Family Lunch - Apple, Sausage and Maple Salad

This is another attributed to Heidi at 101cookbooks.com. It is based on her Brussels spouts salad which I tried one night for dinner. Not everyone is a fan of sprouts so when I decided to make this one for a family lunch at Mum and Dad's place I made some adjustments. If you are after something a bit more special or different than a regular coleslaw or something similarly ordinary give this one a crack! Even the kids will like this one so no need to make one for the grown ups and the little ones.

Ingredients:
1 lemon
2 red apples de-cored cut into cubes ( I used green apples the first time and found they were a little bitter for this recipe but can work )
3 sausages. Plain beef are great for this as the sauce is yummy but I have made it with chicken which worked well too.
2 cloves crushed garlic
3/4 cup fake maple syrup ( Cottees etc )
1 bag baby spinach leaves
cup of crushed nuts. I use 50/50 roasted cashews and walnuts.

Soak apples in juice of 1 lemon. If the juice does not cover the apples fill the bowl with water so that the apples are only just covered. Cover bowl.
Lightly cook sausages to the point that you can easily slice them without them falling apart. It is essential that you don't over cook them at this stage as they will go rubbery later. Cooking them on the BBQ gives a lovely flavour to the dish.
Cut sausages into 1cm thick slices.
Heat oil and garlic in a large skillet or wok.
Add sausage and cook for 1 minute.
Drain apples and ad to sausage mix. Cook for 1 min.
Pour maple syrup into skillet and coat contents well.
Add nuts and mix.
When sausage is cooked and apple is going soft put half the bag of spinach into the skillet and mix quickly.
Put the remaining spinach in the bottom of a large salad bowl and pour sausage and apple mix in. Best served warm.

Enjoy!

Update: Sausages can be substituted with Tofu. While I am not a Tofu fan those of you who are will know how to cook it up.