Summer Berry Salad

“Stop scrolling and make this salad!” ~Me

This unintentionally red, white and blue Summer Berry Salad is perfect for any Independence Day celebration you may be attending. Minimal ingredients and easy to put together=WIN. It also happens to be the latest BEST (non-kale) SALAD EVER!! Seriously, my husband was ooohhhing and aaahhhing over it...and well, he never does that for salads. The components are the stars and they work so perfectly together, that you don’t even need a special dressing!  Make this very soon, you won’t regret it.

Ingredients (The amounts will vary based on how many you are serving and whether this is a side or main salad. See below for my amounts:

Mixed greens

Blueberries

Strawberries

Dried cranberries (tough to find compliant, but my grocery has them sweetened only with apple juice)

Crumbled feta cheese (omit for #whole30)

Maple roasted pecans (Make a mixture of maple syrup and ghee, 3 parts to 1 part, coat pecans lightly and spread evenly on parchment lined baking sheet, bake for ~10 minutes @ 350 degrees, let cool before adding to salad)...for whole30, I would replace these with raw pistachios

S&P

Olive Oil

Balsamic vinegar

Protein of your choice (I used chicken, but next time I will use blackened salmon or trout)

This salad served 2 adults as an entree: I used ¾ clamshell of mixed greens, ~ 1 cup each of berries, ¾ cup of pecans (roughly chopped), ⅓ c of crumbled feta, ¼ c of dried cranberries and 1 -½ c chopped grilled chicken (with a touch of spice). Added fresh ground pepper and salt, and lightly drizzled it all with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Dig in, devour and then go out and buy the ingredients again!