Get Nutritional Boosts Eating a Strawberry Arugula Salad
This delicious Strawberry Arugula Salad features a sugar-free balsamic vinaigrette, honey-glazed pecans, and gorgonzola cheese. This vibrant salad is an easy side dish that pairs well with any meal. Meeting your daily goal of two cups of vegetables can be challenging, but enjoying a flavorful salad is a simple way to achieve it.
Healthy Vinegars
- Balsamic vinegar is a popular food condiment for good reasons. In addition to its irresistible taste, it contains only natural sugars and helps lower cholesterol and stabilize blood pressure. This homemade dressing recipe below offers a sweet topping to offset the peppery arugula and flavorful gorgonzola without added sugars. Making homemade dressing allows you to control the ingredients and substitute healthier alternatives. For more information, read Healthline’s overview on balsamic vinegar.
- Another healthy vinegar is apple cider vinegar (ACV). It is made with fermented apples, giving it a sweeter profile than other vinegars. It also contains probiotics because the “mother”, which is formed during the fermentation process. ACV has vitamins and antioxidants.
Benefits of Making your Own Balsamic Vinnaigrette
Homemade salad dressing is not just a delicious alternative to store-bought options; it’s also a powerful way to enhance the nutrition of your salads. By making your own dressing for Strawberry Arugula Salad, you have complete control over the ingredients, allowing you to choose healthier options.
- For instance, using olive oil in place of highly processed vegetable oils or inflammatory seed oils boosts the heart-healthy fats in your salad.
- Incorporating nutritious vinegars, such as apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar, can add not only flavor but also beneficial properties to your dressing.
- You can easily reduce salt and eliminate processed sugar, making it a much healthier choice.
- Adding fresh garlic or grated onion enriches the dressing with extra nutrients and flavor.
Embrace the power of homemade dressing, and elevate your Strawberry Arugula Salad’s nutrition in the process!
Recipe Steps
1
Toast honey-glazed pecan halves in a skillet.
2
Cool honey-glazed pecans and break into smaller pieces.
3
Combine greens, strawberries, cheese, red onion, and cranberries.
Advantages of Eating a Salad
- meet vegetable requirement
- get a low-calorie food
- eat healthy greens that have vitamins, mineral, and water
- consume raw vegetables which can have more nutrients than cooked
- add fiber to your diet
Takeaway
In summary, Strawberry Arugula Salad & Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette = Winning Combination.
Serve With
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Strawberry Arugula Salad & Sugar-Free Vinaigrette
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 5
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Salads
- Method: Stovetop (nuts only)
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup halved pecans
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 5 ounce container of arugula or a 50/50 blend of arugula and spinach
- 8 ounces fresh strawberries tops removed and sliced or quartered
- 2 ounces gorgonzola or blue cheese, crumbled*
- 1/2 cup red onion, sliced – about 1/2 onion
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries or cherries
- 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar**
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon of pepper
- 1 Tablespoon of sugar-free strawberry jam or 1 teaspoon raw honey ***
- 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Toast Pecans. Place a large skillet over medium heat and add pecan halves. Drizzle honey over pecans and stir to coat. Toast the pecans for a few minutes. Place on wax paper to cool. Try not to eat them all while making the salad. Break into smaller pieces.
- Combine Salad. In a large salad bowl, combine greens, strawberries, cheese, red onion, and cranberries.
- Make Dressing. Add all dressing ingredients except olive oil in a small bowl or shaker cruet. Shake to combine. Slowly add olive oil.
- Serve. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and gently mix. Serve immediately.
Notes
* Omit if paleo; I prefer the milder gorgonzola. For the best taste, do NOT get the pre-crumbled package. Buy it in a small block and crumble it just before serving.
** Balsamic vinegar substitute: SCD – many balsamic vinegar bottles have added sugar; substitute with red vinegar or make your own legal homemade balsamic vinegar substitute through SCDRecipe
*** Use jam or fruit preserves with no added sugar and sweetened with fruit juice.
One response to “Strawberry Arugula Salad & Sugar-Free Vinaigrette”
Very good salad – loved the flavor of the toasted pecans, cranberries, and Gorgonzola cheese with the strawberry dressing.