All day yesterday I was looking forward to dinner. It was one of those days where I had decided what I was going to make for dinner, before I had even thought about what to have for breakfast. This obviously lead to high expectations when dinner actually came, but because this recipe was adapted from a recipe on my all-time favourite recipe blog, ohsheglows.com, I knew it would exceed these expectations! I’ve been following Angela’s blog for over a year now, and I have fallen in love with every single one of her recipes that I have tried–and there are still many more I hope to try! This salad recipe is adapted (only slightly) from her Warm Spring Salad. Even though it’s not spring, I came across this recipe and just knew I had to make it for dinner. Maybe eventually I’ll get the hang of cooking in-season…

I changed the dressing to a raspberry-lemon balsamic vinaigrette because I had just bought some fresh raspberries from the farm (yum!), and the dressing turned out super spectacular! I was really impressed at how easy and simple, yet so flavourful it was. I thought the raspberries complemented the strawberries nicely in the salad, and the lemon added a subtle tartness, which was also quite nice. I also used edamame beans instead of peas, red onion instead of leek, and served the entire salad mixture cold over a large bed of spinach, instead of hot out of the pan. This salad easily wins the salad of the week award!

Warm Spring Salad Served Cold

Makes Two Large Servings- With Leftover Dressing

Ingredients
For the Dressing

• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/8 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/8 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
• 2 tsp agave nectar, or liquid sweetener of choice

For the Salad

• 1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
• 15 asparagus spears, lightly steamed and chopped into 2 inch pieces
• 10 fresh strawberries, sliced
• 1/4 medium-sized red onion, sliced
• 1/2 edamame beans
• 4 cups baby spinach

1. Combine dressing ingredients in a blender and blend until combined. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine cooked quinoa, asparagus spears, strawberries, red onion, and edamame beans until well mixed.
3. Split quinoa mixture over 2 plates, each with 2 cups of baby spinach.
4. Drizzle with 2-3 tablespoons of dressing and enjoy!