Serves 8. Contributed by Gaining Ground’s Cookbook Committee.

Salad Ingredients:

• 1 cup walnut halves
• olive oil (enough to coat walnuts)
• pinch or less of salt
• 1 pound baby spinach leaves
• 4 red apples (Fuji or Gala)
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1 cup crumbled blue cheese

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Coat walnuts with olive oil and salt. Spread them out on a cookie sheet and toast them until
golden, shaking the pan once or twice to turn the walnuts, 7 to 10 minutes. Watch carefully as
they burn easily!
Wash and spin the spinach and set it aside.
Core and seed the apples. Slice each apple into thin slivers. Keep apple slices white and crisp by
putting in cold water mixed with the juice of one lemon until you’re ready to assemble the salad.
Whisk together olive oil and vinegar to make a dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Mix spinach, apple slices, onion, blue cheese and toasted walnuts in a large bowl. Pour on the
dressing and toss.

Recipe excerpted from The Gaining Ground Table: Inspirational Recipes Season by Season (2019, Flagship Press).