The “I’m ready for summer” salad recipe

I don’t think I’ve ever felt this ready for warmth and sunshine. The cold weather and being cooped up inside is getting to me quite a lot lately and it really puts a damper on my good mood. To combat that feeling, I’ve started to cook and bake some of my favourite summer recipes and today on our blog I’m going to share my Nana’s delicious Strawberry Spinach Salad Recipe. It’s super fresh, flavourful, and I’m no nutritionist but I think it’s a pretty health-conscious recipe.

I usually prep my ingredients before hand so that I can quickly make this salad on the fly for a healthy lunch at work or a yummy side at dinner time.

So this is what you will need;

Ingredients

Salad

• Small container of baby spinach*

• Carton of Fresh strawberries (washed)

• 1/2 cup of pecans (toasted)

• Optional: Thinly sliced red onion (this is dependent on how much onion you like)

Dressing

• 1 cup of mild tasting oil (Extra virgin olive oil, avocado, grape-seed, etc…)

• 1/3 cup of red wine vinegar

• 1/2 cup of white sugar (you can sub for honey or reduce sugar - taste before serving)

• 1 tsp of dried mustard

• 1 tsp of dried onion flakes**

• 1 tbsp of poppy seeds

*Baby spinach is a bit more delicate than regular spinach so it’s ideal for salads but if you can’t get it, you can make it with regular spinach you would use for cooking.

**I’ve also made this recipe with a single small minced shallot because I didn’t have dried onion flakes

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Pull-out a small baking sheet or dish and line with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Evenly spread out the pecans on the pan and drizzle slightly with a bit of olive oil (not too much, we don’t want the pecans to be oily). Cook in the preheated oven for about 2-4 minutes. Keep an eye on them as you don’t want the pecans to burn. When they are done, pull them out and put them in a small bowl off to the side to cool.

While the pecans are toasting in the oven, I prep the fruit and veggie part of the salad. Pull out a wide salad bowl - something that makes the salad look nice when presented and is bigger so it’s easier to mix and coat the whole thing with dressing. You will also need some mixing tongs or salad forks for down the road.

Prep your spinach with a quick wash (if needed) and then spin in a salad spinner to dry the spinach leaves. Place the spinach in the bottom of your bowl to cover the whole bottom evenly. Wash your strawberries as well and pat to dry with paper-towel. Slice the strawberries to bite size pieces (I’ve seen the strawberries cut into small chunks as well but I think the slices presents nicely). Place the strawberries on top of the spinach in the salad bowl and spread them out.

If you like onion in your salad, slice it thinly and place on top of the strawberries. If you don’t like onion, you can omit it.

Once the pecans are cooled, add them to the salad bowl on top of the rest of the salad ingredients. Set the salad in the bowl off to the side.

Let’s prep our salad dressing. In a small bowl, add your vinegar, white sugar, dried mustard, and dried onion flakes together. Mix to combined. Then slowly pour your oil in and whisk together. The dressing should be mixed well and once it is, add your poppy-seeds and whisk again till combined.

Once dressing is made, pour over top of the salad and toss. You can add whatever amount of dressing you desire (I would test a a bit to make sure it’s made the way you like). If you have extra dressing, you can store in the fridge and reuse within a couple days but letting it warm up slightly and mixing it well.

And voila, you just made this salad - I hope you enjoy this little taste of summer!

As usual, I want to thank-you for reading my blog post - I do this all for you and it brings me joy to write and create!

Cheers friends and summer is only 134 days away, YAY!

Markie.