Roasted Cauliflower Orzo Spinach Salad

Thank you to my friend Angela Mones for getting me a copy of Chrissy Teigen's recipe book called Cravings for my past birthday. If a  model who has 2 fast food Twitter accounts and celebrated Thanksgiving in Taco Bell can make a cookbook what's stopping me?! Funny to think that this salad recipe is my favorite out of the entire cookbook filled with heart stopping treats like Fried Chicken and Crab Cream Cheese Won Tons. Of course as I usually do I've made some adjustments from the original recipe because I don't want to copy and I think it's better anyway! So give it a try sometime... it's tasty and not to mention the "H" word which you don't find too often on my blog!

Serves 4-6 people

Ingredients 

For Roasted Cauliflower

1 small head cauliflower chopped into small florets
5 Tablespoons olive oil
5 cloves garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Salad

1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dried cherries or craisins
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
5 cups baby spinach
1 cup orzo pasta

For the dressing

5 Tablespoons olive oil
juice from 1 medium sized lemon
2 teaspoons honey
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Prepare the cauliflower - Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a bowl toss the all the roasted cauliflower ingredients together (cauliflower, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper)
3. Spread out cauliflower on a baking pan lined with foil and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until edges start to brown. Let cool and set aside
4. Meanwhile, boil a small pot of salted water and cook orzo 1 less minute than the directions say on the box. Drain orzo in a colander and give it a dash of olive oil so it doesn't stick together.
5. Next, mix together all the dressing ingredients. (Feel free to adjust according to your liking) 
6. In a big bowl toss together the onions, feta, orzo, cauliflower, dried fruit, and dressing.
7. Last, throw in the spinach and give it another toss.
8. Dig in and don't feel guilty for grabbing thirds!