Strawberry Spinach Salad with Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing — The Greens That Finally Came Back

The ice went out on Thursday. The whole city seemed to exhale — people walking along the lakewalk, looking at the open water, breathing differently. There's a physiological shift when the ice goes out in Duluth. Your shoulders drop. Your pace slows. You stop bracing against the cold and start opening toward the light. Paul and I went to Brighton Beach after dinner to watch the last pieces drift. They were small — remnants, really, white fragments rocking in the waves — and the open water was dark blue and the sky was pale and the whole scene looked like a watercolor that someone hadn't finished yet. Paul stood with his hands in his pockets and watched. I stood next to him and watched. Sven chased a stick that wasn't there because golden retrievers live in a state of perpetual optimism about sticks. I started spring cleaning. Same ritual as last year — curtains down, closets emptied, surfaces scrubbed. The house needed it. Winter leaves a film on everything — not visible, exactly, but present. A staleness. You clean it away and the house breathes again. I found things. I always find things during spring cleaning. This year: a stack of Paul's old lesson plans from the 1990s, handwritten on yellow legal pads in his neat teacher's handwriting. I read one — the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1863 — and it was like reading a script for a one-man show. He'd written notes in the margins: "pause here — let them feel the silence before Pickett's Charge." He teaches history the way some people tell ghost stories — with timing, with weight, with the understanding that the dead deserve your full attention. I didn't throw the lesson plans away. I put them back in the closet. Some things you keep not because you need them but because they tell you who someone is. Erik came over on Saturday to help Paul with the gutters. They stood on ladders and scooped out the winter's accumulation — leaves, pine needles, ice residue — while I made coffee and watched from the kitchen window and tried not to think about two men in their sixties on ladders. The nurse in me was cataloguing potential injuries. The wife and sister in me was making sandwiches. I made a spring meal: walleye with lemon-dill butter, new potatoes (from the co-op — too early for the garden), and a salad of greens that weren't available two weeks ago because the grocery trucks couldn't get through. Spring in Duluth means fresh produce returns, and after months of root vegetables and frozen everything, a piece of fresh fish with lemon feels revolutionary. Paul said, "Summer's coming." He says this every April. He's always right. It just takes a while.

The salad I threw together that Saturday — the one I mentioned eating alongside the walleye — was simple enough that it barely needs a recipe, but it got me thinking about how much I’d missed fresh greens all winter. The next evening I made this strawberry spinach salad with a homemade poppy seed dressing, because after months of root vegetables and frozen everything, the return of berries and tender leaves deserves a little more intention. If spring has a flavor in Duluth, this is close to it.

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 15 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 6 cups fresh baby spinach, washed and dried
• 1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
• Poppy Seed Dressing:
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup neutral oil (such as avocado or light olive oil)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons poppy seeds

Instructions

1. Make the dressing. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the apple cider vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, and salt until combined. Slowly drizzle in the oil while whisking continuously until the dressing is emulsified. Stir in the poppy seeds. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
2. Toast the almonds. Place sliced almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat. Stir frequently for 3–4 minutes until golden and fragrant. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
3. Assemble the salad. In a large serving bowl, arrange the baby spinach as the base. Scatter the sliced strawberries and red onion evenly over the top.
4. Add toppings. Sprinkle the crumbled feta and toasted almonds over the salad.
5. Dress and serve. Drizzle the poppy seed dressing over the salad just before serving, using as much or as little as you like. Toss gently to coat and serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 210 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 15g | Carbs: 16g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 230mg