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Strawberry Pear Salad

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This is my family’s very favorite salad of late. Not only is it delicious and beautiful, it’s really easy too.
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It’s kind of a riff on the Mandarin Spinach salad I shared with you a little while back, as it uses the same dressing.

To make the dressing, you just shake the ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. I’ve discovered that my family isn’t a huge fan of vinegar, so I usually cut back on that a bit, using one tablespoon instead of two.

Once you’ve made the dressing , you just toss it with torn Romaine lettuce, sprinkle in sliced strawberries, sliced pears, and top it with sugared almonds. These particular almonds are from an Aldi special buy at the holidays (my goodness, they were SO good!) but if you’d like to make your own nutty salad topping, just follow the directions on the Mandarin Spinach salad recipe. Or you could make these spiced nuts.

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If you don’t have any perfectly ripened pears at your house, you can use canned, drained pears (which is what I usually do!).

You’ll need to use fresh strawberries, though…if you use frozen, thawed berries, they’ll be way too mushy to be enjoyable. But hey, strawberry season will soon be upon us, so you can make this to your heart’s content with fresh, local berries.

I think this salad is WAY better if you toss the lettuce with the dressing rather than drizzling it over each serving. But be careful not to dress more salad than you’ll eat in one sitting, because dressed salad will wilt over time and become significantly less appealing.

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Strawberry Pear Salad

2 heads of Romaine lettuce, washed, spun, and torn
2 fresh pears or 1 15 oz. can of pears, cut into slices or chunks
1/2 pound fresh strawberries, sliced
sugared almonds or spiced nuts

Toss lettuce with dressing to taste (see below). Toss in pears and strawberries, and sprinkle nuts over top of the salad.

Dressing

1/4 cup oil (olive, canola, etc)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash pepper
1 teaspoon dry parsley
2 tablespoons sugar
dash of Tabasco

Combine ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake until combined. Store leftover dressing in the refrigerator.

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Emily M

Wednesday 8th of April 2015

Question for ya - is the 2 tablespoons of sugar in the dressing correct? I made it and it was sooo sweet, like a syrup?! I had to pore it out. :( Did you mean to say 2 tsp, or do we just have very different tastes in a salad dressing?

Kristen

Wednesday 8th of April 2015

It IS a pretty sweet dressing...which is probably why we like it. ;) But if you prefer a less sweet dressing, I'd start with 2 teaspoons and go from there, maybe?

Mary

Monday 11th of March 2013

I'll have to use this recipe - I often use blackberries, raspberries, even orange slices in a green salad - love strawberries!

Lena at OnMySideoftheWorld

Sunday 10th of March 2013

It sounds delicious! I made spinach with strawberries and mandarin oranges a while back (http://frugalandthankful.blogspot.com/2012/06/delicious-summer-spinach-salad.html), and kids love it! Can't wait to try your version! Tabasco sauce is a nice touch!

sharon

Saturday 9th of March 2013

This looks absolutely divine! I just bought some strawberries..this will be on the menu tomorrow! :)!

Kimberly

Friday 8th of March 2013

This looks super fresh and yummy! I might be the only one to eat it here though since my hubby hates salad.

-Kimberly @ Turning the Pages

Kristen

Friday 8th of March 2013

I can polish off a LOT of this all by myself, so if you're like me, then you could certainly make a half recipe even if you're the only one eating it!

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