Delicious Strawberry Summer Salad Recipe and Great Tips For Serving Salads

Hi Everyone!  I love salads.  In fact, my coworkers at Victoria Park Animal Hospital are always making fun of me that all I eat is salad.  When we order in lunch, they say, “don’t ask Dr. B where she wants to order from, we’ll all end up with salads.”  It’s true, I love them but not only because they are healthy.  This delicious strawberry summer salad I particularly love because it has one of my favorite ingredients- ramen noodles!  Ramen noodles are definitely my vice.  My love for them started in college and has continued on through the years.  I will embarrassingly admit that I gained 10 pounds my senior year of college because of ramen noodles.  Katie can vouch for that one!  But it was worth every yummy salty bite!  Ok back to the salad, I have been making this one for a few years now and it’s always great for the summer.  Here’s how it goes:

Strawberry Summer Salad Recipe

1 package ramen noodles, crushed, flavor packet discarded
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1 head romaine lettuce, washed and dried
One 5-ounce bag baby spinach
1 pint strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced
1 cup grated Parmesan

Tear the lettuce and combine with the spinach and strawberries in a large salad bowl.

In a small bowl, crush and mix the ramen noodles (do not use the seasoning pack), almonds, sunflower seeds and melted butter. Transfer to a baking sheet and toast in the oven at 400 degrees, mixing occasionally until browned, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Combine the sugar, vinegar, oil, paprika, salt and garlic and mix well.  I love mixing home made dressings in a mason jar.  It’s perfect for storing in the refrigerator and makes it easy to mix and pour on the salad.

Just before serving, sprinkle the ramen topping and grated parmesan over the salad. Toss with enough dressing to coat the greens and serve.

This recipe is easy and delicious and perfect for the summertime.  I also love how pretty it is and how it always looks fancy when served at dinner parties.

Here are some great tips for serving salads:

• Make sure the produce is FRESH.  I know this appears obvious, but I always buy food for my parties a few days in advance.  Not for salads.  Purchase the produce the day before at the earliest.
• Have a variety of salad dressings.  Even when you are making a specific salad like the one in this blog, I still like to to place a few options out because everyone likes different dressings.  If you decide to make homemade dressing, use the chalkboard mason jars to write the name of the dressing on it.
• If your salad has cheese or fruit in it, mix those ingredients in right before you serve.  They will make the salad soggy if left in for too long.
• I love salad bars.  This is a fun way to entertain and everyone loves them!  I get tons of toppings and variety and everyone adds what they like.
• Individual layered salads in an oversized mason jar are so cute for entertaining.  It looks adorable and everyone can add their dressing, shake it up, pour on their plates, and eat. You can also do a large layered salad in a bowl.  This recipe by Ree Drummond is the best!
• My step-mom Barbara always serves 2 different types of salads at her dinner parties. I love this tip because everyone has different taste in salads.
• And finally, everyone always asks what they can bring to a party.  I always ask for desserts and salads.  It’s not difficult to prepare and people tend to get creative especially with salad.

Hope you enjoyed this blog and happy hosting!!!

1. Nambe Salad Bowl 2. Mackenizie Childs Salad Bowl 3. Serving bowls 4. Recipe Book 5. Salad Servers 6. Chalkboard Mason Jars 7. Oversized Mason Jars