Recipe Of The Day: Chopped Apple Salad w/ Toasted Walnuts, Bleu Cheese & Strawberry Vinaigrette

Summertime calls for lighter eating, but most of us never heed that word. This Summertime salad is light, healthy and exploding with flavor unlike some of these sad rabbit food looking concoctions we have been seeing in restaurants lately. The strawberry vinaigrette tops off the crunch from the toasted walnuts and tang from the bleu cheese crumbles deliciously.
The added sweetness from the chopped apples just helps to keep everything flowing smoothly together, instead of weighing down your plate like a few slices of chicken breast would normally do.
Enjoy this early in the day or late at night, it wont leave you feeling sluggish when your finished, we promise.

Strawberry Vinaigrette:

1/4 Cup Strawberry Molasses

2 TBS Red Wine Vinegar

1 Heaping Tablespoon Dijon Mustard

1 TBS Honey, Or More To Taste

Kosher Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

3/4 Cup Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

Salad:

6 Apples (Granny Smith, Gala, Fuji) Any Or A Combination Of All, Skin Left On, Core Removed And Cut Into 1/2-Inch Dice

2 Cups Baby Spinach

2 Heads Endive, Thinly Sliced

1 Cup Toasted Coarsely Chopped Walnuts

3/4 Pound Blue Cheese, Crumbled (Recommended: Maytag, Danish, Cabrales)

Kosher Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Directions:

For the vinaigrette:

Whisk together the strawberry molasses, vinegar, mustard, honey and salt and pepper in a medium bowl.

Slowly whisk in the olive oil until emulsified.

For the salad:

Combine the apples, spinach, endive, walnuts and blue cheese in a large bowl.

Add the vinaigrette and toss to coat, season with salt and pepper, to taste.