Strawberry Spinach Salad

I had so much fun last Saturday serving up fresh smoothies and handing out samples of my raw “truffles” (see my valentine cookies for a similar recipe) at my local Lululemon store! If anyone is interested in recreating my simple sample smoothie, just toss about two handfuls of kale, two small bananas, 1.5 cups of strawberries and 1 cup of fresh apple juice in a blender, push power, and you have yourself one of the fastest, healthiest meals on the planet!

So many great things came from my day at Lulu– I got the chance to talk to dozens of people about eating raw, using fun kitchen tools, and of course, trying out my tasty recipes! But maybe the best part was that I had so much leftover produce to take back home (12 pounds of strawberries to be exact! and too many bananas to count). If you happen to follow me on Instagram, you’ll notice that my last few photos have strawberries literally bursting out of every corner. So today instead of the typical fruit smoothie or juice, I decided to try out a refreshing salad featuring what was left of my strawberry stock. If last week’s Asparagus Ribbon Salad didn’t put you in the spring spirit, this salad that combines sweet, spicy, and savory flavors should do the trick:

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 1 Salad

Ingredients:

Salad:

• 4 cups baby spinach
• 3 sliced red radishes
• 1 sliced watermelon radish (feel free to omit this ingredient as they are not available everywhere. Substitute with bell pepper, celery, or more red radish if you’d like)
• 3 chopped asparagus spears
• 1 cup halved strawberries

Dressing:

• 1 cup strawberries
• 3/4 cup fresh young coconut meat
• 5 fresh basil leaves
• pinch of grated vanilla bean or raw vanilla powder
• 1 TBSP soaked chia seeds
• coconut water, as needed

Directions:

1. Toss spinach, red radish, watermelon radish (or substitute), asparagus, and strawberries together in a large salad bowl and set aside.

2. For the dressing, combine strawberries, coconut meat, vanilla, and coconut water in a blender and blend on high until smooth and creamy. Add more coconut water for a thinner dressing and less for a thicker one. Add the basil leaves to the blender and continue to blend on a low speed just to chop and mix the leaves into the dressing. Stir in the soaked chia by hand and pour the dressing over the salad.

Extra:

If you do not like a lot of dressing, you can store the extra in an air-tight jar and use the next day.

To add some crunch, omit the chia seeds from the dressing (to keep the dish low fat) and sprinkle a few chopped walnuts on top of the salad.