A vibrant medley of fruit, spinach leaves, blue cheese, and strawberry vinaigrette dressing make this salad so invigorating in the summertime.  This beautiful salad makes a wonderful accompaniment to a lean white protein for a healthy meal.  Okay, so perhaps we had it with pizza today which was also delicious.  I absolutely love salads and usually eat them everyday with lunch or dinner.  I was inspired by the beautiful and scrumptious looking strawberries at the grocery store and decided to add some other fruits for more of a power fruit salad with spinach.
I made this  for my brother’s birthday party dinner tonight and it was a huge hit.  In fact, I went back for seconds and it was already gone!  It was a strange phenomenon…I can’t get either of my daughters to eat vegetables, but both of them were grazing on the spinach leaves and fruit out of the salad.  Equally perplexing was that both Grandpas did the dishes tonight.  Hmm…maybe I will start making this more often.
The strawberry vinaigrette salad dressing did take a few trials to get it just right (that may have been partially due to the appletini my husband made me). Â I began by experimenting with balsamic vinegar and decided that it was interfering too much with the sweet strawberry flavors. Â I also ended up dumping batch number two after deciding that I didn’t really like cilantro with the strawberries either. Â I guess the rule of third time’s the charm is true in this case, because batch number three delivered the sweet and tangy flavor that my taste buds were demanding.

- Salad:
- 5 oz. Fresh spinach leaves
- 1 C. Strawberries halved
- 1 C. Pineapple chunks halved I used canned
- 1 C. Blueberries
- 1/2 C. Thinly Sliced Red Onion
- 1 5 Oz. Container of Blue Cheese
- 1/2 C. Pecan pieces
- Strawberry Vinaigrette Dressing:
- 1/2 C. Strawberries
- 1/2 C. Olive Oil
- 1/8 C. Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 Tsp. Dried Basil
- 1 Tbsp. Sugar
- 1 Tsp. Honey
- 1 Tsp. Poppy Seeds
- 1 Tsp. Lemon Juice
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Add spinach leaves, strawberries, pineapple chunks, blueberries, red onion, blue cheese and pecan pieces to a large bowl.
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Prepare salad dressing by placing the strawberries, basil, sugar, honey, poppy seeds, lemon juice and olive oil in a blender and blend until smooth.
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Add mixture to salad shaker and pour in apple cider vinegar.
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Shake it up until thoroughly mixed.
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Add Dressing to salad and toss right before serving.
This looks SO good!!! You’re killing it! The site looks awesome and your recipe index looks amazing!!! Bravo 🙂
Thanks…you really just made my day!
This salad is absolutely beautiful! I think I have all the ingredients to make it this weekend, can’t wait!
Thanks!!! Hope you like it!
Well it looks like after your experimenting you nailed it because clearing everyone at the party liked this salad, which means it is a must make at my house! Always on the look out for yummy salad recipes!
Thanks, we love our salads too!
I wish I had this in front of me right now! It’s looks so delicious!
Thanks!
Strawberry spinach salad is one of my all time favourite salads! This one looks amazing, and I love that strawberry vinaigrette!
Thanks! I agree…strawberries and spinach make the best salads!
Such a beautiful salad! Looks delicious!!
Thanks Mariah!
That dressing (and that appletini!) sound delicious! This is my kinda summer salad!
Thanks Meg!
What a beautiful looking salad!
Thanks!