Strawberry and Avocado Salad with Basil-Balsamic Dressing

I bake a lot, and I mean a lot. More than you guys see on this blog, since I bake for Etsy orders and favors for friends. That means there are always quite a bit of sugary treats lying about, and while delicious, it can get rather overwhelming. That’s usually about the time I start craving salads like crazy, hence the one we have here :P!

The inspiration for this salad was basically all of my favorite things put together. The strawberries at the grocery store looked lovely, so I picked up a package. After eating about half by themselves, I decided I should probably incorporate them into something. I thought that a play on a caprese salad would be fun, substituting strawberries for tomatoes, and throwing little Perline mozzarella balls. Instead of simply putting the basil into the salad, I chose to incorporate it in a tangy balsamic dressing. I wanted a nice fatty element to contract the tang, so I threw in some avocado. I always have loved the combo of strawberries with pistachios (please see these Strawberry-Pistachio Rolls), so I sprinkled some of those on top.

I really enjoyed all of the flavors and textures in this salad, and how they played off of one another. If you want a boost of protein, this salad is great with some sliced chicken breast on top (salmon might be nice, too)! By the way, how about that bowl?! Mikey and I took a glass-blowing class, and our teacher made that for us!

So, I have something really cool to show you guys. A couple months ago, Mikey bought a Lytro camera. The thing that makes these cameras so special, is that it captures the light field that other cameras cannot, allowing you to view the photo in multiple perspectives! If you click around on the photo, you will see that it refocuses to whichever spot you have clicked— basically, it’s totally awesome (except, I wish you could somehow edit the photos in Photoshop), check it out:

Strawberry and Avocado Salad with Basil-Balsamic Dressing

dressing adapted from here

ingredients:

dressing:

• 1/3 cup packed basil leaves
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 garlic clove
• pinch of salt and freshly-ground pepper
• 1/3 cup olive oil

salad:

• 5 ounces mixed greens
• 1 1/2-1 3/4 cup sliced strawberries
• 1 small avocado, sliced
• 6 ounces mozzarella pearls
• handful of pistachios, chopped
• salt and pepper, to taste (I used a black lava salt because I think the blacks looks pretty against the salad)

1. In a large bowl, carefully toss together the greens, strawberries, avocado, and mozzarella.
2. Drizzle desired amount of the dressing over the salad, sprinkle with the pistachios, and season with salt and pepper; serve!