I have been little kid free for a week and it has been an oddly unique experience for me. My youngest three kids have been at my parents house in Ohio and I have been free to work without interruption for the past 7 days. Again, an odd yet exhilarating experience!

I have gotten more done in the past week than I thought was even possible. I would make you a list, but it might get a bit boring. Just know that I haven’t been this productive on my to-do list since before I had my six kids….20 years ago 🙂 Yes, I missed my little ones very much but I have been way too productive to dwell on it for very long and be sad.

I am looking forward to bringing them home and being together as a family again to begin all of our favorite summer activities and traditions. Like gardening! My littlest two love to “help” me in the garden by picking all the fresh veggies and eating them as a snack while they are playing outside. I can’t tell you how many times I will go outside to pick something for dinner only to find a much reduced inventory on the respective plants thanks to two little helpers. Especially the raspberry bushes!

For this recipe, I had to use store bought spinach because mine is just beginning to poke through the soil. (Planting it was one of the tasks I got done over the past week!) It was a really simple salad to throw together for a quick dinner and would be great topped with your favorite form of grilled protein as well. The dressing is just slightly sweet, unlike other spinach salad dressings that are overwhelmingly sweet.

Strawberry Avocado Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Yield: 8 side salads or 4 main dish salads

Ingredients

10 ounce bag spinach
1 lb strawberries, sliced
1 avocado, diced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 C slivered almonds, toasted
4 ounces crumbled blue cheese
Dressing:
1 tsp dijon mustard
3 Tb honey
1 Tb poppy seeds
4 Tb apple cider vinegar
1/3 C extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions

In a large bowl, toss together all the ingredients for the salad. In a small rubbermaid container, combine all the dressing ingredients, put on the lid and shake well. Add desired amount of dressing to the salad, and toss to coat. Serve immediately.