Damn I'm Good...Especially when I rip off Epicurious

I love the Epicurious site. It is a quick easy way to get some great menu ideas. I also love berries and live for summer when I can overinduldge on strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc. I even go through a bit of berry-itis when the season's over and my fruit choices seem to dwindle.

So when I saw a recipe for Mixed Green Salad with Strawberry Dressing and since there was a "special" on strawberries at Manhattan Fruit and Vegetable Exchange I thought what a perfect way to put those berries to good use?

The dressing: I am not one to make my own viniagrettes. This is one area where I can tend to be a bit lazy; sticking with the tried and true olive oil and balsamic vinegar combo. I simply put about 1/3 cup of strawberries in a food processor, then whisked that into some olive oil, balsamic, a tablespoon of sugar and some pepper to taste. It came out surprisingly well and better than anything I could find on the supermarket shelf. Maybe I need to be a little more proactive in my dressing choices.

I decided to "show off" my dressing with some sliced strawberries, crumbled feta, toasted walnuts and a few ribbons of freshly chopped basil. The basil provided a nice herby kick to the otherwise sweet salad ingredients. The saltiness of the feta provided a fantastic salty balance to the overall sweet undertones of the plate.

This has been a side salad for my ground chicken and feta burgers (made with a generous helping of thyme and pepper) but on Tuesday I added some sliced skirt steak which was marinated overnight in balsamic, garlic and rosemary. WOW! I think there's a new item in the lunch rotation.