Here is the recipe for the Spinach Salad with Orange Sesame Dressing prepared by the seniors in the Cooking Club for Seniors in South Arm Community Center. This salad is a nice change from lettuce and tomato and much less expensive. In spring, one can get a bunch of spinach for fifty cents.

Spinach and oranges are both rich in fibre and folate, as well as vitamins A and C. Spinach is a rich source of iron and that’s why the Chinese use spinach for treatment of anemia.

Spinach is undoubtedly one of the best nutritional valued healthy vegetable as the creator of Popeye the sailor man cartoon used spinach as a source of strength.

This salad is very refreshing with the citrus dressing. The toasted sesame seeds and slivered almonds add crunchiness and nuttiness to the salad.

Ingredients

Salad ingredients:

• 2 cups (500ml) chopped fresh spinach
• 1 orange
• 1 tablespoon chopped red or green onion
• 1 tablespoon raisins
• 1 tablespoon toasted slivered almond

Dressing ingredients:

• 1 1/2 teaspoon (7ml) olive oil or canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon (2ml) sesame oil (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon (1ml) honey or sugar
• 1 pinch powdered ginger
• 1 pinch pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon (2ml) orange rind
• 1 tablespoon (15ml) orange juice
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted

Instructions

Wash and dry spinach using a salad spinner. Tear the spinach into bite-sized pieces and place in a serving bowl. If you are using pre-wash spinach sold in plastic bag, you can skip the above step.Finely grate a small amount of peel from the orange and set it aside for the dressing.Peel the orange, slice it into bite-sized pieces and add it to the spinach. Add chopped onion, raisins and toasted almond.

Prepare the dressing by adding all the ingredients for dressing in a bowl, mix well. You can use a jar and shake the ingredients to mix.When ready to serve, pour the dressing on top of the spinach and orange slices and sprinkle with sesame seeds. It was a long story why we added the sesame seeds to the dressing.You may replace the orange with strawberries when they are in season. You may also substitute the sesame seeds with poppy seeds.