Strawberry Walnut Salad

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Over the weekend we went to some friend’s house for dinner, I was asked to bring a salad.

My theory on why I was asked to bring a salad: A couple of months ago this same couple came to our house for dinner. I had made stuffed steaks, pasta, roasted asparagus and my favorite salad. One would think that the steaks, pasta or asparagus would have been the big hit of the night, not the salad for pete’s sake! After all, aren’t salads just the “obligatory” healthy part of the meal? You’d think so unless you made this salad!

When dinner was done, no one wanted dessert, they wanted more salad! We went through two bags of lettuce that night for 4 adults. I think we all get an A+ for eating our greens that night! This is why I’m 100% sure that I was asked to bring a salad! 🙂

I was introduced to this salad when we lived in Georgia and had just had our first child. Our realtor who sold us our house, over a year prior brought us a huge homemade dinner (talk about Southern Hospitality!) The salad was part of the menu.  Lover Boy and I “ate a mess out of it” as my southern counterparts would say. For some reason I never got my hands on the recipe until 21 months later when she sold our house again (the day before our 2nd child was born)! At our closing I was more excited about getting the recipe than the check for our house!

This salad is full of strawberries, walnuts, monterey cheese and the best salad dressing in the world. If you make this salad PLEASE make this homemade salad dressing to go along with it. You will regret it if you don’t! (well not really, but I’m just sayin’)

Enough blabbing…let’s make a delicious salad!

Ingredients

• lettuce – any kind of lettuce will do, but I prefer romaine lettuce hearts
• fresh strawberries – wash and slice into slivers
• Monterey Jack cheese – this cheese adds a mild, buttery flavor to the salad! Using a handheld cheese grater, grate a block of cheese into shredded cheese
• shelled walnuts – if you are able to find and purchase chopped walnuts, that will make this recipe that much easier, if not, use a sharp knife to rough chop walnuts into bite-sized pieces

Tools & Supplies

• cheese grater – this is used to created shredded cheese out of a block of cheese. I like this handheld cheese grater
• sharp knife – my preferred kitchen knife is a Santoku knife, and actually, my most favorite knife hands-down (I have 3!) are the Rachel Ray Santoku knives with wood handles
• cutting board – a good cutting board is a must in a kitchen. I never really realized this until I began my own cooking adventures and wanted to chop or cut items by hand instead of using a food processor. I highly recommend Acacia wood cutting boards as they are super durable, heavy (so they don’t rock or shift all over on your counter), and are great for cutting on. Personally, I have 3 wooden cutting boards, of various sizes in my kitchen and have thrown away all of my plastic cutting boards from when I first began buying items for my kitchen
• skillet – the skillet is used to toast the walnuts before placing them on the salad. In a medium skillet, heat 1 tbs of butter and toast the walnuts until light brown. Let cool, and then place on the salad

How To Make Strawberry Walnut Salad

If you are assembling this salad in a large bowl for a crowd, I would suggest layering all of the ingredients of this salad. To do so, add a little bit of lettuce, topped with strawberries, walnuts and cheese, then layer again with lettuce, topped with strawberries, walnuts and cheese again. Repeat until you have used all of the ingredients.

Which salad dressing should I use?

I’m so glad you asked! This salad is perfectly paired with my hands-down, most favorite, salad dressing of all time! I home make a homemade salad dressing for strawberry walnut salad the day before I plan on serving this salad.

Do not place the dressing on this salad when you first make it. Let each guest add their own desired amount of dressing. You don’t want the leaves of lettuce or walnuts to become soggy before serving.

Next time you are invited to a dinner date and asked to bring something, skip on bringing the desserts, bring this salad! Your hosts will not be disappointed! Hope you guys enjoy this!

More Delicious Salad Recipes

Bacon Egg and Potato Salad

The Best Steak Salad

Easy Kale Salad