By now I hope you have all seen the meme that says,
"Romaine lettuce is bad for us and
Chocolate is good for us.
I have been practicing for this my whole life."
LOL! I love that. But now that the winter of weekly snow and ghastly power outages appears to have finally vanished, it's hotter than blazes and lettuce sounds pretty good.
Now I have to admit that I'm that person who throw all kinds of oddball things into salads. I love berries and nuts mixed with fresh greens. If you're concerned about lettuce, you can try one of my salad favorites—spinach. I've been making one of my favorite spring and summer salads a lot recently. It's a perfect choice for company because it's just so pretty. The dark green of the spinach is a perfect foil for red onions and bright strawberries.
I like a light honey mustard dressing. It's my go-to that I usually don't measure. Make it once or twice and you can eyeball it. Do a quick taste test after whisking it and fix it to suit your preferences. I prefer small strawberries that can be sliced in half, but this time I had huge berries, so I sliced them as disks.
Clearly the amounts of the salad ingredients will vary depending on how much salad you need. This makes a great lunch when served over quinoa. The vinaigrette punches up the quinoa nicely.
I have made this salad three hours in advance and refrigerated it until needed. But don't add the dressing until just before serving.
Strawberry Onion Spinach Salad
a couple of handfuls of fresh baby spinach leaves
4 - 8 strawberries depending on size
roughly 1/4 cup sliced red onion
8 pecan halves
(handful of blueberries if you feel like it)
Combine ingredients in a bowl.
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
1/4 cup light-tasting olive oil (I like Newman's Own)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon horseradish mustard or Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Whisk together all ingredients until emulsified. Pour over salad and serve.
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| Over quinoa! I sliced this one in small bits. |
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| Ready to add the vinaigrette. |
COMING MAY 29th!
