Fresh Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing!

This afternoon I threw together a fresh spinach salad for lunch.  I love spinach.  In fact, when I was a little girl I ate so much of it my family would often refer to me as Popeye.  I thought if I ate enough spinach I could be as strong as Popeye which would have been very cool.  Instead I remained a skinny little tomboy with lots of bruises from being so active. 

To this day, I often crave spinach, as I did this afternoon for lunch.  So I made this refreshing salad with fresh berries that I had leftover from Mother's Day. 

Fresh Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
serves 6

Ingredients for Dressing:

1/4 cup rice vinegar (not rice wine vinegar)
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp poppy seeds
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup canola oil

Salad ingredients:

6 cups baby spinach leaves
2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 cup toasted almonds

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, sugar, poppy seeds, dry mustard, salt and pepper.  Whisk while slowly adding in the canola oil until the vinaigrette is well combined.

In a large bowl, toss together the spinach, strawberries, onion slices, peppers and almonds.  Add a portion of the vinaigrette and toss gently.  Taste and adjust by adding more vinaigrette if needed.  Serve immediately.

Enjoy this light and nutritious salad!

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