Spinach Salad with Bow Tie Pasta

I got this recipe from tastykitchen.com.

Dressing:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 T chopped fresh basil leaves (or 1 1/2 tsp dried basil)
2 T brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt and pepper, or to taste

Salad:
10 oz. bag of baby spinach
1/2 cup candied almonds or pecans
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped grape tomatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper
4 oz. tomato/basil flavored feta cheese (bleu will work too)
1-1/2 cup chopped apple (any crispy, firm apple will do)
8 oz bow tie pasta, cooked, drained and cooled (tri-color is pretty if you can find them)

instructions:
for the dressing, whisk all ingredients together and refrigerate until ready to use.
for the salad, add all ingredients together in a large bowl. when ready to serve, toss with dressing.

My notes:
I doubled everything except the spinach and the feta, but I didn't quite use all the dressing. In the dressing I used fresh basil, Costco fresh minced garlic and fresh ground sea salt and ground peppercorns. In the salad I used toasted almonds because I didn't want to bother candying them, but that would be fun to try. I used a granny smith apple but I have used fuji and liked that too. I think their ratio of 10 oz. spinach to 8 oz. pasta is too much spinach because I really like pasta, but I've made it the other way and it was fine.