Fruity Summer Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese

Inspiration comes from many places.  Sometimes I feel so uninspired in the kitchen.  I hate when I go through those phases.

My son and I ate lunch at a local restaurant the other day, and I ordered a version of the above salad.  It was absolutely DELICIOUS and it inspired me to recreate it in my own kitchen.  My recreation was just as wonderful as the original.  With careful measurements, it ended up coming in at 6p+ *for the whole yummy thing!  Not bad at all. * (6p+ when you count all the fruit and spinach as 0 point plus foods)

Fruity Summer Spinach Salad....Tender baby spinach surrounded by a medley of fresh summer fruits....strawberries, kiwi, and blueberries, and finished with sliced almonds and goat cheese, then topped with your favorite bottled poppyseed dressing.  YUM!  

The poppyseed dressing I used was Kraft.  To easily measure out the perfect portion, put your salad filled plate on your kitchen scale and zero it out, then pour the dressing to the amount indicated for one serving.

Fruity Summer Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese

inspired by Houlihan's Spinach Salad

Printable Recipe

Servings - 1   Serving size - one salad   Points Plus per serving - * SEE BELOW

(Salad NO DRESSING) Calories - 312.5,   Total Fat - 10.8g,   Carb. - 48.6g,   Protein - 11.3g,   Fiber - 12.6g

*Please note, you can either count the fruit and spinach as 0 pp, and use the pp values for the almonds and goat cheese, which would give the salad a pp value of 3p+ OR you can calculate the nutrition information to give the salad an 8p+ value, WITHOUT the dressing. 

Ingredients: 

2 cups of organic baby spinach leaves

1 cup of fresh strawberries, halved

1 cup or fresh blueberries

1 large kiwi, peeled and sliced

1 TBS sliced almonds

1 oz. soft goat cheese, broken up into pieces 

Directions: 

Assemble salad on plate with spinach as base topped by the rest of the ingredients.  Finish with your favorite dressing ( I used poppyseed)  Remember to add the calories/point plus values for the dressing. 

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FINALLY!  My life seems to be coming to a more manageable speed.  Both of my older kids are off to college and all settled in.  I have to admit.  Sending away my middle son proved to be a heart wrenching experience for me.  But I will be fine!  lol  

My youngest is back in high school and the craziness that was the summer of 2012 is behind me...I hope!  I am hoping to be back to regular blogging soon!  It seems in my hiatus, I have stumbled into a cooking slump!  Bad timing.  I'm sure it's nothing that an afternoon of pinterest browsing and food blog reading won't cure though!  :)  

Make this salad while the last bit of summer is still with us!  It will make you HAPPY!  I know it made me very happy!  

Easy White Chocolate Berry Dessert

This summer has been a HOT one for just about everyone I think! So hot you hate to turn the oven on...at least I know I do.   Why not give this easy NO BAKE dessert a try?  Layers of angel food cake, white chocolate pudding, and summer fresh berries sprinkled white chocolate make it irresistible.  It's actually a little twist on the Easy Butterfinger Dessert I posted awhile back...and it was a hit at a BBQ I took it to last month. 

It really makes an easy throw together dessert, that is company worthy.

And the best part?  You can enjoy it without all the guilt!

Easy White Chocolate Berry Dessert

MKA original recipe

Printable Recipe

Servings - 16   Serving Size- 1/16th of recipe   Points Plus per Serving - 5 Points+

Calories - 188.4,   Total Fat - 1.8g,   Carb. - 38.7g,   Protein - 3.4g,   Fiber - 0.8g

1 ( 10" diameter) prepared angel food cake, cut into 1" cubes

1 (1oz.) pkg White chocolate flavored, sugar free, fat free instant pudding mix

1 1/2 cups skim milk

2 ( 8oz) containers of Cool Whip Free, thawed

2 cups of mixed berries ( such as strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries)

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1.  To make the chips into smaller pieces, place in food processor and whiz with the blade for 30 seconds or so, until they resemble crumbs.  This will allow them to cover more area and are a little nicer on the palate when eating.  Set aside.  

2.  In a 13 x 9" glass dish, spray with cooking spray.  Arrange half the angel food cake cubes in bottom of dish.  

3. In large bowl, combine the pudding mix with the milk.  Whisk until it starts to get thick.  Fold in both containers of Cool Whip Free.  

4.  Spread half of the pudding mix over the cubes in the pan.  Top with 1 cup of fresh berries and sprinkle with half the white chocolate crumbs.  Repeat layers.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit in fridge for about 1/2 an hour before serving. 

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For a little extra pizzaz, marinate your berries in a little Grand Marnier before placing them into the dessert!  Wow!  ( Nutrition information above does not reflect the addition of Grand Marnier, and I may have done this with my dish!  :) 

As I mentioned above, this was a HUGE hit at the BBQ I took it to.  Everyone wanted to know how to make it.  So easy!  

I still have a lot of stuff going on in my life, but I am going to try really hard to get back into the swing of things with this blog.  She has been neglected for most of the summer, I know.  What can you do? 

Honestly, I am never happy about the end of summer.  I am they type of person who could do summer year round without a problem.  I do appreciate the fall season though....just never quite thrilled with what comes after it.  Personally, I am hoping for another gift of a warm winter with little snow again.  Can we get a repeat of last winter please?  haha

I also wanted to give a quick shout out of HUGE congrats to my friend Nicole over at PreventionRD who is in the midst of getting together her first cookbook!!!!  She so deserves this honor.   Congrats Nicole!!!  

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Tastetastic Thursdays @ A Little Nosh