Spinach Salad with Apples, Walnuts and Goat Cheese

Spinach Salad with Apples, Walnuts and Goat Cheese is a perfect fall salad mixing apples, walnuts, goat cheese on a bed of spinach topped with a lemony vinaigrette dressing.

Salads make an appearance at almost every dinner at my house. That is a lot of salads and they can get boring fast. I like to mix things up by making a wide variety of salads based on my mood and what compliments the meal we are having. Fall apples are a main staple at farmers markets and grocery stores this time of year, which inspired me to make this  Spinach Salad with Apples, Walnuts and Goat Cheese.

When I make salads I like to try and make my own dressing.  I think homemade versions taste freshers and you know exactly what ingredients you are putting in it.  I recently received a bottle of Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil to try out.  I thought what better way to test out this olive oil then a salad dressing.  A salad dressing can showcase the flavors of an olive oil and give you a pretty good idea of the quality and if you like the taste.

I really enjoyed the Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil–it has a light, robust flavor and worked great in this lemon vinaigrette. After a little research I learned that Pompeian Olive Oils started in Tuscany and became America’s first national brand of imported extra virgin olive oil.  On a side note: I  had a chance to do an olive oil tasting in Tuscany and this reminds me of the olive oils I tasted there. I was  in heaven–Italy, wine and olive oil tasting…can’t get much better than that!

Pompeian Olive Oils are USDA Quality Monitored meaning that they go through a rigorous USDA product testing and review of production processes. Participating companies must meet meticulous program criteria in order to fully enter the program. Upon entering the Quality Monitoring Program for olive oil, companies agree to allow the USDA to conduct unannounced visits to review and inspect quality assurance records, test product samples and verify labels on an ongoing basis.

This was great to read and demonstrates that they care out their product and the olive oil they are producing!  Now on to that yummy Spinach Salad with Apples, Walnuts and Goat Cheese..

Adapted from Real Simple

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Disclosure:  I received free product from Pompeian in order to write this review. As always all opinions are my own.

Julia