The tandem post will be up later this week.

To tide you over, I’m sharing the recipe for a salad that we have pretty much every year at Christmas. We always spend Christmas Eve at Fred’s father and stepmother’s house (we spend Christmas Eve morning with Fred’s mother and stepfather at our house for breakfast), and we usually have spaghetti and meatballs or lasagna (I grew up eating a turkey dinner type meal for Christmas, so this was kind of weird to me the first few times). We almost always have this spinach salad with that meal, and since I’m a fan of raw spinach (forget the nutritional benefits – I just LIKE it; I know, I’m weird), I finally asked for the recipe so we could occasionally have it through the year.

It’s a salad you make ahead, and it’s even fairly good (though wilted) the next day. You can’t save it for longer than that, though – it gets way too shriveled and wilted to eat, though I guess you could always pick out the mushrooms and eat those (okay, you CAN do that – I don’t know why I’m acting like I’ve never done that.)

The ingredients:

Sliced mushrooms (you could always buy whole mushrooms and slice them, if that’s what floats your boat), spinach (I use baby spinach), red wine vinegar, minced garlic, spinach, salad oil (I use olive oil). Not pictured: salt and pepper.

First, whisk the red wine vinegar, salt, garlic, and pepper together in a plastic dish.

Add the mushrooms, toss, and let marinate in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or so.

Put your spinach in a big plastic container, toss with the olive oil.

Add the marinated mushrooms (including any marinade left in the dish) to the spinach, toss, and then chill for a couple of hours.

This stuff is so good and so easy, I hope you give it a try and like it as much as we do  – I’m looking forward to having it again next week!