Healthier Layered Holiday Salad

I so enjoyed the all-church Thanksgiving potluck yesterday evening - lots of yummy dishes. One that hubby enjoyed was the traditional layered salad in a trifle bowl. It was tasty but rather salty, and I never make it for good reason - tons of fat and salt and even sugar, added to the mayonnaise dressing!

Here is my version of a layered salad that would be pretty and appropriate for the holidays:

Made Healthier Holiday Layered Salad

1 bag of baby spinach

1 bag of romaine
1 16oz. Can of garbanzos, drained
1 small can of mandarin oranges, drained
1 green or yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small purple onion, chopped or 1 bunch of chopped green onions
1 small can sliced ripe olives, drained
1 small jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
nuts – optional – sliced almonds work well
4 oz. Shredded reduced-fat cheese of choice, Italian blend works well

favorite salad dressing – oil and vinegar balsamic vinaigrette or lower fat versions of ranch

Layer in this order in a pretty glass bowl:

From bottom to top

romaine
½ package of cheese
garbanzos
green peppers or yellow peppers
olives
spinach
red peppers
onions
rest of cheese
mandarin oranges
nuts, if using

You can further reduce the fat by leaving out the nuts and cutting the cheese portions, but heck, you do need a little fat.