"Spinach Salad" news and stories

The blogger herself says it best: "I subscribe to a ton of food blogs, and generally get a handful of recipes delivered to my inbox each day. The gems get filed away under the bulging To Make list. Very rarely do I receive a recipe that sounds so good it produces a Run-Don't-Walk level of urgency. This salad is of the Run-Don't-Walk variety."

It's a satisfying main-course salad, especially with addition of black-eyed peas and black beans, but light enough for a warm summer day thanks to the bright, tangy dressing, sweetened with agave nectar (talk about a great secret weapon!).

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I was one of those kids that actually loved spinach. Mom always served the canned stuff when I was a kid and I couldn't get enough of it. I never understood the cliche that kids hate to eat spinach. Is that really true? And while I'm asking questions, why do green veggies (spinach, green beans, etc) get cold really quickly?

Today is Spinach Day. About.com has a ton of great recipes, including Amaretto Spinach Salad, Beef and Spinach Deep Dish Pizza, Lemony Chicken Soup with Spinach, Creamed Spinach, and Spinach Pie.

Oh, and here's the history of Popeye.

If you are totally flummoxed as to what side dishes to serve at your Thanksgiving meal this year, why not let the stars decide?

The folks over at AOL Horoscopes, with the help of astrologer Sabra Ricci, have put together a collection of side dishes and star sign pairings. For the Leos in your life, why not try Curried Creamed Onions or Spinach Salad with Oranges and Walnuts. Scorpios are partial to Pecan Stuffing and Fig-Walnut Salad and it's Garlic Mashed Potatoes for your Aquarius friends and family.

Whether or not the predictions are right on or they totally miss the mark, many of the recipes sound tasty and worthy of a place on your table. Check out the full article to see what they recommend for you (as a Taurus, the suggested Candied Yams have me drooling and ready for Thanksgiving to arrive now)!

Source

One weekend four summers ago, my then-boyfriend and I drove from Philly to a little town in the New York Berkshires, to spend some time with his mom and her boyfriend of 15+ years. They had a gorgeous, mid-century modern house, with a vibrantly green yard, that gently slopped down for several hundred yards, until it met a stream. Sunday afternoon, after a slightly tense, but mostly fun weekend, Susan served us one last meal before we hit the road. She pulled out some cold, poached salmon, a spinach salad with a special, broiled lemon dressing and a blueberry and mango fruit salad. It was all delicious, but the thing that really stuck with me was that spinach salad. I must have gushed over it, because a few days later, the recipe appeared in my mailbox.

It was printed in the New York Times Dining and Wine section sometime in 2002 or the first half of 2003 (there's no date on the clipping she sent me) and is adapted from Lemon Zest, a cookbook by Lori Longbotham. The recipe is after the jump...

photo by Marisa McClellan