Orange, Red Onion and Spinach Salad with Kalamata Olive Vinaigrette

We eat a lot of salads in our house. I tend to rely on a few different salads most of the time, but like to a change things periodically.

This salad uses raw spinach, which is a nutritional powerhouse that is also a cancer fighter. The orange contains a nice sweetness and vitamin C (an antioxidant). The red onions are added for flavor, and for their flavonoids. Consuming onions has been linked to a reduction in a stomach and colon cancer.

The combination of orange, onion and olives is a classic Italian combination. I decided to make black olive vinaigrette to get the olive flavor without the texture. Not all the members of my family like olives, but they do like this salad dressing.

Orange, Red Onion and Spinach Salad with Kalamata Olive Vinaigrette
Makes 4 starter salads

Ingredients:

1 recipe for Kalamata Olive Vinaigrette (below)
8 cups of baby spinach, stems removed
½ red onion, thinly sliced in half moons
1 navel orange, peeled and sliced

Directions:

Prepare Kalamata Olive Vinaigrette.

Remove stems from the 8 cups of baby spinach. Wash and spin the spinach dry. Toss the spinach with the olive vinaigrette. Slice the red onion as thinly as possible into half moon shapes and add to spinach. Toss the salad to evenly distribute the onions. Place dressed spinach and onions on four salad plates.

Remove peel and pith from one orange. Thinly slice the orange into 12 slices (3 per salad). Top each salad with 3 orange slices.

Serve cold, preferably on cold plates.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 81.41
Calories From Fat (56%)- 45.51

Total Fat - 5.17g
Saturated Fat - 0.52g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 137.62mg
Potassium - 396.68mg
Total Carbohydrates - 8.33g
Fiber - 2.33g
Sugar - 3.23g
Protein - 2.19g

Kalamata Olive and Sherry Vinaigrette
makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

6 black olives
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoons of sherry vinegar

Directions:

Place ingredients in a small food processor and puree until you have a thick dressing. If you don’t want to use a food processor you can finely mince the black olives with your chef’s knife and whisk the olive oil and vinegar together and then add the minced olives. This dressing gets plenty of salt from the olives. You can add a little black pepper, but the dressing does not need to flavor boost.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 45.24
Calories From Fat (95%) - 42.93

Total Fat - 4.86g
Saturated Fat - 0.47g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 89.46mg
Potassium - 3.78mg
Total Carbohydrates - 0.58g
Fiber - 0g
Sugar - 0g
Protein - 0g

Comments:

This is a very flavorful salad that is also low in calories. The salad gets a lot of flavor from the black olives and red onion. This is a very fast salad that comes together with only a few ingredients. It is a nice salad to know if you need to add something to a menu that needs another small dish.