Strawberry and Poppy Seed Salad

We’ve discussed store-bought dressings and how horrible they actually are for our health a few times before. To catch anyone who missed those posts up, turns out store bought dressings are nothing more then highly refined and cheap oils, MSG, abbreviated chemicals, and preservatives. My theory on store-bought dressings is this: If you are going to make a beautiful and nutritious salad why pour a bunch of crap on top of it? It kind of defeats the whole purpose! The other problem with store bought dressings are the unethical companies who make them. They love to pretend they are using olive oil, when in fact if you turn the bottle over you will see the main ingredient is soybean oil. Why label the front “Olive Oil” when olive oil is the 5th or 6th ingredient? Nothing makes sense about the marketing tactics they use, and I hate to see consumers who are trying to be healthy be fooled by these companies!

With that being said, I am so happy to share this recipe with you! Nothing says “summer” quite like a strawberry and poppy seed salad. My favorite season is summer simply because of the delicious local produce stands that pop up along the country roads of Central Pennsylvania. I love, love, love local strawberries that are red throughout, small, and sweet. They are vastly different then the grocery store strawberries, and so much tastier!

For the salad I used dark, nutritious, leafy spring mix along with feta cheese, strawberries, and walnuts. For the dressing, all you have to do is put a few simple ingredients into a food processor, and drizzle olive oil into it. After the oil is in, add the poppy seeds and your done! There is no reason to even use store bought dressing when making your own healthy dressing is this easy!

Sweet Poppy Seed Dressing

By Dana Published: July 2, 2014

• Yield: About 2 cups (16 Servings)
• Cook: 10 mins

  We've discussed store-bought dressings and how horrible they actually are for our health a few times before. To catch …

Ingredients

• 1 shallot or 1/4 red onion
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp raw honey or regular
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp poppy seeds
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a food processor or Ninja combine shallot, vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper. Pulse a few times to chop shallot and mix.
   
2. On full speed slowly drizzle olive oil into processor. When oil is combined turn processor off and add poppy seeds.