Strawberries. As a kid it meant Grandma’s house. No matter where we lived (and I have lived all over the country), my brother and I would always get flown back to Ohio for one to two weeks in the summer to visit both sets of grandparents (and any cousins that were in town). Strawberries, however, meant my Mom’s mom. She would take my brother and I to go pick strawberries and then make strawberry shortcake for dessert and if we were lucky, breakfast the next morning. Maggie, author of the Pony Mama blog brings us a strawberry recipe of her own. Here’s Maggie…
I love strawberries. My birthday is in early June, and for as long as I can remember, I’ve asked that my birthday cake be Strawberry Shortcake (that recipe will be up soon!)
But, today, we’re talkin’ Strawberry Salad. I think I had this salad at some sort of gathering and asked for the recipe. I wish I could give credit, but this was at least 20 years ago, so my apologies to whomever gave it to me. I imagine this is a pretty common recipe, so hope that no feelings are hurt, rights infringed upon sharing this lovely, simple, summer salad.
I usually serve it as a side salad with dinner, but if you toss some grilled chicken in there for protein, or even tofu, it could make a wonderful entrée salad.
Strawberry Garden Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
What you need:
1 Heart of Romaine head of lettuce
8-10 ounces of spinach
¼ cup grated carrots
1/3 cup sliced almonds, caramelized in sugar
1 pint strawberries, sliced
Poppy Seed dressing:
3Tbs sugar
3Tbs mayonnaise
2Tbs milk
1Tbs poppy seeds
1 Tbs white wine vinegar
Wash lettuce and spinach. Tear into bite size pieces and toss together. Add carrots, and any other veggies you might like in your salad. I keep this simple due to the strawberries being the star of the show, but feel free to add as you wish.
Slice strawberries and toss those in too.
You can either buy packaged sugared almond slices, or make your own. To make your own simply place about 2 Tbs of sugar in a small sautee pan over medium heat. Once the sugar begins to melt, add the almonds and stir, keeping the nuts moving constantly to coat, and insure they don’t burn. Once the almond are coated in melted sugar, remove from heat and spread nuts on a plate to cool. Once they are cool, break them up a bit and sprinkle over the salad. Or, again, just buy a bag of them.
Mix all dressing ingredients together, pour over salad, toss and serve. Nom.Nom. Nom.
