drizzle it with dressing

Toss to coat the salad with dressing

Then garnish with almond topping

I used packaged honey roasted almonds with dried berries,

but you can also make my favorite Buttery Almonds for the topping~

They are swoonworthy good! {recipe at the end of this post}

We had this salad as a side dish with grilled Lamb Chops

and Magic Parmesan Garlic Butter Potatoes

So good!

If you want to make this a main dish salad,

add cooked or grilled chicken, ham or steak~

I think BBQ chicken or pulled pork would also be incredible!

Blueberry, Orange, & Almond Spinach Salad

A refreshing salad full of fresh blueberries and oranges, topped with poppy seed dressing and crunchy almonds. A perfect warm weather salad for Spring and Summer. Add cooked chicken, ham or steak to make it a main dish salad

Course Main Course, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword spinach salad, spinach salad with blueberries and oranges, spring salad, summer salad

Prep Time 10

Servings 2

Ingredients

4 cups baby spinach leaves, torn
2 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 fresh orange
1/2 cup mandarin oranges
1/2 cup English cucumber slices*
poppy seed dressing to taste
almond topping to taste
cooked chicken, ham or steak, optional

Instructions

Combine lettuce and spinach in a salad bowl
Add mandarin oranges, blueberries and cucumber
Squeeze orange over salad and drizzle with poppy seed dressing. Toss to combine.
Garnish with almond topping and serve

Notes

Increase ingredient amounts as needed to make more servings

*I used an English cucumber that has a thinner skin, they don’t have to be peeled

**Add cooked, grilled or BBQ chicken, diced ham or steak to make this a main dish

Buttery Almonds

These sweet and savory almonds are a wonderful addition to salads, vegetables and party dips. They only take a few minutes to make and can be stored in a jar and will stay fresh for weeks

Course condiment

Cuisine American

Keyword almonds, buttery almonds, sweet and savory almonds

Prep Time 10

Cool 15

Ingredients

2 cups sliced almonds
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
brown sugar
kosher salt

Instructions

Saute almond slices in a large skillet in butter and Olive oil over medium heat
Sprinkle the nuts liberally with brown sugar and Kosher salt.
The brown sugar will melt and caramelize on the nuts. Stir often and watch carefully so the nuts don’t burn. Don't walk away, this literally only takes 3-4 minutes
When they have begun to brown turn out onto wax paper or foil to cool. Store in a jar in your pantry or freezer. Makes 2 cups.