Simple Summer Salad (since my kitchen's kinda outta commission)

This would be a great salad to prepare for July 4th celebrations because it's fresh & light and super easy to put together.

This week I spent several nights out of town for some work meetings I had and when I checked in with my husband one night he casually mentioned that he had removed all the cabinet doors as well as everything stored in the kitchen cabinets. "Huh??!!!" was all I could say...at first, but like most women, I'm rarely speechless when it comes to words for my other half. Once I visualized my kitchen with empty cabinets it led me to picture how all of the stuff that was in there might look sprawled out all over the guest room where it had been relocated. And that's where I started to get concerned. Thankfully, Jimmy was very thoughtful in keeping all items moved out of the cabinets well organized in boxes, so right now the situation is about as good as it can be given the circumstances. We had talked about remodeling the kitchen, but I guess I hadn't fully thought through the inconvenience of it. So, as you can imagine, I haven't been too eager to work on really anything in the kitchen this weekend unfortunately. Since I have been limited in the use of the kitchen, I wanted to share a simple idea for a fresh summer salad that's pretty easy to throw together. You could tailor this salad to include any combination of fruit & nuts (blueberries and walnuts sounds good too!) that you enjoy, so use this concept and get creative to serve up a fresh and healthy dish for you and your loved ones this summer.

Strawberries in salads was a pairing that I didn't used to find appealing, but it didn't take long for me to appreciate the somewhat unlikely combination. This particular recipe brings together the sweet and fleshy texture of the strawberries with the crispy, salty bacon and pungent, creamy bleu cheese. Yumm!

Strawberry Bacon Spinach Salad Recipe
Serves about 4-6 people as a pre-dinner or side salad
About 8-10 slices bacon
1 bag Baby Spinach
1 1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup bleu cheese crumbles
1 cup pecan halves (chopped pecans work too, but I prefer larger pieces)
Honey mustard salad dressing (I like Newman's Own Light Honey Mustard)

I like to start most of my salad recipes by putting my glass salad plates in the freezer. It's something many restaurants do to help keep your salad cold and taste fresh. Even if you don't remember until you're almost ready to serve, just a few minutes in the freezer is enough to create the same effect.


If bacon is precooked, move onto the next step, but if not, cook the bacon in the oven. It is easier and cooks the bacon to the perfect crispiness. Spread the slices out on a foil-lined cookie sheet (to make clean up easier) then place in the oven at 375 degrees for about 12-15 min or until brown and crisp. Once the bacon is done remove from pan, place on paper towels to absorb excess grease and let cool. Chop up bacon once it has cooled.


Make sure baby spinach is well rinsed and place in a large salad bowl. Toss in sliced strawberries, bleu cheese crumbles and pecans. Top with chopped bacon and serve on chilled plates with honey mustard dressing on the side.

As you can see I only have a few super important items left in my cabinets like a bottle of wine with glasses and my cheap little coffee maker on the bottom shelf next to the oven. This is the before picture, but hopefully the after picture will include granite counter tops, a new stainless over-the-range microwave and freshly painted cabinets. It's not exactly a gourmet kitchen, but it's all I need to produce some tasty treats.