This weekend, I brought a delicious salad to a dinner with my family. The thought to make this salad came from a friend of mine who made it earlier last week. Ever since then, the flavor combo had been on my mind and I really wanted to try it.

What you’ll need

2 Bags of Spring Mix

1 Bottle of Balsamic Vinaigrette

1 Bag of Chopped Pecans

1 small tub of Feta

5 Strawberries

1 Tbsp Confectioners Sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp Butter

First, aerate your dressing! This salad is not made for heavy dressing and I love when a balsamic vinaigrette is light. I poured the bottle of dressing into my KitchenAid mixer, put it on high with the whisk attachment for about 5 minutes. The color of the dressing changes from a deep deep deep red to a lighter brown. The combination of oil and vinegar with the oxygen changes the concentration of the dressing and makes it more delicious.

Rather than dealing with the bottle, I transferred to mason jar and popped it in the fridge until it was time for me to head to dinner.

Next, I candied the pecans. I first preheated my oven to 350 degrees. In a sauce pan, I placed the pecans, the salt, the butter and the powdered sugar. I put the burner on high.

As the butter began to soften, I stirred the mixture until fully combined; then removed them from the burner. Since my saucepan was pure metal, I immediately transferred it into the oven (you may need to transfer to a cookie sheet). I let this finish in the oven for about 5 minutes, removed them, stirred and place back in the oven for 5 more minutes.

I removed them from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 8 minutes, then transferred to a plastic container until it was time to leave.

Next, I chopped up the strawberries.

I rinsed them.

Diced them.

Placed them into a container and added some water to keep them super moist during travel. Into the fridge they went.

Last, spun the lettuce to ensure it was washed, fresh and refreshing; transferred it to a metal bowl with a lid and in the fridge it went until it was time to leave.

This was all I could do from home so when it was time to leave, I packed up all the ingredients and headed over to dinner.

When I got to dinner, I uncovered the bowl and put it together.

Added the cheese, strawberries, nuts, and dressing.

I tossed it and it was ready to serve!

It was REALLY delicious and the flavor combo was AWESOME!

I hope when/if you make it, you enjoy it as much as I do. I’ll be having it a lot more this summer!

#SpenceDoesGOODSalad