You will be pleased to know that my lengthy absence since introducing this cooking series has not been due to a case of food poisoning. On the contrary, I bear good news in the form of a couple of not only edible but tasty dishes. (The fact that there is a spinach-feta theme going is not really the natural chef in me trying to demonstrate the incredible range of preparation in food….no, to be honest, I had extra leftover ingredients, and wanted to save a trip to the grocery store. As a college student though, this approach does save money!)

Credit to these recipes go to Allrecipes.com –a site that I highly recommend. It’s a huge sharing database where ordinary folk submit their own homemade or family recipes of all kinds of food and cuisine imaginable, and the dishes are given an average rating out of five from users who have tried and tested them. In addition, people often leave personal reviews that offer valuable advice and alterations they made to give you a heads up on your own attempt. Another useful tool the site provides is its measurement converter, where you can enter in the number of people you want to serve and the quantities of ingredients are accordingly changed. Doesn’t get any easier!

After the jump, learn how to make a gorgeous Strawberry Spinach Salad!

fresh spinach leaves, washed and dried
fresh strawberries
feta cheese
almonds
white vinegar
olive oil
sugar/honey

If you’re like me, ounces and cups and proportions go right over the head. Well, the great thing about salads is that measurements really don’t matter. It’s kind of a visual exercise more than anything else in determining how much you need of everything. Make sure there are plenty of strawberries and feta though; they’re the magic oomphs.

1) Chop spinach leaves into bite size pieces and halve strawberries. Combine in salad bowl.

2) Add almonds or other nuts (these can be toasted if you have time).

3) Crumble lots of feta cheese into salad.

4) Refrigerate.

5) In a separate bowl, add white or balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a tablespoon of white sugar or honey. Refrigerate.

Tip: Don’t add the dressing into the entire salad straight away as this will make the spinach leaves wilt. Instead, keep the two separate and add the dressing into your own serving when you’re eating it, so the rest of the salad stays fresh. Also, don’t overestimate the amount of dressing ingredients….you really only need a little of everything, and even then you probably won’t use it all.

Verdict:
This salad is awesomely satisfying and literally gives an explosion of flavours in one’s mouth. Bonus points for being super easy and quick to make. I usually prepare a huge bowl of it to last a few days, and it stays delicious right to the end. You can even change things up by adding other fruit like blueberries or even banana, though the strawberries by themselves constitute perfection for me already. DEE-LISH.

For the amateurs and cooking-phobics out there, there is no way you can mess this one up. Get to it, or you’ll be missing out!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 10:24 pm and is filed under Food & Drink. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.