Spinach Salad with Cherries

I'm so lucky to count so many great people from the foodie community as my friend's! Among us, we come up with great ideas. One of these ideas was an ingredient swap, where we had to send the person we were matched with an ingredient that is only sold in our area. With friend's  from all over the country, this was bound to be fun! I was matched with Abby from Manila Spoon. She lives in Michigan, originally from the Philippines , and she sent me a container of dried cherries along with a note saying that Michigan is the cherry capital of the US. The cherries are from Shoreline Fruit, from Traverse City, Michigan, dried Montmorency cherries. I forgot to get a picture of the container!

I had a couple of ideas of what to make with them, and kept going back and forth with the ideas. Did I want to make something sweet like cookies or fudge, or something healthy and Spring-like? The weather the day I wanted to make it decided it for me, although the past 3 days have been chilly and now we are under a freeze warning for tonight! The tomatoes and peppers have been covered, and I'll bring the herb pots in and hope for the best.

I made a small salad since it was just for me, my husband, and daughter, so if making for more people just double or triple the recipe. The cherries are sweet, but not too sweet, and pair nicely with the spinach and goat cheese. I love goat cheese, but if you don't, feta or blue cheese would work!

Spinach Salad with Cherries 

4 cups torn spinach, washed, steams removed, and torn into bite size pieces

1 cup grape tomatoes

⅓ cup purple onion, sliced thin

¼ cup dried cherries, chopped

¼ cup crumbled goat cheese

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Wash and dry the spinach well, remove the steams and tear into bite size pieces. Combine all the veggies in a bowl and top with the crumbled goat cheese, extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. Gently tossed to combine. This salad could be refrigerated for a few hours, covered, before serving. Delicious and nutritious!! Even my daughter loved it, but she was convinced the dried cherries were raisins 🙂

I hope everyone in the US has a great Memorial Day! Before you head out to your cookouts could you please take one minute to vote for Rants From My Crazy Kitchen on Circle of Mom's Top 25 Foodie Mom's 2013 < Just click on the name, scroll down on the voting page, and click on the heart by my name. That's it, and you can vote once every 24 hours until June 4th at 4 PM. Thanks so much!