Summer Salad by Anna Delores Photography

Good day, JAA readers!  I'm Emily and I blog over at Anna Delores; hope you'll pop over and say hello!

I am excited to share with you my FIRST EVER recipe post, and many thanks to the lovely Julie for letting me share it with YOU, her awesome readers.

Quick disclaimer: I do not claim to be good with food.  I'm great at eating it, but preparation?  Not always so great.  That said, this salad recipe is simple and painless and impossible to mess up.  I promise!

What you'll need (serves 2):

1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced

2 cups fresh baby spinach

1/4 cup raw pecans halves

1/3 cup crumbled goat cheese

1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts

1/8 cup pine nuts

sprinkle of flax seeds

raspberry vinaigrette dressing

Prep your strawberries by washing and then slicing off the stem (unless that's how you roll: stem on!).  Cut into quarters, or use an egg slicer.  Toss strawberries with baby spinach leaves (wash these too, if you didn't buy them in a pre-washed package!), pecans, and goat cheese.  Sprinkle in your optional ingredients: pine nuts, flax seeds, and alfalfa sprouts (wash your sprouts thoroughly!).  You can easily do without the pine nuts, flax, and sprouts, but I enjoy the added nutritional benefits and flavors!

I also strongly recommend Bolthouse Farms' Olive Oil Vinaigrette Raspberry Merlot Yogurt Dressing.  It is SO GOOD, a little creamy, and not too bad on the calorie count.  Otherwise, any raspberry vinaigrette will do.  I've also had this salad with honey mustard dressing and that's good too!  You could also just go the route of oil and balsamic and I'm sure that would taste lovely, as well.

If you're not keen on goat cheese, you can use feta instead (this is also easier to find crumbled).  I like feta but I LOVE goat cheese, so I'll use it any chance I get!

More variations to try:

• blueberries or raspberries instead of strawberries
• walnuts instead of pecans
• sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts
• add chicken for some extra protein

And that is IT, my friends!  Fool proof and my summer dinner staple. Enjoy and cruise by to say "hello" sometime soon!

xo,
Emily