To make this salad, the first step is to make sure you have all of your ingredients washed, chopped, and prepped in the way they will go on the salad.
Slice your red onion. Measure out your dried cranberries, sliced almonds, and feta cheese and set ingredients aside.
Hard boiled eggs will need to be prepared ahead of time or purchased already cooked. Here are some great tips for perfect hardboiled eggs from …
Heat a small skillet on medium-high heat.
Slice the bacon strips into small ½ inch pieces and add to the pan. Cook bacon until all of the pieces are well browned and crispy.
Using a slotted spoon, remove the cooked bacon and place on a plate lined with paper towels. Reserve the bacon grease in the pan to make warm bacon dressing.
Make the Warm Bacon Dressing. Warm the reserved bacon drippings on low heat until is is hot, but not spitting.
Then, add minced garlic and red vinegar to the hot bacon drippings. Stir vinegar and garlic until the warm dressing is combined and aromatic. 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Measure cleaned spinach into a large bowl.
Pour vinaigrette over spinach leaves and toss until the leaves are coated and shiny with a bright green color. The spinach should wilt ever so slightly and have a nice sheen.
Next, add chopped almonds, cranberries, feta cheese, and sliced red onions to the salad bowl and toss with the wilted spinach mixture.
For a special presentation, add crisp bacon and hard boiled eggs sliced in half to the top of the salad as it is served.
If you don’t need to make it fancy, simply add chopped eggs and bacon along with the other toppings.