Balsamic Soaked Strawberries on Spinach Almond Avocado Salad — The Lovely Crazy
When something goes on sale at the grocery store, I tend to buy it. Being that it is Valentines Day this week, all the stores are having specials on all sorts of sexy things… and strawberries are one of them. Now I am not a huge fan of buying produce that is terribly out of season, but I can’t help myself…a good deal is a good deal and the strawberries were a super good deal. I was just going to make some sweet ass strawberry jam or maybe a lovely strawberry cake with them (and I probably still will), but these strawberries are actually super juicy and full of flavor, and it’s always nice to eat some full flavor freshy strawberries… especially soaked in balsamic vinegar. And yeah, I think that this salad is pretty sexy, so it makes for a perfect Valentines day dish.
A handful of ingredients and 5 minutes will get you to a fantastic salad experience.
A bowl of baby spinach, a few chopped up strawberries*, half a sliced avocado and a small handful of toasted almonds.. Oh, and don’t forget the balsamic vinegar….
*Note.. Strawberries are kind of heart shaped already so if you want, reserve a few slices to fancy up you salad presentation, but chop up the rest into smaller pieces.
Pour the vinegar on the strawberries and let sit for at least 5 minutes. (the longer the strawberries can sit with the vinegar, the better)
Pile it on.. thinly slice avocado.. rough chopped toasted almonds… It’s pretty much as easy as it can get.
And last but not least, toss on the balsamic soaked strawberries and drizzle the remaining vinegar. (if you made hearts, place on top to make pretty) Sprinkle with a pitch of salt and pepper and pow! Fancy, sexy, delicious salad.
Not to shabby for 5 minutes and a handful of ingredients. Anyone (don’t feed to a person with nut allergies) would be so syked to be fed a salad like this… You yourself should be pretty excited to eat a salad like this. Heck, I am excited to eat a salad like this!
A love salad for everyone and everyday!
YAY for Thursday and Happy meal planning!!!!
-C
♥ Balsamic Strawberries on Spinach Almond Avocado Salad ♥
Ingredients for 1 large or 2 small salads
- 3-4 ripe strawberries
- handful of roasted almonds (slivers or whole)
- 1/2 avocado
- 2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
- 3 cups baby spinach
- Pinch of salt and pepper
Dice strawberries into small pieces (reserve a few whole slices for heart shapes if you want) and toss in a small bowl with the balsamic vinegar. Let sit for at least 5 minutes. Rinse and dry spinach. Place in a bowl(s) and top with thinly sliced avocado, chopped almonds and balsamic soaked strawberries. Drizzle the residual vinegar on top and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Eat with a fork

I was cleaning my spice shelf (I feel like I do this like once a week) and found some poppy seeds hiding behind some jars. Accidental spice findings happened more often the then one might think in my house.. I like to buy tiny baggies of spices with good intentions of using them, but because of their tiny size, I often lose them or forget about them due to that tininess. But I usually find those tiny little bags, and when I find them, I try to use them right away..(I don’t like having old spices around and no, I will not toss it) And it just so happened that I has a lemon in need of using.. and it was getting close to dinner time. I could wait and make lemon poppy seed cake or muffins, or just start dinner. Then I was like, ” I’ll just make lemon poppy seed pasta.” And so I did. And of course it needed to have lots of garlic and some kind of vegetable to round out the dish, (I know tomatoes are fruit but you know what I mean)
Start by tuning oven on to 400 degrees. Chopped tomatoes and sprinkle in oil and salt and stick in the oven. Do this first because the rest of the meal only takes about 10 minutes..So fast!!!
The sauce is pretty much a basic roux…
Once your pasta is cooked (cook however it says to on package), reserve about a 1/4 cup of pasta water and drain the rest. Add the pasta water and pasta the sauce. (the pasta water helps the sauce and noodles canooddle together)
And its all mixed up just waiting to be served…and the roasted tomatoes!
Scooped into a bowl with a scoop of the roasted tomatoes and some chopped chives, served with a couple wedges of lemon..just because.







I don’t think I need to tell anyone about how weird the past few weeks of weather have been, so I will just leave it alone because we don’t need to keep thinking about how stupid cold it is outside or that the next week is only suppose to get worse. Booooo, but oh well. More time for cooking, reading, and trolling the internet (I have spent a little more time then usual getting sucked into the world-wide web.) Beacause I have been spending a little more time interneting, I have added an addition to my usual happy bits, a few links that I have stumbled upon that I think are cool and of things that I want or want to make… Cool internet stuff…..a bit of internet happy.
I got to hang out with my little sister for the first time in like a month… She is just so busy being busy. I guess high school,play practices and boys and friends can fill up ones time at 15… but I miss her so much! I was very excited that she was able to hang out with me this week. What did we do? Well we spent most of out time together taking pictures of her in my glasses, making food and then taking pictures of her eating food. (She is eating whipped carob moose… like one should eat it) A fantastic day of silliness.
I have been feeling like I might be fighting off an illness so I have been eating this Turmeric Ginger Garlic Carrot soup which I have been adding cabbage and topping with these pickled heart beet, all week long. So tasty and full of so much good.
Oh yeah. Me, the mister, my sister, and her lovely little little went to Ikea this week. (the littles first international trip!!! Over the border and into Montreal) And of course at the end of any good shopping trip there is some type of food…. She was so excited for the hot dog and frozen yogurt cone at check out. Champion food eater this one is.
And what’s not to love about pretty flowers (primrose)…..Sadly this is not a current picture. I need to get me some color today.
One of the best things about winter is that I can have something in the oven at any time and not worry about how hot the house is going to get. I get to spend my free time (or my in between free minutes) baking up all the thing that I would not dare bake in the summer. (lots of bread and cakes) Yeah, I might complain a little about how cold it is outside (to my defense, -20 is kind of a bitch) but then I think of the super hot humid days that come during the summer and cringe. At least when its cold out I am able to get warm, (que oven) but when its super hot and humid, I just turn into something that border lines a wet towel and the rabbit animal… Not so pleasant. I much prefer cooler weather. So no big surprise….I made bread.. or focaccia to be exact. And now you should too because first off, you want to eat it, and secondly, you can probably whip this up faster then it would take to get all of you winter warmies on and leave the house. Don’t leave, just turn the oven on.
The stuff, which isn’t a whole lot… Flour and salt. A mixture of honey, water, and yeast. And olive oil. Its pretty much my pizza dough recipe, tweaked with the addition of oil, less flour and no kneading.
Mix together the wet and dry…I used my nifty dough whisk, but a wooden spoon or even your hand works. Mix mix mix. The dough should be really slack and sticky. And guess what.. no need to knead! Just make sure the dough is uniformly incorporated…hehe.. uniformly incorporated… sounds weird.
Drizzle the dough (don’t worry about making it into a ball, a blob is good) with a little oil and place in a nice warm place topped with a towel to rise for about an hour or until dough has doubled in size. Once is has fully risen, drizzle 2 tablespoons oil in two 9 inch cake pans. Divide dough in half, and kind of smoosh dough into pans. Cover and let rise for another 20 minutes or so.
When dough has finished its second rise, drizzle each with another tablespoon of oil and with your fingers, fill out the pan and indent the dough, kind of like playing a piano or tickling a puppy(?)….Then layer your toppings (if you want any) Start with any herbs, then the veggies. Then last, any cheese you got. I used thyme, cracked black pepper, tomato, onion, topped with parmesan cheese. And the other one is just plain old salt.
Pulled from the oven when nice and golden brown..set on a wire rack to cool for a few minute and removed from the pans.
The mister was practically salivating waiting for a slice… and he was so not disappointed. Crispy outside with soft airy insides… Everything a perfect focaccia should be. The one with the toppings was the favorite for the first night, but for a peanut butter and cheese panini for lunch the next day…plain is the way to go.. My suggestion, do what I did, jazz one up and leave one plain. And then make more if you need too because the forecast call for another week of below zero!!! Oh the things that I’ll get to make! (me being positive) Stay warm! -C






How awesome will you be when you bring the most freaking amazing tortilla chips to the party this weekend? You will be like..”what, it ain’t no thang.. I am just good like that” Yes, yes you are.

Knead dough a few times just to make sure it’s completely uniformed and divide into 12-14 equal pieces. Place balls on a plate and cover with a wet paper towl to keep from drying out.
My cast iron skillet is big enough to cook 2 -3 at a time, but doing one at a time is cool too. Preheat the skillet to medium heat. Cook each tortilla for about 2-3 minutes ( or until starting to brown) on each side.
Half way there to chips!!!
Placed all nice and cozy on a baking sheet. trying not to overlap. Into a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes to complete the chip making process.. After about 15 minutes, check for doneness. When nice a crispy, remove from oven, squeeze lime juice all over and sprinkle with salt. I then stuck them back in the oven for a few more minutes just to dry the lime..
After cooling down, take those chips and stick them in a bowl.
I eat vegetables like I breath air… constantly and almost mindlessly. Some people are addicted to sugar or coffee, but me, I am addicted to veggies. ( I am also extremely addicted to coffee) This is my truth, but I am ok with it.
Pretty much a little bit of everything that I have in my fridge….Shredded red cabbage, carrots, beets. Some sliced of red onion, tomato and red pepper. Hummus and a little mashed avocado
Yes, it may look like a mess, but that’s just me trying to make five different things at once. But really, making these wraps are simple simple. Just take rinsed and dried green or red leaf lettuce, smear on hummus and mashed avocado and pile on the veggies. Roll and stick with a toothpick to keep from unrolling. See…. simple.
So many colors…… so much pretty.
Wrapped and rolled…Sliced down the middle, just to see all the pretty inside.
These might be veggie wraps, but man, look at those sausage fingers…(hehehe)
Contact — The Lovely Crazy
November 1, 2020 by maximios • Blog
If you want to get ahold of me for a non stupid reason, shoot me an email. I like questions, comments, suggestions, and even a simple hello. Just please no nuddies… I’m not like that.
You want to be a sponsor or partner with this…. Lets talk….
I am open to anyone in want or need of recipe development. I can help with that.
[email protected]