Sunday, June 21, 2015

Power Berry Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette



I was watching a Wendy's commercial the other day and happened to see their green salad with chicken and strawberries. Boy, did it look good! So much so, that, ever since seeing that commercial, I have been adding strawberries and other fruits to my daily salad. I am amazed at how much I like this. Mr. O-P recoils at the thought of fruit in green salad, but I find it light and delicious. I am also amazed at how well this manages to pair with nearly every salad dressing, with the possible exception of ranch dressing. No on that one. Trust me.

In my continued experimentation with super foods, both fresh and dried, I created this Power Berry Salad that packs a deliciously powerful one-two antioxidant punch. As usual, I make it easy on myself by just stacking the ingredients on a plate, as I first mentioned
here. Goji berries, to the unfamiliar, contain over 15% protein, 21 essential minerals, and 18 amino acids; you can read about the amazing benefits of Aronia berries here.

Power Berry Salad

Fresh baby spinach
Fresh strawberries, stemmed, hulled, and sliced into quarters
Fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon
Melissa's Organic Dried Goji Berries
1 tablespoon
Melissa's Dried Aronia Berries
Fresh pecans, broken and toasted
Sprinkling of sunflower seeds

Stack up the healthy goodness and drizzle with your favorite dressing. Today I used raspberry vinaigrette.

Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup raspberry balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Pinch of salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of dried oregano (trust me)

Place all ingredients EXCEPT the oil in a small mixing bowl. Whisk together until blended. Continue to whisk as you slowly pour in the oil. Whisk until emulsified.  Drizzle over salad.
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2 comments:

Linda said...

I completely agree with you about strawberries in salad - I love it too! Thanks for the dressing recipe - I keep buying Ken's Light Northern Italian and Raspberry Walnut dressings and mixing them. Yours sounds infinitely better.

mick said...

Wow! I am sure that it would taste amazing!