STRAWBERRY BALSAMIC SALAD

One of the dishes I made from our extreme strawberry haul was a salad. A salad may sound boring, but I promise you this one is anything but.  It has the nice contrasty flavors of sweet + savory and just enough tang to make your taste buds sing.  My husband and I cook pretty much every night around here, it's never run of the mill slinging hash, nope, it's more like Iron chef (my husband and I are very cooking competitive with eachother).  I have so wanted to share about 8,000 meals with you that I think you should try but I have a hard time since I don't cook via a recipe so I don't really know how to translate the vague measurements that I concoct.  A salad I figure is easy enough to 'wing'.  In sharing with you my version it just may get you inspired to riff on your own. Many salads with strawberries are made with spinach, it's because these two flavors blend together so seamlessly. I personally can't eat too much spinach it makes my teethe feel gritty no matter how much I wash it. My salad was mixed baby greens and did contain some spinach, but not enough to make my mouth feel weird. I added organic bleu cheese crumbles, walnuts and of course the strawberries; at this point we are almost done! I always make my own salad dressing, if I knew of a bottled version that tasted like homemade I would be on top of it, but I don't so I go the extra distance.  I mixed 2 parts olive oil to one part balsamic vinegar, I added some Maldon salt (my secret cooking weapon), fresh pepper and a smidge of Dijon mustard. With a fork I mix until all ingredients are thoroughly bound. I usually would add some lemon to this mix, but I opted to squeeze a quarter of lemon directly on my salad (I love tangy) and then I added the dressing. Done and done. To change this up you could sub the bleu cheese for a feta, or goat cheese and the same goes for the the walnuts for almonds or pecans, this whole cooking bit has tons of creative possibilities. The salad is a beauty and tastes as good as it looks, it's sure to impress you and your guests (but maybe not your husband, he may or may not want something that involves more sustenance and may think that this dish doesn't sound as appetizing to him as it does to you).  Enjoy!