Four Spring Salads You Need in Your Life

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

• Spinach Leaves (pull off stems)

• Your favorite mixed greens (optional rather than Spinach)

• Fresh strawberries

• Honey or praline pecans (usually in bulk sections of grocery stores, if you can’t find, you can make your own with honey + pecans)

• Red onion thinly sliced or diced

• Blue cheese, feta cheese, gorgonzola – your funky cheese of choice

• Dressing options: balsamic, poppyseed, raspberry vinaigrette, strawberry vinaigrette

Instructions:

1. Candy pecans if you aren’t able to find honey pecans. Toast pecans in a skillet on medium heat and drizzle honey over them. You can spice them a little with some chili powder or cajun seasoning too if you’d like hot honey pecans. Only leave on heat for 5-7 mins and then set them aside to cool and let the honey harden up. Chop roughly.

2. Rinse greens, pull stems off the spinach if using spinach leaves

3. Fill a bowl or plate with the amount salad you want

4. Slice strawberries thin or dice – you’ll probably only need 2 or 3 for your salad

5. Diced or thinly sliced red onion – raw or if you’re feeling frisky you can quickly pickle these by soaking them in vinegar (just cover onions, don’t overdo it) and a pinch of sugar for 10-15 mins

6. Sprinkle on your cheese, dress and eat! Simple + delicious!

Asian Sesame Salad

Ingredients:

• Romaine, butter lettuce, iceberg are all great with this salad

• Avacado – sliced

• Carrot – julienne

• Cucumber – diced or julienne

• Toasted peanuts (toast over med heat in a small skillet for 5-7 mins)

• Optional – Tangerine slices (1 cutie)

• Optional – crushed up ramen or sesame chips

• Shrimp – grilled (6-7 large shrimp for a full salad meal)

• Dressing:

  • Ken’s Asian Sesame dressing or similar

  • Peanut Butter (1 tbsp)

Instructions:

1. Grill or skillet fry your shrimp in 1 tsp of butter or olive oil (salt and pepper shrimp while cooking)

2. Toast peanuts over medium heat in a small skillet for 5-7 mins or until the oils released start browning the nuts.

3. Slice avacado, julienne carrot and cucumber

4. Mix salad dressing in a bowl by combining 1/4 cup of Ken’s Asian Sesame dressing with 1 scoop (~1 tbsp) of creamy peanut butter. Whisk until combined. Add more PB or dressing to taste. Refrigerate extra for next time!

5. Fill a bowl or plate with the amount of salad you want, top with carrots, cucumbers, peanuts, shrimp, avacado, and any of the optional or suggested toppings above

6. Dress and serve!

Mozzarella, Cantaloupe and Prosciutto

Ingredients:

• Romaine, Kale or Mixed Greens

• Throw in some herbs if you want like mint or basil

• Prosciutto, torn

• Red onion sliced (optional but I always like it)

• Canteloupe cubed

• Mozzerella pearls or torn

• Balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

1. Literally just combine in the manner I told you to cut it above, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and eat your heart out.

Italian Chopped Salad

Ingredients:

• This is my riff on the Napolese chopped salad in Indianapolis

• Romaine or mixed greens chopped up into rough slices (it’s supposed to be a double chop, so if you chop it twice you probably did it right)

• Throw in some roughly chopped basil or Italian flat leaf parsley if you want

• Fire roasted peppers, rough chopped (in a jar near the olives)

• Chick peas or frozen green peas (thawed)

• Gorgonzola

• Shredded Mozzarella, provolone, parmesan mix

• Kalamata olives sliced

• Pepperoni diced (it’s good too if you pan fry it and crisp it up a little)

• Bacon bits or lardons

• Italian dressing – I prefer Ken’s Light Italian Parmesan

Instructions:

1. Literally just combine in the manner I told you to cut it above, dress and serve!