This delicious strawberry spinach salad is a wonderful summer delight that will satisfy anybody’s cravings for a fresh lunch, base for a protein or a healthy side dish.

Just when you thought salad couldn’t get any better this strawberry spinach salad will surprise you with the wonderfully balanced flavors and colors of ripe strawberries, creamy nutty avocado, nutritious spinach, spicy red onions, and tart goat cheese.

Candied pecans are the perfect complement to all of the above. They add the sweetness and crunch that no one could resist. Minced spinach is enough, other veggies are optional.

Just toss the salad with our simple homemade balsamic vinaigrette or you can absolutely use your favorite store bought dressing and you have a colorful, aromatic, perfectly summery salad!

Strawberries are not in season? Not a problem you can substitute with blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or even mandarin oranges. Cranberries or thinly cut sweet apples slices are ok too. You can also swap goat cheese for feta or brie for a more savory taste.

Salad is soft, bright, full of vitamins, very good when garnished with cold meat. You dont need a lot of cookware, just couple of small bowls, it is one of simplest recipes. There are few ingredients, you can add lemon juice, tablespoon salt and clove to make salad tangy. No need for dried spices, vinegar, large cup of greens, eggs, pepper, coconut or olive oil for cooking.

I personally think candied pecans make the salad! They are a little bit of work but soo worth it. Simply whisk together egg whites and water, coat the pecans quarters, sprinkle with sugar and a dash of salt and bake for 40 minutes at 350 F and here you have your homemade caramelized pecans. But if you don’t feel like going through all the trouble you can grab a bag of premade candied pecans in a grocery store.

I also slice my red onions super thin, and if you don’t really like the bold taste of onion you can soak them in cold water for about ten minutes to get rid of that extra bite.

This fresh salad is like a poster for a farmers market basket! It’s healthy, light and most important takes less then 10 minutes to make from start to finish. Enjoy!

You can use dozen peeled crisp toasted walnuts, crumbled almond nuts or you can mix them and soak in honey or maple syrup.