Apple Brie Spinach Salad

I love salads. I, sadly, turn back to the same old salad on a nightly basis: romaine greens, tomatoes, olives, croutons, sunflower seeds, and cheese. Every night. B-O-R-I-N-G! When I have guests over I really try to pull a new salad recipe out - if I can find on that will match the menu. I mean we all know you can't have a Caesar salad if you're doing Chinese food, right? You do know that right?

Ahem.

So over the weekend I had some lovely girls over for girl talk and food. Other type of food was being brought over, so I opted to make a salad. Simple. I chose the Apple Brie Spinach Salad that I've had in my recipe box forever.

In the end I didn't follow the recipe. I wanted to, but got so caught up in the making of the salad missed some very significant parts. The recipe is still downstairs and will be made correctly over the next couple of days because I have all the ingredients AND because the way I made it was so good, I'm sure the right way would be even better.

Apple Brie Spinach Salad

Serves 6

• 2 large Apples, cut into 1/2 inch wedges
• 2 to 3 tablespoons Maple syrup, divided
• 5 cups Fresh baby spinach
• 1/4 round Brie or Camembert Cheese (8 oz), cubed
• 1/3 cup Pecan halves, toasted
• 1/4 cup Apple cider
• 1/4 cup Vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons Cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 small clove Garlic, minced well

1. Place apples on an ungreased baking sheet; brush with 2T maple syrup. Broil 3-4 minutes. Turn; brush with remaining syrup. Broil 3-5 minutes longer or until crisp-tender.

2. In a large salad bowl, combine spinach, cheese, pecans and apples. In a small sauce pan; combine apple cider, vegetable oil, cider vinegar, Dijon mustard and garlic; bring to a boil. Pour over salad and toss to coat.

3. Serve immediately.

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Jenn's Notes:

Right, so that whole step about baking the apples? I completely missed. I simply diced up my apples and tossed them in the salad and THEN read the recipe. Lesson here...READ the RECIPE first! Although I'm not a huge fan of cooked apples, so I wondered how the dressing would taste if I put that maple syrup in it as well. We shall see.

I also didn't use spinach. While I LOVE raw spinach, I felt more like baby spring greens.