Strawberry - Almond salad

Hi! Welcome to my blog, Fill in the GAPS! If you are new to the GAPS diet, you are probably feeling pretty overwhelmed. If you are an old hand at it, you are looking  for new recipes to add to your limited menu. Today I've got something simple, but surely delicious, and very fitting with the lovely spring weather we are having!

I am not a spinach fan. Many people are not, particularly children. So how do you encourage them to eat these healthy greens? By dressing them up of course. No child is particularly drawn to a plate piled high with green leaves, but this colourful version will attract them to at least try it.

So, I present to you, Strawberry - Almond Salad.

Strawberry - Almond Salad with raspberry vinagrette

Ingredients:

• Well washed spinach leaves
• 3-5 medium sized strawberries (depending on the amount of salad you are making)
• A handful of slivered almonds
• Homemade raspberry dressing (recipe as follows)

Decide on the amount of spinach needed for your family. I usually do enough to 3/4 fill our usual "salad bowl". Trim the stems off the spinach, and rinse thoroughly. Roll them lightly in a paper towel to dry. Put about half of the spinach into your salad bowl. After rinsing the strawberries and cutting off their tops, slice them lengthwise fairly thinly. Before mixing the berries with the spinach, toast a goodly handful of slivered almonds in a small frying pan. Be sure not to let them burn! They will seem to do nothing for a long period of time, then will suddenly begin to brown. Put about a third of the strawberries into the bowl, and mix with the spinach. Add a small amount of almonds.Then add a handful of spinach, then a few berry slices, and some almonds, then another handful of spinach, etc. until all the spinach is in the bowl. Reserve about a strawberry's worth of slices and a few almond slices, to arrange on top. 

Raspberry Vinagrette

• Raspberry vinegar (soak a pint of raspberries in enough rice vinegar to cover for a few weeks, then strain, add about a tablespoon of honey, then store in the refridgerator)
• Olive oil
• More honey, depending on desired sweetness

Choose a clean jar to put your dressing in. Fill the jar just over a quarter of the way with raspberry vinegar, then fill up with olive oil until the bottle is two-thirds full. Add about another tablespoon of honey if desired. Shake, and serve. Because this dressing contains olive oil without binders, it will separate out, and in the fridge, the olive oil will harden. Simply pull the dressing out about half an hour before serving, and shake before pouring over the salad.

And there you go! An easy and delicious salad that is a wonderful addition to your springtime meal! I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do! Let me know any suggestions or adaptions that you make for your family.