This recipe is a client favorite, and so welcome this time of year.

This time of year we doulas are often whipping up warm and nurturing soups, baked dishes, hearty stews or roasts (in the crock pot sometimes!) and filling breakfasts for our tired and hungry clients. Fall is such a fun time to cook and eat, and the food is so nurturing that it fits in super well with doula support.

I have been asked to share one of my most requested recipes for a warm spinach salad. My mom shared it with me, and I am happy to share with others. What I love about this dish is that it is full of iron rich spinach (so good for rebuilding blood after all the loss of childbirth) and it is warm and delicious. A great way to get those amazing greens into your recovering body.

As with all my recipes, most of the items can be adjusted or omitted, and the amounts can be tampered with to your liking. The only thing that is essential is the ratio for the dressing (1/1/1 is the best combination there).

Warm spinach salad (with bacon)

large bag of spinach leaves (I use a 1 lb bag of baby spinach; this can also be  halved or easily doubled for company)

1 lb of bacon (less for the calorie conscious)

1 lg onion (I prefer sweet, but you can use red or white as well), thinly sliced

1 lb mushrooms (your choice, I like the brown button kind), sliced

4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and sliced

seasoning (I like to use Montreal Steak Seasoning)

Cook the bacon until it is done to your liking (crispy works best), save the bacon grease. Cool and crumble bacon and add to the spinach. Add sliced hard boiled eggs to spinach as well. Make sure you have a big enough bowl to be able to toss the salad; you might want a mixing bowl and another serving bowl to keep it pretty after it wilts a bit.

Cook the onion in the grease until golden and soft. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Use remaining grease to cook mushrooms, seasoning as needed. Combine onion and mushrooms.

Dressing:

1/3 c sugar

1/3 c water

Combine and heat until sugar is melted (microwave is easy for this)

then add 1/3 c apple cider vinegar (red wine vinegar works as well, haven't experimented beyond that yet)

To serve I usually heat the dressing and mush/onion mixture and pour over the spinach mixture. Toss a couple minutes to get everything coated and distribute the warmth to all the leaves. Serve quickly, and finish the bowl (not a hard thing to do). This does not keep well, and you will be able to eat more of it than you think.

Ok, this is why it takes me so darn long to write down a recipe! Have to include all those bits and pieces that you probably would have figured out on your own. But there, it is done. And forever when a client says, 'I would love this recipe,' I can now say..."It is on my blog."