A Warm Salad

Tired of eating regular salads and needing to work off the seven pounds you gained over the holidays?  (Oh, wait, that's me,  not you.)  Anyway, check out this super-different salad we fixed this weekend at our house.  It takes a bit more effort than your average toss-it-all-together salad, but it's worth the extra ten minutes.  I had a version of it in a cafe in Asheville, NC, while visiting over the holidays.

Warm Salad

1.  Sautee mushrooms and onions in a bit of olive oil.  (We used half-package of sliced mushrooms and two sweet onions.)  We added a little sugar to the onions while they browned to make them a bit sweeter.  (You could also add diced chicken or cubed tofu if you wanted some protein.) 

2.  Heat up a good balsamic vinegarette in the microwave.  You can make your own, of course, but we just used Newman's Own.  The dressing needs to be warm, not boiling.

3.  When the mushrooms/onions are finished, you need to wilt the salad greens lightly.  We used spring mix, but spinach would work, too.  Take out the mushrooms from the frying pan, and put the spring mix into the same pan.  Put the lid on the pan to heat up the greens just slightly.  Really, if you do it too much they get really limp and start tasting bitter.  You just want the greens warmed (maybe 1-2 minutes on med-low heat).  You can add a bit of olive oil to the pan while you heat up the greens.  OR, you could probably microwave the greens to warm them, too, with a little water and a lid. 

3.  Portion the warmed greens on the salad plates, top with mushrooms/onions, warmed dressing, goat cheese crumbles (love this stuff), and croutons. 

Totally delish.