Strawberry, Spinach, and Blue Cheese Salad

Salads are one of my “go to” meals.  It’s one of those things that I can always eat, even when nothing sounds good.  Salads are light, refrsing, full of flavor and filling without leaving you weighed down.  Another wonderful thing about salads is they are easily customizable for any taste. 

Since salads are one of my staples, it’s surprising to me that I don’t share more recipes with you here on the blog.  I guess I don’t really think they have enough “wow” factor to constitute having their own post.  But, since they are a staple in our house I decided it would be nice to share some of the salads with you that are common in our house. 

This salad has to be one of my all-time-favorites.  I love the combination of spinach, strawberries, and blue cheese.  It’s such simple combination of ingredients but it’s so good.  In this salad there’s a combination of sweet, tart, tangy, and crunchy.  The sweet strawberries are like candy, the tart dried cranberries add a nice punch of flavor, following by the tangy, smooth and creamy blue cheese (I think I could eat blue cheese, alone, by the handfuls…but I didn’t!), and a nice crunch from toasted walnuts make for a perfect and flavorful salad.  It’s incredibly simple to put together, and perfect for quick weeknight meals when you just don’t have time to cook, yet impressive enough to serve to guests as an appetizer or meal.  And, if you’re like me, and have someone in your house that insists on having a more hearty meal, simply grill some chicken, slice it and lay the sliced chicken on top of the salad.  However you decide to serve this salad, with or without chicken, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Strawberry, Spinach, and Blue Cheese Salad

Serving size: 2 salads
Ingredients:

4 Cups loosely-packed baby spinach
1 1/2 Cups sliced strawberries 
1/4 Cup dried cranberries
1 Small tomato, seeded and diced
1/4 Small red onion, sliced
1/4 Cup blue cheese, crumbled
3/4 Cup walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

Directions:

Place 2 cups baby spinach on a plate.  Top with 3/4 cup sliced strawberries, 2 tablespoons dried cranberries, half of the diced tomatoes, 2 tablespoons blue cheese (more if desired), 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons toasted walnuts and half of the red onion slices.  If you are serving chicken, slice the chicken and place on top of the salad.

Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Drizzle with your favorite dressing or vinaigrette.  I love this salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

Recipe source: A Lynsey Original