Whenever I think of healthy lunch options, salads are certainly an obvious choice.  However, salads done poorly can end up being a step in the wrong direction.  If you bring a boring/flavorless/blah salad, it’s going to be all the more tempting to buy something from the food court, go out with coworkers, etc.  Thankfully, salads don’t need to be boring.  To me, it just takes a few components to elevate a salad from blah to omgiwanttoeatthiseveryday.  This salad originated from desperate scrounging in a bare weekend fridge for something, anything, that could constitute lunch.

I combined baby spinach leaves with oven roasted tomatoes, a bit of boursin cheese, crumbled pita chips, and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette.  And then I fell in love.  This has all the components of a really good salad.  Start with greens you actually like as the base.  If you don’t like the base, you’re not going to like the salad.  Roasted tomatoes add another dimension of flavor and boursin provides creaminess (and all around awesome-ness).  Normally I would add croutons for some crunch but I believe my little crouton monster had eaten them all so I opted for crumbled pita chips instead.  They worked so well that now I use them whenever we happen to be out of croutons.  This crave-worthy salad has become a definite favorite of mine.  I hope you like it too!

  • Yield 1 large or 2 small servings

Ingredients

For the dressing:
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the salad:
3 cups baby spinach leaves, washed and dried
About ¼ cup oven-roasted tomatoes
2-3 tbsp. crumbled Boursin cheese
3-4 tbsp. crumbled pita chips

Directions

  • 01

    To make the dressing, combine the olive oil and vinegar in a bottle or jar.  Season with salt and pepper.  Close tightly and shake well.  (I recommend making a double or triple batch to keep on hand for other salads, sandwiches, etc.)

  • 02

    Portion the spinach leaves onto serving plates.  Top with a handful of oven roasted tomatoes, crumbled boursin and pita chips.  Drizzle lightly with the balsamic vinaigrette.

  • 03

    Make ahead tips:  I find that spinach salads hold up well to pre-assembly without wilting as lettuce often does.  For this particular salad, I combine all ingredients except the dressing, transport to work, and dress just before eating.