Sometimes simple is best. That is definitely true when it comes to this salad. Four basic salad ingredients of baby spinach, strawberries, bacon, and toasted almonds.... all covered in a lovely poppy seed dressing. So light, so summery, so perfect. Also, I think it's such a pretty salad to serve, don't you? My pickiest kids will eat this too; maybe not all the spinach, but a few go in!
Strawberry Spinach Salad
Serves 6-8
1 lb. bag baby spinach leaves
1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
Dressing:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
In a large bowl, toss together the spinach, strawberries, almonds, and bacon. In a small container with a tight fitting lid, add all dressing ingredients, then shake to combine. Just before serving, pour dressing over salad and toss to coat.
Step-by-step tutorial:
Gather your salad ingredients. You will need a bag of baby spinach, a pint of strawberries, slivered almonds, and bacon.
To toast the almonds, place them in a small skillet over medium heat and toss them every once in a while, watching them closely. You will start to smell them when they begin to toast.
Once they are all toasty and browned, pour them onto a piece of parchment paper to cool.
In a large bowl, add the spinach, the sliced strawberries, the cooked and crumbled bacon, and the toasted almonds.
Now to make the simple, but delicious dressing. You will need vegetable oil, sugar, cider vinegar, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, and Worcestershire sauce.
In a container with a tight fitting lid, add all the ingredients.
Put on the lid and shake to combine. You could do this in a blender, just don't put in the poppy seeds or sesame seeds until after you blend. You don't want them to be broken up. That is why I do the shake method.
Once you are ready to serve the salad, pour the dressing over the top and carefully toss to coat. You can dress individual servings if desired, but we usually just dress the whole salad if we know it will get eaten.
The colors in this simple salad are so beautiful! But that isn't even the best part. Wait until you taste it. This salad really has all the best stuff in it and is just so fresh and delicious. So many fun textures too. Enjoy!
Recipe Source: Shanna's recipe box