Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad

Ingredients

The best thing about this Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad is that it’s very easily customizable either adding or removing ingredients depending on your mood or what is in your kitchen at the moment.

For this strawberry salad you'll also need my Strawberry Poppy Seed Dressing.

Here are my two cents on a few of the ingredients.

• Lettuce - the best lettuce that works with strawberries (in my opinion) is either a very crunchy one like kale, Frisée , Kale or similar, something with a little stronger taste like arugula (ruccola) or spinach will work too. Spinach is usually my go-to because I always have it in my fridge but changing things up a bit always helps. For best results, make sure to use a Salad Spinner.
• Strawberries - ripe strawberries will add natural sweetness to the salad and you won't need any additional sweetener (if any at all).
• Cheese - there is something about strawberries and goat cheese that I just can’t resist. Goat cheese adds a creamy and salty flavor that just can't be beaten in combination with strawberries or all the berries actually. For an alternative, feel free to choose regular or creamy feta cheese.

List of ingredients for Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad:

• 1-2 cups strawberries hulled and stems removed, quartered
• ¼ cup gluten-free couscous or sub buckwheat, quinoa, millet, cooked as per package instructions (al dente)
• 2 cups lettuce kale or Frisée lettuce, shredded
• Himalayan pink salt to taste
• Black ground pepper to taste
• 4-5 oz goat cheese crumbled or torn apart into smaller pieces

How to make Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad

In a large mixing bowl (or you can also assemble the salad directly into individual salad bowls) add lettuce, couscous, lightly toss.

Tips

• How to store strawberry salad - This salad should be eaten on day 1, however, you can also meal prep by combining all the ingredients in individual bowls, refrigerating for a few hours or max a day, and adding the strawberry vinaigrette only right before serving.
• For best results wash and dry the lettuce using a salad spinner.
• Always prepare the salad dressing before you chop up the salad ingredients. This way the dressing will taste even more delicious.
• If serving the salad later, don’t add the dressing right away, only when ready to serve and preferably drizzled over individual bowls. 
• Wine Pairing - Serve with high-acid white wines such as Riesling, Chablis or Sauvignon Blanc.  
• Don't throw away the strawberry tops! Here's what you can do:

Variations and toppings

What toppings and extras to add are up to you but here are a few of my suggestions that work:

• Red onion will add a little zing to this salad and is simply the best onion to choose for a berry salad. 
• Nuts - add toasted nuts such as walnuts, pecans, or almonds for extra nutrition and crunchiness.
• Ground pepper - for something different, try flavored ground peppers such as Lemon Pepper Seasoning, yum! Or simply squeeze a bit of lime or lemon juice on top of the salad. 
• For the dressing use my Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad Dressing or tangy Homemade Sweet Balsamic Glaze.
• Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad with Chicken - add grilled or oven-roasted chicken breast for a wholesome meal. The best part is that the Strawberry Vinaigrette salad dressing works very well with poultry too!
• For extra flavor add caramelized almonds (almonds toasted with a bit of butter, ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon powder, and sugar to taste until caramelized texture.) Or use choose other nuts like walnuts, hazelnuts or pecans following the same method.
• Berries - Substitute strawberries with raspberries or blueberries.