Wilted Salad with Seared Italian Sausage & Honey Dijon

Happy New Year to you all! In correspondence with the standard New Year's resolution of "eating better" here's a quick salad recipe that I had randomly concocted within the past week. With just a few leafy greens, eating better only got easier. To be honest, this isn't a legitimate recipe on my part, which I do apologize for, since there's so many varieties out there for you to think of. Who'd thunk it? So, over the course of the upcoming year, I will be posting a salad recipe or two just for the heck of it. (Psst, this is a great first step for all those veggies haters out there who need to eat better!) I hope you enjoy.

Ingredients:
1.) 1/2 romaine heart
2.) 2 cups of spinach
3.) 1/2 cup of grape tomatoes
4.) 1/2 cup of shredded carrots
5.) 1/4 cup of sun flower seeds, pine nuts, or walnuts (whichever you prefer)
6.) 2 Italian sausages
7.) Honey Dijon dressing (I used store bought since I got lazy)
8.) Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1.) Dice the romaine heart in to bite size pieces. Take spinach and "roll the leaves" somewhat like a cigar and give it a rough chop. The leaves I'm using are rather large so I'm cutting down. This is also optional.
2.) Place carrots and greens in a colander and wash. Wash the tomatoes but keep them separately.
3.) Microwave the sausages for 3 minutes on high heat and then slice. Note: This particular step is important due to the fact that is it very difficult to cook a sausage whole without steaming or microwaving first. As a result, people are unaware of consuming raw sausage. It's okay if the center is still a bit raw when it comes out of the microwave, but the majority of the sausage must be cooked when it comes out of the microwave.
4.) In a hot pan, add nuts and toast. Keep them in pan for about 1 minute but continually tossing to toast. Remove and place aside. Then, in the same pan, add a few drops of  oil (olive oil works best here) and add sausage slices. Let the sausages sit for 2 minutes and then flip. Let the slices sit and sear. Add grape tomatoes (this is optional, but this searing of the tomatoes makes them sweeter).
5.) Turn off heat and quickly add mixed greens. The residual heat of the pan wilts the greens a slight bit but not enough to burn. Add nuts, give the contents a quick toss. Top with cheese and dressing. Serve.

Sorry I didn't take pictures of the cooking process--I had originally intended for this not to be posted :]

Optional Honey Dijon recipe:
1.) 1 tbsp of dijon mustard
2.) 3/4 tbsp of honey
3.) 1/2 tbsp of either red wine, balsamic vinegar, or olive oil (your choice).

Afterthoughts: This was a great salad for me since I'm not a big fan of eating raw greens, but love eating veggies. I decided to wilt the salad just because raw romaine hearts and be a very crunchy while also raw spinach (which annoys me the most) tends to dry out my mouth and leave a sandy taste; hence this was a great way to avoid those problems. Grape tomatoes are a wonderful addition since they're naturally sweeter than regular tomatoes and go very well with the carrots. The sausages I had used were great in which they added a smoky spice to the salad. I also didn't use "baby spring mix" greens that come in a box from the store since I had more knowledge (and fondness) towards the greens I used. Romaine lettuce are natural sources of antioxidants while spinach contain excellent amounts of iron (wonderful for anemic women) and calcium. Again, this is a very flexible recipe in which you're free to use as you please. I hope you enjoy this one!

Costs:
1.) 1 box of grape tomatoes = $0.98 so $0.20 was used
2.) 1 romaine heart = $0.60 so $0.30 was used
3.) 1 pack of Italian sausages (5) = $4.00 so $1.60 was used
4.) 1 bag of spinach = $2.00 so $0.30 was used
Total Costs: $2.40 for serving of two