Orange Strawberry Salad with Orange Dressing

Is it too late to post about Easter?  Let’s pretend it’s not.  We hosted our Fourth Annual Easter Brunch this year.  Not the smartest thing I’ve ever done, what with a 3 month old and all.  But as usual, we had tons of delicious food and a fun egg hunt for the kids.  Here’s a look back at our menu….

Easter Brunch 2012

What I really want to talk about is that salad.  I made this Orange Strawberry Salad for the first time at Easter, and I made it again this week for our Salad of The Week.  The dressing…oh that dressing!!  It’s so good you’ll want to lick your plate clean just to get every last drop.  This time around, I used some of the dressing as a marinade for the chicken before I grilled it.  It was pure genius on my part, because the chicken had great flavor!  Also, this method for sugared almonds is also the best one I’ve ever used.  They are amazing (and no, not paleo at all).  Combined with some fresh strawberries, spinach and juicy Cuties, and you’ve got yourself a delicious salad.  So delicious that I forgot to take a picture until after I’d already dug in to my lunch the other day…

Orange Strawberry Salad

adapted from See Jane In The Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1 package of spring mix greens (I used a combo of spinach, lettuce, and baby kale)
• 1 pint strawberries, sliced
• 1 large orange, cut into small pieces (I used 2 or 3 Cuties)
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 1 recipe of Sugared Almonds (recipe below)
• 1 recipe of Orange Dressing
• 1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast

Make dressing.  Marinate chicken in 1/2-2/3 cup of dressing for at least 1 hour.  Grill chicken until cooked through, allow to cool, then slice.  Make sugared almonds.  Combine greens, strawberries, Cutie segments, green onions, sugared almonds, and grilled chicken.  Top with remaining salad dressing and serve.

Sugared Almonds: Combine 1 cup sliced almonds, 4 tablespoons butter, and 4 tablespoons sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the the butter and sugar turn to a toffee color, stir constantly.

Orange Dressing:

• ½ tsp grated orange peel, or orange zest
• 1/3 cup fresh orange juice ( 1 to 2 oranges )
• 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• ½ cup olive oil oil
• 1 Tablespoon “Good Seasons Dry Italian” dressing mix. It is about ½ a package.  (Next time I’m making my own Italian Dressing Mix)

Put all ingredients in a container and shake- serve.