My favorite lunch salad

I was looking at my posts this past weekend and I realized that I don't really have a lot of lunch posts on here.  There are two reasons for this:
1.  I tend to take a lot of left overs for lunch.  I just pack them up when I'm cleaning up dinner from the night before and everything is ready to go for me in the morning.
2.  When I don't feel like leftovers (let's face it, some times they just don't sound good) I take a salad.

I started putting these ingredients together last year when I packed my lunch every day for work and I still can't get enough.  Every once in a while I'll throw something crazy in, but this is my standard.  I guess I never thought to post it because, well, it's a salad.  But it's a darn good one, so here goes.

For my salad base I always use spinach.  No iceberg or romaine for this girl.  Spinach is tastier and way healthier too!  Then I add tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, and usually some chickpeas for protein.  To top it off I throw in some dried cranberries for sweetness and feta cheese.  If I have them, I normally bring a few multigrain pita chips to crumble on top right before I eat it, gives it a nice little crunch!

For my dressing, Angela's Better Than Balsamic Vinaigrette is my all-time favorite.  Once I tasted this dressing I never wanted to have bottled salad dressing again.  It's so easy and tasty!   I usually make it in a 1/2 pint canning jar and then just throw it in my lunch bag and use what I want when I'm ready to eat.  (don't worry, this dressing is not from 2011, the pickled beans that originally came in the jar were :) )

This salad is sure to please your taste buds, and your iceberg eating lunch mate jealous.  I usually eat mine with a greek yogurt on the side for some extra protein and staying power (nobody likes to hear their stomach grumbling at 2:00 - the worst!)  One of these cookies would also round out this lunch time feast nicely.

Question of the day -

What's your favorite thing to pack for lunch?  Do you like leftovers?