Italian Blue Salad with Apricot Dressing

An “Italian Blue” Salad – mixed greens served with blue cheese, honey roasted pecans, fresh blueberries and a homemade apricot vinaigrette dressing. Great for a fresh summer salad, your family will love it!

There’s a pizza place in Charlotte (my hometown) called Alino’s that has become a popular meeting place for family get-togethers. It’s basically a big warehouse with a ton of seating that serves large pizzas, a select few salads and gelato.

This salad is a copycat of the one I usually order every time I visit (when it’s in season). It’s so good I just had to learn to make it at home!

The online menu calls this a “blue mix salad” but the handwritten board in the restaurant calls it “Italian Blue.” So that’s what we’re going with.

I even googled an “Italian Blue Salad” to see if it was like a well-known thing and I didn’t know it, but it doesn’t appear to be. I instead could have called this “mixed greens salad with blue cheese, honey roasted pecans, blueberries and apricot vinaigrette dressing” since that’s a bit more descriptive, but it’s also quite a mouthful.

So, we’re making Italian Blue Salad.

Remember those honey roasted pecans I showed you how to make a few weeks ago? This is why.

The apricot dressing is super easy to make also, and the flavors really complement each other.

There’s a bit of dijon mustard in there, which is optional but without it is much sweeter. The dijon is great for balancing out salad dressings.

If you don’t like blue cheese you can substitute another crumbly cheese. Maybe feta. I almost said gorgonzola but then realized gorgonzola IS blue cheese. I apparently need to brush up on my cheese knowledge.

Pretty sure this has won out as my new favorite salad for the time being. (If you’re curious what my old favorite is, you can find it here).

I know some people think it’s weird I like fruit in my salad, but maybe just give it a shot?

Though there are several sweet things in this salad between the fruit dressing, blueberries and honey pecans. So if you don’t have a sweet tooth – 1) we can’t be friends and 2) you might not like it. But seriously, I’m addicted. I tried to make a big batch of it and ate all 6 servings in like a day and a half.

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Yield: 4

Italian Blue Salad with Apricot Dressing

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An "Italian Blue" Salad - mixed greens served with blue cheese, honey roasted pecans, fresh blueberries and a homemade apricot vinaigrette dressing. Great for a fresh summer salad, your family will love it!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

For the apricot dressing:

• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup apricot preserves
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard

For the salad:

• 6 cups of spinach/spring mix (5 oz container)
• 1 cup blue cheese (4 oz container)
• 1 cup honey roasted pecan pieces
• 1 heaping cup fresh organic blueberries, (6 oz container)

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients for the salad dressing and stir until well combined. Option to put in a dressing container and shake to combine.
2. In a large salad bowl, toss together all salad ingredients. Cover with apricot dressing and serve.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 676Total Fat: 29gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 25mgSodium: 632mgCarbohydrates: 100gFiber: 8gSugar: 84gProtein: 16g

Nutrition information is calculated automatically by an online tool at Nutritionix. It is not always accurate. Please use your own tools to check if you rely on this information.