Veri Teriyaki Bowtie Spinach Salad

I am very excited about this spinach salad recipe.  I found it at one of my favorite blogs “The Dear Diary Stories.”  Marta is the author, and she said she eats a version of it almost every week.  If you want to see beautiful photos of this recipe, click on over to her site.

So let’s start with the dressing-oh yum.  I think the key ingredient is Soy Vay Veri Veri Teri Yaki Marinade. Why did I not know about this product?

I found it at Walmart and was happy to see that it did not have high fructose corn syrup in it.  My girls loved it, to my relief, because they are very picky about their salad dressings!

I made this recipe last night for the first time.  We had about an hour before we had to leave for my daughter’s soccer game, so I needed something for dinner that was fast and healthy.

I threw some chicken on the grill (seasoned with grill seasoning), put some noodles on to boil, and chopped a red pepper. The dressing went together in a snap-I used a mason jar of course. 🙂

This dish is well rounded, it contains a protein, carb, vegetables, and fruit- all in the one dish.  It took maybe 20 minutes to make–I love feeding my family easy, healthy “fast” food:)

Veri Teriyaki Bowtie Spinach Salad 

16 oz. bowtie pasta, cooked and rinsed with cold water to cool
1 bag of baby spinach
1-2 cans of mandarin oranges
1 cup craisins
1 red pepper, chopped
1 bunch green onions (didn’t use)
1 cup peanuts or cashews (didn’t use)
1/2 cup fresh parsley (optional-didn’t use)

1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted (optional-didn’t use)

  2 cups cooked chicken (optional)

Dressing:
1 cup oil ( I used canola, wondering if olive oil would taste mild enough for this)
2/3 cup white wine vinegar (didn’t have any, used rice vinegar-was great!)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2/3 cup Soy Vay Teriyaki sauce (or any brand-I recommend Soy Vay!)
5 Tbs sugar (I used rapadura)

Cook pasta according to directions.  Drain and rinse with cold water, let sit while whisking the dressing together.  (I put it all in a jar and gave it a good shake)  Pour dressing over pasta and let refrigerate for an hour ( I skipped this, didn’t have time).  Combine salad ingredients in a bowl, add pasta/dressing and combine.

***I put all the ingredients in separate small bowls and let my family build their own salads.  It worked well, no soggy leftover salad.

****The next day,  I tossed all the leftovers, (minus the spinach and mandarin oranges) together in a bowl, added cut up clementines, and it made the most amazing, fresh-tasting pasta salad!! Mmmm.