Strawberry Spinach Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette and Roasted Chicken

I absolutely love salads as entrees. I feel as though I'm being accomplished and healthy when I eat a nice big salad for dinner. However, I have an odd relationship with salad dressing; I find that I sometimes I end up with a little salad swimming in a pool of dressing. I mean if a little is good, a lot is better right? While true for flavor, that often shoots my healthy salad plans in the foot. Oh well, life is short, so it might as well taste good I guess!

One of my new favorite addictions is Balsamic Vinegar. It's tangy, sweet, and refined flavor seem to be a perfect pair for almost any flavor. Not to mention, I'm a huge vinegar fan in general. Lemons, vinegar, hmmm... I must like such tart things because I need them to balance out how sweet of a person I am! =) Oh yes, I went there.

In an attempt to make a light and quick dinner to fit Mr. Cowboy and I's increasingly hectic schedule, I adapted a few common salad themes to make one of the best salads I've ever eaten.  As a recent balsamic vinaigrette connoisseur, this is a hybrid of several different recipes to make an absolutely amazing, deeply flavored vinaigrette. So toast up some garlic bread and dig in! Not to mention, how gorgeous does this salad look?

Notes:

• I have separated the salad and vinaigrette recipes so that the next time you want to make the vinaigrette for any reason you will easily be able to isolate its ingredients.
• Feel free to replace the strawberries with blueberries, pears, mandarin oranges, or pineapple.  Also, substitute any nut you please in for the almonds.
• If you would like to use this as a side salad, simply omit the chicken breasts.
• If serving a large crowd, feel free to toss the salad in the vinaigrette immediately before serving for a little less hassle.

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette and Roasted Chicken

• 10 ounces spinach
• 1 quart strawberries
• 1/4 c. pecans,chopped
• 1/4 c. feta cheese crumbles
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 cooked chicken breasts, sliced (Roasted Tutorial)
• 1 batch Balsamic Vinaigrette, recipe follows

Rinse, dry, and tear the spinach pieces into appropriately sized pieces. Wash, dry, hull, and slice the strawberries. Toss the spinach, strawberries, feta, red onions, and almonds together in a large bowl.  When assembling each plate, place a generous amount of the spinach salad onto the plate, top with a portion of sliced chicken, and let each individual drizzle their salad with the vinaigrette as they are eating.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

• 2 T honey
• 1/2 c. olive oil
• 1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
• 1/8 red onion
• 1/4 t Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 t paprika
• 1/4 t garlic salt
• 1/4 t black pepper
• 1 T. poppy seeds
• 1 T sesame seeds

Place the honey, olive oil, balsamic, red onion, and Worcestershire into a blender and blend until there are no chunks of onion left in the mixture. Pour into a salad dressing decanter and add all of the remaining spices. Place the lid on the decanter and shake well, until mixed thoroughly. Chill for at least one hour to allow the flavors to meld.