Foodie Friday: Chicken Sausage Spinach Salad with Cashews and Goat Cheese

This recipe is actually adapted from an  ad by al fresco for their Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage. I changed some of the ingredients depending on what I could find and what we had on hand. Funny thing is that I ended up not using their sausage. It wasn't available where I was shopping. You can find the original recipe here: http://www.alfrescoallnatural.com/RecipeDetails.aspx?ID=253

This is a yummy fresh and filling salad. Mr Cherry, Peachy, and I all enjoyed it.

Chicken Sausage Spinach Salad with Cashews and Goat Cheese
Ingredients:
-12 oz package sausage of your choice (I used a sausage garlic from Target)
-2 t olive oil
-1/2 c cashews (or whatever nuts you have on hand and would like to substitute)
-1/2 t sugar
-1/8 t cinnamon
-1/2 onion, thinly sliced
-1 pear, thinly sliced
-7 oz baby spinach
-balsamic vinaigrette dressing
-2 oz goat cheese crumbles

Directions:
1. Coat saute pan with olive oil and warm over medium-high heat. Saute nuts 2-3 minutes. Add cinnamon and sugar and toss to coat. Remove from heat.
2. Prepare skillet with cooking spray. Brown sausage over medium-high heat and then cut on bias 1/4'' thick.
3. Place spinach, onion, and pear in mixing bowl. (You can toss with the dressing now or I like to add my own dressing and not dress the entire salad.) Top with sausage, nuts, and cheese.