When we get together for holidays, I find a lot of the dishes are heavy and scarce on produce.  I'm always struggling with how to balance my meal.  For Easter this year I decided to bring a lighter dish that would enable me to fill up on something healthy.  Then I could enjoy smaller portions of the other dishes without feeling guilty and overstuffed at the end of the meal.

I've been on a spinach kick lately, so it's no surprise to me that I ended up making a spinach salad.  I find that mixing spinach with fruit, cheese and nuts ends up feeling decadent, so I thought it would be a great fit for a holiday.  I dressed this with my favorite store bought light balsamic vinaigrette.

You can use just about any fruit, cheese and nut combination you choose.  Since we have a few allergies, I used the following combination, serving the nuts on the side.  I'd estimate this would serve 4 as a meal and 8 as a side.

Here is what I used:

• 1 bag baby spinach, washed
• 6 oz. blueberries, washed
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 3 oz. soft goat cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
• Your favorite balsamic vinaigrette