Apple Cranberry Spinach Salad with Pecans, Avocados (and Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing)

This Apple Cranberry Spinach Salad with Pecans, Avocados (and Marzetti® Simply Dressed® Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing) is so good, you might as well double the recipe when you’re making it! The recipe is filled with so much flavor, that I’m having a hard time finding the right words to describe it but I will try. 🙂 Let’s start with the salad ingredients. They are amazing: fresh produce (spinach), combined with fresh fruit, nuts, and dried cranberries:

Look how pretty the salad looks when all ingredients are mixed together. Just look at all those natural colors. I love to make salads that use the most vibrantly colored fruits and vegetables:

But what really boosts the flavor of this salad and combines all the fresh fruit and the fresh produce together so well is the amazing dressing: Marzetti Simply Dressed Balsamic Vinaigrette. The dressing is so good that my husband, who never eats salads for lunch, ate a whole bowl of it at noon and asked for seconds! Eating a huge amount of salad for lunch is so out-of-the character for my husband that I was shocked.  It is really one of the best tasting store-bought balsamic vinaigrettes that I ever tried!

What I also love about this dressing is that it uses a minimal number of simple ingredients, such as extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, etc. It has no MSG, no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial flavors or colors added. I see this dressing as a great way to incorporate more fresh green leafy vegetables, fresh fruit, and other produce into my family’s diet. Perfect for a fresh lifestyle!

There is something else that I really appreciate about this dressing. I am currently gluten free. Naturally, first thing I did was to visit the Marzetti Simply Dressed website, and, lo and behold, all of their dressings (except Ginger Sesame) are clearly marked as gluten-free! Few things in life make me happier these days than seeing a clear gluten free label on a product I like! 🙂

Because Marzetti Simply Dressed dressings have no preservatives, they have to be refrigerated, so make sure to look for them in the refrigerated section of grocers’ produce departments. You will definitely find me looking and searching for more flavors of this brand: I really want to try their Champagne Salad Dressing, Pomegranate Salad Dressing, or Strawberry Poppyseed Salad Dressing, to name just a few!

Make sure not to add the dressing to the salad until serving time, otherwise the spinach will wilt quickly. Add the dressing right before you’re ready to serve! Also, drizzle just enough dressing to coat the leaves–don’t pour all of it at once–let your taste buds be your guide and use just enough to coat the salad lightly! Enjoy!

Note: This post is sponsored by Marzetti and the product has been provided by them. The opinions and ideas expressed are my own.

How will you use Marzetti Simply Dressed refrigerated salad dressings to make fresh and simple meals for you and your family? Leave a comment below to enter for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card.

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