Bringing to an end our little summer salad series, I decided to end with a perfect salad to take to the office: spinach salad with ham and egg.

My partner Dan lost 20 pounds on The Zone diet a few years ago, and this salad was his Wednesday lunch solution. The vinegar onion dressing is reminiscent of the dressing in German potato salad; it has a fresh, slightly sour bite, but it works.

You can prepare the salad the night before, store the dressing in a separate container, and cart it to work with you the next day. It will save you $10 on lunch and you will have a healthy meal.

It is amazing how improving one’s diet can improve quality of life and overall mood. With a balanced, nutritious diet, blood sugar levels stay even, which stabilizes concentration and focus, and evens the absorption of carbohydrates and proteins to produce more energy.

If you’ve read my column and not made one of the recipes, now is the time. Boil your eggs, dice ham, cut and sauté an onion, and tear a few spinach leaves. You will be amazed how good you feel. Creating good food is good for the soul and the stomach.

If you have a suggestion, idea or recipe you’d like to share, contact me at gltrecipebox@gmail.com

Courtesy of Martha Stewart Living

Ingredients

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar

2 teaspoons grainy mustard

Coarse salt and ground pepper

2 bunches spinach (about one pound), trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces

8 ounces ham (sliced 1/4 inch thick), cut into matchsticks

6 radishes, thinly sliced

6 hard-cooked eggs, quartered

Directions

In a medium-size saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-high. Add onion stirring until translucent, about a minute. Remove from heat, and stir in vinegar, mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

In a large bowl, combine spinach, ham and radishes. Drizzle onion mixture over and toss to combine. Top with hard-cooked eggs and serve.