Orzo Pasta Salad with Feta Cheese

The recipe for this very tasty salad comes via the post of a friend in our recipe group. It is one of the most unusual pasta salads that I have ever made in that it has fresh spinach added to the hot pasta so that the spinach wilts. The combination of Feta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes with the pasta and spinach almost make it a main dish salad. In fact, because my husband and I have eaten this salad twice in the last two days, I cooked a chicken breast this morning, chopped it up and tossed it with the last of the salad for dinner tonight. We'll see how that goes in a few hours. I'll report back tomorrow. Blessings...

Recipe:

1 lb. orzo pasta
1 cup Girard's Olde Venice Italian Dressing
1 6-oz. pkg. baby spinach
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and diced
4 oz. Feta cheese
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts (I used toasted pecan pieces, very good)
3 tbsps. fresh chopped chives

1. Cook orzo according to pkg. directions.
2. Drain pasta and combine with the spinach leaves to wilt the spinach.
3. In a large salad bowl, combine all of the ingredients and toss. Serve.

Yield: 8-10 servings
Note: The flavor was still good the next day although the pecans had softened some. We didn't mind the texture at all. As with most salad recipes, I cut the recipe in half for two of us.