Low cal salad

CLASSIC STRAWBERRY AND SPINACH SALAD WITH A TWIST

Strawberries are in season and this beautiful fruit always lures me.Apart from using them in desserts and having them raw I wanted to use them differently. I thought of using them for salads so that one can have them  more often. As I have mentioned earlier , salads for me have to be healthy and low cal..I experimented with number of recipes and finally arrived at this one -which turned out to be heavenly. My MOTHER- IN-LAW A FOOD CONNOISSEUR  also appreciated it which she does not do very easily!

INGREDIENTS                                            

1. Spinach leaves, roughly torn-1cup
2. Strawberries ,thick slices-1cup
3. Apple,diced without peeling-1/2cup
4. Yellowbell pepper, diced-1/3 cup
5. Walnuts -3tbp

FOR DRESSING

1. Orange juice-1/3 cup
2. mustard paste-1 tbsp
3. Virgin olive oil-1tbsp
4. Balsamic vinegar-2-3 tbsp
5. Powdered sugar/artificial sweetener/tsp
6. Salt and white pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Soak strawberries in 1tbsp of balsamic vinegar and powdered sugar.
2. Dry roast walnuts on a flat pan and then break into small pieces.( do not powder)
3. Whisk all ingredients for the dressing with a wire whisk.
4. Mix spinach leaves, strawberries, apple and bell pepper. Drizzle dressing over them and toss it well in it.
5.  Transfer to a bowl or a platter. Sprinkle walnuts over it.

NOTE- you may omit bell pepper and add black grapes to it.

          - Balsamic vinegar can be substituted by malt vinegar or red wine vinegar

          - wash spinach leaves in lots of water and no of times so that no trace of dirt is left.