Fruit Salad – yummy, yummy!

I’m American and even though I live in Australia, my kids don’t watch The Wiggles (I can hear all of my Australian friends *gasping* right now…).  Anyway, my point is that the “fruit salad – yummy yummy” song is from The Wiggles and with my lack of exposure to this program I’m not entirely sure why this song pops in my head every single time I make this salad, but it does!

What I’m going to propose you test today is the literal definition of a fruit salad. We’re going to combine strawberries and spinach. Be prepared to be amazed at this awesome flavour combination and wonder where it has been all your life.

Mia was a champ at eating spinach as an infant when I was preparing it and spoon feeding it to her but I found that once we transitioned to finger food, spinach fell off her radar for food choices (she only ever asked for kale). Ryan and I would make salads for dinner but I would make a plate for her that had all of our salad ingredients on it like shredded carrots, tomatoes, capsicum, cucumber and mushrooms but no spinach! When I realised I had been leaving this folate rich item out, I wasn’t very surprised when I started putting leaves of spinach on her plate and she wasn’t interested.

This salad has been our saviour! We serve it to Mia as is and she notoriously picks all the strawberries out first and then asks for more. We then apply the trusty “When —> Then” principle and tell her that WHEN she eats her spinach, THEN she can have more strawberries. Works every single time. Oh, and we tell her that Wonder Woman and Elsa both eat spinach to make them strong.

To make this salad, you will need:

• Baby spinach leaves – I usually say 2 handfuls for each adult and 1 handful for your child
• 5-6 strawberries for each person you are serving. You do the math.
• 1/2 cucumber for each person
• Pecans
• Shredded chicken (if you’re not sure how to make your own chicken, follow this recipe)

This dressing is liquid gold. Mia calls it “spicy dip” and asks for it all the time. Take note of the photos when you make this. You need to whisk it for a good 20-25 seconds before it thickens up so be patient while the magic happens. To make 1 cup, you will need:

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp organic dijon mustard
• Fill to the 1 cup mark with extra virgin olive oil (it will be about 1/2 cup)

Here is the dressing prep. Note the thickened dressing in the second photo, post-whisk!

I like to prep my salads in a big tupperware so I can add the dressing, put the lid on and shake, shake, shake. It evenly coats the leaves and makes for a perfect distribution.

Here is a photo of the finished product, pre-shake! Hope this helps guide you!