Strawberry Spinach Salad with Toasted Almonds

This is the easiest salad ever!  It is also very delicious.  My husband even loves it even though he thinks it looks like one of those girlie salads made for girl parties like baby and bridal showers.  

You can make this as fancy as you'd like by adding in lots of extras like mandarin oranges, cheese, red onion, etc or keep it simple like I do.  Don't get me wrong, I looove all the fancy extras that people have in this type of salad but I don't love taking a half hour just to make a side salad for dinner!  If a recipe is simple it's certainly going to be made way more often at my house than one that I have to have lots of different ingredients and time to make it.  This recipe makes quite a bit and the leftovers don't save so only make how much you will eat that night.

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Toasted Almonds

1 bag Baby Spinach

2 lb Strawberries, sliced

1/3-1/2 cup Slivered Almonds, or Pecans

1-2 Tbsp. Sugar

Brianna's Homestyle Blush Wine Vinaigrette (or something similar, this is just what I use)

First you will toast the almonds or pecans.

  

1-Sprinkle the sugar into a small saucepan.  

2-Melt over medium heat while stirring constantly.  This happens really quick!  

3-Dump in your almonds or pecans and stir until coated and they smell "toasted".  I know I have zero scientific explanation of how to tell you when it's done but trust me you will smell the "toasted" smell.  It only takes a few seconds.  

4-Spread the almonds onto a piece of tinfoil or wax paper to cool for a couple minutes.  Once cool, break the pecans/almonds into chunks.  

Now all you have to do is toss everything together. Only mix in a little dressing at a time, just enough to coat everything.  A little goes a long way.  Serve immediately.

I'll be linking to a few of these places.  Check them out for more fun ideas.

Bountiful Baskets

I'm sure most of you have heard of Bountiful Baskets if you live in a state where it's offered (check out their site to see if it's available in your area) but I had to let everyone know about it in case you haven't or in case you forgot that it exists like I did. ;0)  It is ran by volunteers where you get a ton of fresh fruit and veggies for just $15.  Look what I got this week...

Yummy!  That is a ton of fresh produce for not much moo-la people.  They claim it saves you $35.00 if you were to buy all that produce at the grocery store which I think is stretching it a bit, but I am also cheap and don't usually buy things unless they're a good price.

This was the first time I've actually ordered.  I've been meaning to order for months but I never remember until it's too late.  I must say I am really happy with what I got.  My only complaint is that the entire bag of clementines I was given were too ripe but I'm sure that must not always be the case otherwise people would stop ordering and the program wouldn't still be around after all this time.

I think this will be a great way for my family to make sure we eat all our fruits and veggies because I hate wasting food and for that matter money too so I know we'll be motivated to get it all eaten!  I think I forget just how many fruits and vegetables we should be consuming.  For a 2000 calorie diet (according to the USDA), it is 2 1/2 cups vegetables and 2 cups fruit consumed each and every day!

  I think this will also be a nice way to plan out meals for the week.  You don't get to pick what you get so it's a surprise, but it's always 50% fruit and 50% vegetables.  Because of this I will be planning out my meals for the week on Saturday, the day you pick up your food.

I made a salad yesterday with the strawberries and spinach I got.  The best part is it was super simple!  I'll share the recipe with you tomorrow.

Bountiful Baskets only take orders on Mondays starting at noon until Tuesday at 10:00 pm so you have a few hours left if you want to order this week, so order quick!  Okay enough blabbing.  Until tomorrow.

New Skirt For The Munchkin

 McKinley has needed new clothes for church for a long time but I haven't ever gotten around to it until now.  I made this cute skirt using this tutorial from Sewing In No Man's Land and then I also made a headband to match.

 I must say I love it!  Sorry, there will be no cute posed pictures.  I had to give Kin bribes just to get her to hold still for half a second and I certainly wasn't going to go outside in this freezing weather, so just imagine you see a beautiful field behind her or something. :0)

 The bribes only kind of worked!  Do you see her cheeks are full of goldfish crackers in each picture!

I don't know how people get in focus pictures of toddlers.  This girl is wild.  This is as still as I could get her and it's only because she would drop a cracker and pause to look for it.

The skirt has a high waist, although it doesn't look like it in my pictures because the waist was folded over.  Kelly also gives the pattern for an adult size and I'm tempted to make one for myself.  Go check it out!  I'll be linking to some of these places.