Meatless Monday: Strawberry Spinach Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Today is Meatless Monday! What is Meatless Monday? "Meatless Monday is an international campaign that encourages people to not eat meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the planet."

Here's a delightful Meatless Monday recipe for you to try:
 
Strawberries are in season! This is a delicious way to enjoy them.

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ingredients

1 bunch fresh spinach
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Combine the spinach, strawberries, and almonds in a large bowl.
2. Stir the balsamic vinegar and honey together in a bowl; slowly stream the olive oil into the mixture while whisking continuously. Season with salt and pepper.

Drizzle the dressing over the salad just before serving.

Recipe and photo by Chrisetta Mosley

Repost: Fresh and far away

 

 

We are so far removed from our food and its sources. A lot of our food, so-called food is made from a slew of hard to pronounce ingredients, in far away factories, packaged, and then shipped to the grocery store.

Animals no longer graze their natural habitat. Instead, they are confined and slaughtered in giant factories, known as feedlots. It’s very rare to have seen or known the animal that we prepare and eat. Most of us would prefer not to see Emily the cow get electrocuted and then have her throat slit. We cringe at the thought. We don’t even want to be bothered with the skin or bones anymore. Hence, skinless, boneless chicken breast. Think about it…If you had to hunt, kill, and clean the animal…How much meat would you eat?

Fruits and vegetables are grown in massive fields and sprayed with gross amounts of pesticides. We’ve never touched the soil, or pulled up the roots. Some of our fruits and vegetables travel thousands of miles before they make it to the grocery store. That’s how we can enjoy strawberries in the dead of the winter. Such an oddity, we all know strawberries are the taste of summer. Or do we?

We are so very disconnected from our food. As we evolve, we try to do things more efficiently, but along the way we’ve created quite a mess with our industrialized food system. It’s all convenient. It’s all nicely packaged. It’s all wrong.

I’m just one gal on a mission to create a healthier lifestyle for myself.  Along the way, I’ve done a lot of reading, viewing of films, and realize that a healthy lifestyle begins with the food that I eat. I want to share what I learned with others. I hope I don’t come off as a pretentious, know-it-all. I'm not. I really just want to help you make better informed decisions.

Originally posted April 16, 2012.