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Garden Berry Salad with Balsamic Dressing

Garden Berry salad with a healthy tangy balsamic dressing makes a lovely presentation at table. This beautiful salad is versatile; welcoming your creative additions of various spring greens, nuts and cheeses. Add your favorite lush in season berries to really wake up the flavors!

Spring Garden Berry Salad

Harvest or purchase fresh greens and top it off with fresh ripe berries and homemade balsamic dressing!

Dave and I LOVE spring. After  a dose of house bound winter blahs we enjoy getting out in the garden and greenhouse. Spring is the time to get busy, And busy we are! Especially Dave. He runs a full time Drywall operation. That is hard work.  And then he comes home to seven wild acres, a large garden and greenhouse, chickens and many many other things he needs to tend to around here. It Keeps him fit:)

2016 Summer Garden Tour

Our green beans and squash are just starting to take off in spring.

I help as I can, but I have my own circus full of monkeys to contain. Between us, we manage to prioritize and get along, but not everything will get done. We know that going into spring. But we dream…. In early spring we get the chores done and the garden and property look great (if a bit bare) and we hope to keep ahead of it.

Then the weeds start erupting out of the ground. The Nettle bushes, buttercups, field grasses and dandelions shoot up and the wild blackberries come out of nowhere. The project list gets way over the top busy….yeah. Acceptance is a big part of living here. We never get it all done.

Garlic Shallots

Wintered over garlic makes great spring garlic scapes. Chop it all the way up the stem for awesome flavor in spring salads and soups.

After awhile the greenhouse and garden start to show promise. The early spring greens and wintered over crops give us salad that is fresh and lively.   Harvesting fresh berries and cucumbers give us even more flavor and pop. After months of waiting we are eating fresh organic produce. Yum!

Dave built a HUGE raised be for a couple of rows of raspberries last year. He started the canes from our daughters canes. After a whole year of waiting the raspberry patch is producing ripe berries. They make a perfect topping for this salad.

Garden Raspberries 2017

Garden Raspberries 2017. Our first pick.

Salad and juice making from our garden greens is a HUGELY satisfying way to celebrate our early produce. We start to feel it’s all worth the effort. Call us crazy. This is an expensive, exhausting hobby farm…we adore this place!

Kales

Various Garden kales in our garden

Cucumbers

Our greenhouse pickle cucumbers. We love them in salads Too!

Container Strawberries

started in the greenhouse these container strawberries were bearing ripe fruit in April!

 

Garden Berry salad is great with your own fresh organic garden produce or go to your local CSA or Farmers Market.

Today’s salad is made with produce from both our garden and the grocery store. Our tomatoes and peppers are still babies so I purchased the ones you see today. I did get to use our long english (Tasty Jade variety) cucumbers in this salad. Dave grew them in the greenhouse. Great flavor!

Spring Garden Berry Salad

Garden Berry Salad With Creamy Balsamic dressing. Fresh spring greens, cheese, nuts topped off with fresh ripe berries and homemade balsamic dressing!

Nothing beats growing your own organic produce. It’s a fun hobby and your diet will improve immensely. If you’re just not feeling the garden vibe or have no area for growing your own produce…find a good farmers market, veggie stand or a farm that will send you organic food. It’s so worth it!

On the subject of purchased organics in stores:

I just read this interesting article by Rodale Press and thought to pass it along. It’s important to keep up with the types of food labeling. The rules they follow, enforcement practices and what it means for us as consumers as we pay a premium for organics.


Garden Berry Salad Recipe Notes:

TIP: I used a fork to run down the sides of the cucumber to make the fluted edge look on the cucumber skin. That gives a pretty look to the salad. (An old trick I learned from my mama.)

The salad dressing is SO good. make it ahead to let the flavors meld a bit. Promise, your family will love this.

Instructions:

  • Chop or tear all greens and place in a large salad bowl.
  • Add the cheese, nuts and an other accoutrements you love in a salad now along with the strawberries.
  • Toss gently and top with the raspberries as desired.
  • Dress salad with one recipe Homemade Creamy Balsamic Dressing (best to make ahead and store in fridge). I added this recipe into the printable recipe card for your convenience.
Spring Garden Berry Salad

Spring garden Berry Salad is  Bursting with fresh spring greens; topped with bright red raspberries. This salad offers lots of filling, healthy flavor.

 

NUTRITION INFORMATION:

184 Calories / Serving
 

Fat          14%  11 g

Carbs      5%   18 g

Protein 12%       7 G

 

Your Printable Recipe Card:

Spring Garden Berry Salad
Yield: 8

Garden Berry Salad with Creamy Balsamic Dressing

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Garden Berry salad with Creamy Balsamic Dressing makes a lovely presentation at table. This beautiful salad welcomes your creative additions of various greens, nuts and cheeses. Dress it with Creamy Balsamic Dressing and Add your favorite fresh berries to really wake up the flavors!

Ingredients

  • 4 Cups chopped kale
  • 1 cup Bok Choy
  • 1 cup asian greens or arugula)
  • 1 garlic clove, Minced and smashed 
  • 2 Roma tomatoes-chopped
  • 1 sweet bell pepper chopped or sliced as desired
  • 1 english cucumber sliced in rounds or small bits
  • 1 Cup feta cheese
  • 1/2 Cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 Cup chopped fresh strawberries 
  • 2 Cups fresh raspberries
  • For the Dressing:
  • 1/4 C balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce or asian gourmet soy sauce
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon honey
  • 3 tablespoons yogurt
  • 1/2 tablespoon olive oil.

Instructions

  1. Dress salad with one recipe Homemade Balsamic Dressing (best to make ahead and store in fridge)
  2. Chop or tear all greens and place in a large salad bowl.
  3. Add the cheese, nuts and an other accoutrements you love in a salad now along with the strawberries.
  4. Toss gently and top with the raspberries as desired.
  5. For the dressing:
  6. Whisk all the ingredients together in a glass bowl
  7. Refrigerate several hours covered to blend flavors and thicken.
  8. Pour into a carafe at serving.

Notes

Make the dressing ahead and store in your fridge for best flavor.

Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1 cup

Amount Per Serving Calories 184

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

This recipe was originally posted May 25, 2015

More salads you may enjoy:

Mediterranean Macaroni Salad 

This is a great choice for outdoor venues. No eggs or mayo used.

Smoky Potato Salad

An old family favorite. This one’s a keeper!

Kale Apple Salad with Honey Dressing

The most pinned salad on our blog. Excellent green salad!

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Fresh Berry Salad With A Tangy Balsamic Dressing-Pin Image
Garden Berry salad with a healthy tangy balsamic dressing makes a lovely presentation at table. This beautiful salad is versatile; welcoming your creative additions of various spring greens, nuts and cheeses.

Marlon

Friday 15th of November 2019

This is my favorite dish Spring Garden Berry salad. I cannot make this for weekdays but glad to eat sometimes in restaurant. It's delicious and healthy benefits.

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Monday 11th of January 2016

[…] As you can see it makes a beautiful presentation at the table. Add roasted Asparagus and a Spring Garden Berry salad topped with strawberries for a divine spring meal! Homemade dinner rolls would add a nice finishing […]

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Saturday 22nd of August 2015

[…] kale green salad  like this one, with creamy balsamic salad dressing and a side of Basmati rice and quinoa in […]

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Monday 1st of June 2015

[…] 2) Spring Garden Berry salad from Homemadefoodjunkie […]

swathi

Monday 1st of June 2015

Lovely salad, I like that you made with homegrown veggies. Love it. Thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop, featuring this salad on this week's hop. pinning also.

homemadefoodjunkie

Monday 1st of June 2015

We love to grow our own veggies. Thank you Swathi!

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