Sweet strawberries, creamy avocado, and addictive blue cheese come together to create the worlds most perfect strawberry avocado summer salad.
I've gotten into the habit of writing posts on the subway, it's a distraction from the hell that is the subway and pretty much my only opportunity these days to focus on the blog rather than school work or other work.
So here I am smushed between 30 million people on the way to spin class at 7 am and dreaming of this strawberry avocado salad.
My CSA has been killing it so far this season! Especially by gracing my kitchen with gorgeous lettuce every week. Like worthy of a photo shoot lettuce.
The lettuce has been my favorite part each week (well the lettuce and the berries) because trust me when I tell you, lettuce tastes completely different when it has been freshly picked from a farm.
Forget the taste, did you know that conventionally grown lettuce is washed in a chlorine mixture? Those pre-washed bags of pre-cut lettuce that end up in your grocery cart take a long swim in chlorine first. It is a very diluted chlorine mixture, but still, yuck!
Also keep in mind that once lettuce has been cut two things happen:
- It begins the process of death. Isn't that cheerful? To be fair once a vegetable is picked from the ground it begins the process of death, but cut it open even more and introduce oxygen… oh no! Death happens even faster. In short, those bags of lettuce have fewer nutrients and more chemicals than farm fresh.
- Pathogenic bacteria have an easier chance of attaching to cut lettuce than whole lettuce. Hence the chlorine wash.
I know we are all human and have a limited amount of time, so sometimes pre-washed, pre-cut lettuce will happen. But when you have an extra moment buy the full (organic) head, ideally from a local farm. Wash it at home, purchase a salad spinner. I use this one literally every single day.
This may sound dramatic but I can honestly tell you that many conventional grocery store lettuces have a bitter chemical aftertaste. I swear I can taste those solutions.
Back to this salad!
When gorgeous farm lettuce lands in my kitchen I become a salad queen ????
This fresh strawberry salad is my new summer favorite. It has all the necessary ingredients of a great salad; something crunchy, something creamy, something sweet, and a perfectly tangy and sweet balsamic dressing.
Simple ingredients, a few minutes to throw together and you have the perfect summer treat.
I could literally eat salads all summer long, and I kind of do. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner – salads galore!
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Strawberry Avocado Salad with Crumbled Blue Cheese
Ingredients
Salad
- One head of gorgeous lettuce washed and trimmed into bite size pieces
- 2 cups sliced strawberries
- 1 cup grape tomatoes sliced in half
- 1/2 cup diced kirby cucumbers
- 1 avocado sliced
- 1/4 cup sliced red onion
- 1/4 cup walnuts
- 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese I used gorgonzola dulce
Dressing
- 1/2 cup good olive oil
- 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar or regular balsamic will work
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
- Prepare the dressing by whisking together all ingredients until well combined (you can also add all ingredients to a mason jar and shake, shake, shake).
- Dress the salad with 1/2 of the prepared dressing, toss well to combine and taste. Add more dressing if desired, otherwise reserve remainder of dressing in fridge for 1 week.
Notes
- Try this salad with blueberries or raspberries
- For a vegan version simply eliminate the blue cheese
Jenny S says
I’m not usually a big fan of fruit in my salads but this is an exception. So delicious