A Monday Recipe: Strawberry-Orange Balsamic Spinach Salad

Image from here

say THAT three times fast. ;)

Craving some greens after a couple of days of weird eating, I set out to make a strawberry and spinach salad. Well, actually, just a spinach salad, but then I saw one with strawberries in it! YUM! However, the dressing was horrid.
This is the recipe I saw. I couldn't get past the amount of white sugar. 1/2c!! in a salad that already had strawberries in it! crazy! the 1/2c olive oil was a bit off-putting as well, I have to admit. So, I used spinach, half the amount of strawberries the original recipe suggested (those organic berries are expensive!), added some home-canned mandarin oranges and made a totally different dressing.

I hope you like the result as much as we did! YUMMY!


Strawberry-Orange Balsamic Spinach Salad (serves 4 as a side, or 2 with generous portions)

1T sesame seeds
2T hemp hearts
1T maple syrup
1T tahini
1/4c balsamic vinegar
1/4t paprika
1T minced onion (I used the dried kind. if you use fresh, increase to 2T)
1 bunch of spinach, chopped
8oz strawberries, sliced
1/2c mandarin oranges (in light syrup, if you buy them)

Method:
In a large measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the first 7 ingredients to make the dressing,  and set aside.


Prepare the strawberries

Chop your spinach. I like this flat leaf spinach because it's easier to get the dirt off it. I only cut off the roots (the reddish brown tip) of mine, and chopped the stems. if you don't like the stems, save them in your bag of  broth goodies, in the freezer.

Add the spinach, oranges and strawberries to a large serving bowl, pour the dressing ingredients over top and toss.

I do like to chill this before serving, but it certainly isn't necessary. The longer it sits, the more juice is released from the berries. It's very sweet. I can't imagine eating this salad with twice the berries and a 1/2c of sugar. OMG. I LOVE how this turned out.



Here's the salad with my lunch yesterday. That's 1/4th of the recipe.
                                           



Nutrition Facts (from MyFitnessPal), for 1/4th of the recipe.

Calories 148
Fat 6g
Fiber 3g
Iron 17
Protein 4g
Calcium 6