Strawberry salad

A few weeks ago, strawberries were on BOGO at the grocery, so I had to stock up! I came home with four packages of fresh strawberries and put three of them in the freezer for smoothies and the like. Last week, I realized I had totally forgotten about the massive amount of strawberries in my freezer and decided to take one package and put it in the fridge for easier access....big mistake!

Well, kinda. The strawberries did get super mushy after being frozen, (duh! I should have known that would happen!) but mushy = juicy and that was a great thing for spinach and strawberry salads!

The other day I not only put strawberries in my salad, but I made a great strawberry vinaigrette! It's super fast and easy.

Here's what you need:

1Tbsp EVOO
1Tbsp vinegar (I used apple cider but red wine would be best!)
1/2tsp rosemary
dash of salt
1-2 mashed strawberries

Just mix all ingredients together and drizzle over your salad!
This makes the perfect amount for one salad and the measurements are easy to double or triple. 

The mushy strawberries made it easier to mash them up, but I'm sure if you needed, you could put it all in a blender and it would be ready in no time!

I paired my salad with about 5oz of chicken cooked with a generous amount of smoked paprika and 1/2 cup cooked whole wheat noodles with a little oil and italian seasoning on top. It was a really great and filling dinner!

Have you experimented with homemade salad dressings? Any tips?

Sweet Potato Fries

Today I made these beauties for lunch!

They are really simple and a wonderful substitution for regular fries because sweet potatoes are full of vitamin A, potassium and fiber!
I also whipped up a quick (and clean) dressing to dip them in, it's a delicious dressing that I use for salads and veggies.

Here's what you need:
1 sweet potato
1 egg white
spices (I used cayenne pepper, garlic, salt/pepper and oregano)

Dressing:
1 Tbsp spicy brown mustard
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (red wine vinegar works too)
1 Tbsp low-fat Greek yogurt
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
Italian seasoning to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F. In a large bowl, mix together the egg white and spices. Then cut the sweet potato into strips and stir in the bowl with spices mixture, cover the potato slices well (you will have some egg/spice mix left). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (for easy clean up) and transfer the potato slices to sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes and then flip each slice over and bake for another 15 minutes. While the potatoes are baking, whisk all of your ingredients for the dressing and then wait as patiently as you can!

Then, you will have golden sweet potato fries that melt in your mouth! And a clean, tangy dressing to dip them in! Enjoy!

Notes: It's okay if you don't have yogurt for the dressing, it's simply for thickening.

Be Flavorful!
Roni