Consider this your prescription for eating more salad.

The dressing totally makes the salad. It was inspired by a fabulous one my boyfriend's mom made last week, loaded with fresh strawberries, feta and a perfectly sweet dressing. Being the health freak that I am, I upped the vinegar, ditched the sugar for pure maple syrup, lowered the amount of oil and added a touch of water. The dressing tastes pretty much the same as the original, but boasts a much better nutrition profile. Did I mention that it tastes AMAAAAAAZE? This is THE salad dressing.

And who doesn't want an excuse to eat more pizza? More salad = more pizza.

I adore the dressing over mixed greens with strawberries, pecans and feta, but it would also be incredible with fresh or grilled peaches, candied walnuts, avocado, dried cranberries, goat cheese, etc. I mean the possibilities really are endless here.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Having a delish homemade dressing in the fridge is the key to eating more salad, which means more veggies, which means less chronic disease, which means living longer. Right? Right. More veggies = longer life, kapeesh?

When the salad tastes like a dream, it's easy to eat a whole bag of mixed greens without even knowing it. That's what we're going for here.

Do yourself a favor and make a batch of this dressing to have in the fridge for those emergencies situations when you realize the only vegetable you ate that day was a slice of tomato, which is actually a fruit. Happens to the best of us.

Don't panic. Eat this.

Strawberry Pecan Salad with Sweet Maple Dressing

Strawberry Pecan Salad with Sweet Maple Dressing

★★★★★ 5 from 5 reviews

• Author: Alexis
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Total Time: 5 mins
• Yield: 4 1x

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 4 cups mixed greens
• 1 cup diced strawberries
• 1 avocado, cubed
• ¼ red onion, sliced thin
• ⅓ cup pecans
• ⅓ cup feta (optional)
• For the dressing:
• ¼ cup oil (I used grapeseed)
• ¼ cup pure maple syrup
• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp water
• ¼ tsp worcestershire sauce (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

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Instructions

1. Add all salad ingredients to a large bowl and toss to combine.
2. Whisk together dressing ingredients and drizzle over prepared salad immediately before serving. (There will be dressing left over.) Toss to combine.

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PS-- I finally took the plunge and spent $18 on a 32oz jug of grade B (less processed, more maple flavor) pure maple syrup at Trader Joe's. I was sick of spending $7 on an itty bitty 8oz container that got me through three batches of pancakes and maaaaaybe a batch of muffins. It sounds like a lot of money for maple syrup, but it's one of my favorite natural sweeteners and it's way cheaper per ounce.

Buy in bulk, people! It's totally the thing.