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Winter Spinach Salad Great Taste For Spring

Charlotte Balcomb Lane Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service

Spring is only a bite away with this fresh-tasting Winter Spinach Salad with Oranges and Olives.

The whole salad - including a refreshing Low-Oil Orange and Honey Dressing - has less than 100 calories and seven grams of fat per serving. Most commercial salad dressings serve up more fat and calories in a single tablespoon.

And this elegant salad doesn’t scrimp on flavor, so you won’t feel like you’re doing penance by eating greens. Crisp, iron-rich spinach is topped with an interesting combination of salty olives, sweet orange sections, tart tomatoes and mild mushrooms.

For added convenience, spinach is often sold in supermarkets in bags, already washed and ready to eat. Olives can be stored for months in your refrigerator. (For a salad that is lower in sodium, omit the olives.)

The Low-Oil Orange and Honey Dressing is made with orange juice, so it is the perfect complement to the salad. It contains two tablespoons of olive oil, which adds flavor and helps the dressing cling to the spinach leaves.

This dressing is also excellent on other types of lettuces, including mock Caesars made with romaine and garden-variety tossed salads made with iceberg.

Winter Spinach Salad With Oranges And Olives

10 ounces fresh spinach, washed, drained and dried

1 large navel orange, peeled and sectioned

8 pitted green olives, sliced widthwise into circles

2 roma tomatoes, sliced lengthwise into wedges

4 fresh mushrooms, sliced

Low-Oil Orange and Honey Dressing (recipe follows)

Divide the spinach into four servings. Divide the orange segments into four servings. Top with slices of olives and tomato. Place one fresh sliced mushroom atop each serving.

Serve with Low-Oil Orange and Honey Dressing.

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving, without dressing: 48 calories, 4 grams protein, 8 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams fat (38 percent fat calories), no cholesterol, 252 milligrams sodium.

Low-Oil Orange And Honey Dressing

5 tablespoons orange juice, preferably fresh squeezed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon Dijon or whole-grain mustard

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon honey

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed

Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tightfitting lid or a cruet with a secure stopper. Shake well to completely combine all ingredients. Store in refrigerator up to one week before serving. Serve over Winter Salad or other salad.

Yield: 6 (1-1/2 tablespoons) servings.

Nutrition information per serving for dressing: 51 calories, 3 grams carbohydrate, 5 grams fat (88 percent fat calories), no cholesterol, 80 milligrams sodium.

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