'Any Season' Roasted Vegetable Spinach Salad

Becca here with a delicious salad that really is 'all season'.  I love a good summer salad with tomatoes & cucumbers, or any type of berries, but we try to eat as seasonably as possible, both for taste and cost reasons, making a lot of the traditional salad ingredients not feasible during the fall and winter months.  However, here, a recipe I based off of one in this cookbook, a variety of vegetables are roasted in a yummy balsamic vinaigrette, which is also used as the dressing.  I love any vegetables roasted, and the vinaigrette gives it an extra special touch.  In this photo I used bell pepper, squash, red onion, and carrots, but really any of your favorite veggies could be used, whatever is in season in your area or you have in the fridge waiting to be used up!  My husband is not a huge salad lover, especially a salad as a meal, but does like it when I send this packed in his lunch to eat at work.  I just put the dressing and vegetables in one container, the spinach in another, and it's super quick & easy for him to mix them together right before eating, so the salad tastes nice and fresh, no wilting!  I think this would make a great meal to serve to guests, it's easy to prep ahead of time and just roast at the last minute, and makes a beautiful presentation!  Let me know what combination of vegetables you use!

'Any Season' Roasted Vegetable Spinach Salad

4 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
6 - 8 cups mixed vegetables, cut into bite sized pieces (in this recipe I used 1 cup sliced carrots, 1 red onion, 1 red bell pepper, 1 yellow bell pepper, and 1 really large yellow squash)
6-8 ounces baby spinach leaves

Preheat oven to 450.

Combine dressing ingredients (balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic, and olive oil) in a pint mason jar (or any container with a tight fitting lid about that size) and shake well until combined.

Place cut vegetables onto a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with about 2/3 of the vinaigrette, being sure to leave some to use to dress the salad.

Bake at 450 about 20 minutes, stirring halfway through, or until vegetables are roasted.

Let cool slightly, about 15 minutes.  Top spinach with roasted vegetables and remaining vinaigrette to serve.  Enjoy!