Strawberry Salad with Walnuts and Red Onion

 I'm always a bit skeptical of salad "recipes" because, let's face it, a salad is just tossing a bunch of things together.

Why the need for a recipe?

This one is a personal favorite of mine, and though it's usually done with my despised raw spinach, with lettuce it steals number one.

 So I guess with Labor Day weekend, end of summer strawberries might be hard to come by but salivating at the pictures is almost as good!

 "Ordinary Day" Vanessa Carlton

Ingredients:

• stawberries, sliced
• feta cheese, crumbled
• red onion, chopped
• walnuts, chopped
• spinach or lettuce
• balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Toss ingredients in balsamic vinegar.

Japanese Restaurant-Style Salad with Carrot Ginger Dresssing

I got this from Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Turshen's It's All Good. It's a pretty great cookbook with loads of ideas for recipes and healthy living. I made it for a cross country pasta party.

Oh and for the dressing when it says add salt. It means add salt.

"You're the One That I Want" 

Ingredients

For the salad:

• 1 head of lettuce, torn
• 1 ripe tomato, sliced
• 1/2 cucumber sliced
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 2/3 cup Carrot-Ginger dressing

For the dressing (Makes 2 1/2 cups):

• 1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 large shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon sweet white miso
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seed oil
• 1/4 cup grapeseed oil
• 2 tablespoons water

Directions 

For the salad:

Put the lettuce into a salad bowl and top with the tomato, cucumber, and red onion. Drizzle with plenty of the dressing, serve immediately.

For the dressing:

Pulse the carrot, shallot and ginger in a blender until finely chopped. 
Scrape down the sides, add the miso, vinegar and sesame seed oil and whiz together. While the blender is going, slowly drizzle in the grapeseed oil and the water. It will keep for up to a week in the fridge and works well as a dip.