
Recipe by Chef Cindy
Spinach Salad with Roasted Shiitake Mushrooms is a vegan spin on the “classic” spinach salad served with hard-boiled eggs, sliced mushrooms, crumbled bits of bacon, and topped with a vinaigrette dressing. It is best to lower your carbon footprint by omitting the eggs and bacon. Roasted shiitake mushrooms are an easy and delicious replacement for bacon. They're super healthy also!

Learn more from our community on some gradual tips towards a plant-based diet!
Spinach is a SUPERFOOD!
Spinach is loaded with tons of nutrients in a low-calorie package. Dark, leafy greens like spinach are important for skin, hair, and bone health. Spinach has large quantities of vitamin A and vitamin C which are crucial for the building and maintenance of collagen which provides structure to skin and hair. Leafy green vegetables also contain the highest amounts of vitamin K which are a necessary nutrient to build and maintain healthy bones. Just 1 cup of raw spinach fulfills a daily requirement for both men and women!
Is spinach good for the environment too?
Spinach is very sustainable when not grown with pesticides. It has a relatively low carbon footprint (0.34 kg CO2e per 2 pounds of fresh spinach production) and a low water footprint (35 gallons of water per 1 pound of spinach production). However, spinach is a vegetable that is often grown with high amounts of synthetic pesticides making it one of the "dirty dozen" crops. According to a pesticide analysis performed by the USDA in 2016, there was an average of 7 different pesticides/insecticides/fungicides found on conventionally grown spinach crops. These pesticides can be very harmful to our health if consumed in large enough quantities and are also extremely detrimental to soil health!
Luckily you can still enjoy spinach and be sure that it's positively impacting your body and the environment. When purchasing spinach, BUY ORGANIC, locally grown spinach. If you can't find organic spinach be sure to wash your spinach several times before consuming it.
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Spinach Salad With Roasted Shiitake Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 3 cups cups of spinach leaves
- 3 ½ oz of shiitake mushrooms
- 4 red radishes
- 4 Japanese salad turnips
- ½ cup cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Place spinach leaves in a salad spinner to clean. Loose (not packaged) spinach leaves can be very dirty so it may take 3 cycles of cleaning in the salad spinner.
- Cut the dirty stems off the shiitake mushrooms & wipe clean with a damp paper towel, if needed. Slice them crosswise as thin as possible.
- Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with 2 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon or more of sea salt.
- Roast at 375 for approximately 20 min or until crispy.
- While roasting, slice the radishes and turnips into a matchstick cut.
- Clean the tomatoes and slice each in half.
- Plate the spinach and top with radishes, turnips, tomatoes and top with roasted mushrooms.
- Finish off with freshly ground pepper and a drizzle of olive oil & balsamic vinegar, to taste.
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