Berry Spinach Salad with Almonds

This is an easy salad to take to parties or family gatherings…or just to eat at home.

 Berry Spinach Salad with Almonds

Ingredients:

1 T. butter
½ c. sliced almonds
1 T. sugar

1 package (10 oz) fresh baby spinach

3 c. sliced fresh strawberries

Dressing:

½ c. sugar
½ c. canola oil
¼ c. cider vinegar
¼ t. paprika
¼ t. Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

In a small skillet, melt butter over medium heat.  Add almonds; sprinkle with sugar.  Cook and stir for 3 minutes or until almonds are lightly browned.  Spread on foil to cool; break apart.

In a large salad bowl, combine spinach and strawberries.  In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients.  Pour over salad.  Sprinkle with sugared almonds; toss to coat.

In my test kitchen:

I find that my almonds need to cook longer than 3 minutes.  But my stovetop is a little slow at getting to the appropriate temperature.  Before I transfer to foil to cool, I put the almonds on a paper towel.  Just to soak up any leftover butter.  That way the almonds don’t come out greasy.  You could also substitute store-bought candied walnuts or pecans and I think this would taste good.

I have never used 3 cups of strawberries.  I usually use about 2 cups.  And I like to add ¼ c. dried cranberries as well.  Just to shake things up a bit.

I don’t use all the dressing.  In fact, I probably only use half the amount and it seems to be plenty.  So I would recommend starting with a smaller portion of the dressing and toss to coat.  You can always add a little more until you get it to your liking.

~Happy Cooking!