Spinach and Pear Salad

Ingredients:

• Fresh spinach
• Thinly sliced pear
• Five-spice walnuts
• Essential vinaigrette

I always keep either Five Spice Walnuts or cinnamon-sugared nuts (made with Splenda, of course) on hand. They keep for weeks.

Combine the spinach, thinly sliced pear, and Five Spice Walnuts. Toss lightly with the Essential Vinaigrette (I like to use either white balsamic, champagne balsamic, or raspberry wine vinegar to make it for this particular salad, but you know the drill — Good Seasons dry dressing mix made according to package directions except you use one of the really good vinegars and you add a packet of Splenda).

If your spinach leaves are large, please tear them gently into delicate-sized pieces. The spinach is undoubtedly going to stick in your teeth anyway, but it sure would be nice not to also have it hanging out of one’s mouth during the eating of the salad. Why tear, rather than cut? Spinach will bruise. If you don’t believe me, tear most of it and chop the rest. You’ll see the difference, and the difference ain’t pretty.

As with most salads dowsed with vinaigrette, this one won’t keep well. If you have a bunch of spinach, you can tear the leaves and mix with the nuts and store the unused portion. Slice and add the pear and the vinaigrette immediately before serving.