Recipe: Stawberry Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

This is one variation of our famous strawberry salad. I am so glad that strawberries are one of the lower carb fruits, because they are my favorite. We've experimented with some variable ingredients in this salad, like spinach instead of butter lettuce, and pecans instead of sunflower seeds. As long as you have the strawberries, blue cheese, onion and balsamic dressing, the basic flavor profile is there.

As delicious as it is beautiful.

Strawberry Salad

1 bag of ready to eat butter lettuce or other salad greens like spinach or spring mix
10-12 strawberries, thinly sliced
1/3 of a cup of blue cheese crumbles
1/2 a small red onion, thinly sliced
3 Tablespoons shelled sunflower seeds, almonds, or pecans
Kent's Magical Balsamic Vinaigrette

 
This dressing made me love salads. That's powerful stuff. This is more of a formula than a recipe. You can use any kind of vinegar or oil, or add whatever extra herbs or spices to customize it to the salad you're using it with. We really like it with pear flavored vinegar. It is also nice with a little sesame oil and peanut butter to make it Asian style. The possibilities are endless.


Kent's Magical Balsamic Vinaigrette

Kent usually make this so that each part is equal to a half cup. That way, it makes enough for two or more family sized salads. 
 
1 part balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 part splenda (we tried stevia, and for some reason the brand we tried, Stevia in the Raw, made the vinegar taste bitter, so we are sticking to Splenda for salad dressing only, and we try to use stevia for other things.)
1 part olive oil
1/2 part water, to thin it out a little
1 heaping spoonful minced garlic from a jar
a few dashes of soy sauce
freshly ground black pepper
Whisk it up in a bowl, or shake it up in a jar. Viola!