A Refreshing Danish Salad With The Best Life Has to Offer: Bacon!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #FreschEats #CollectiveBias

It is Tuesday afternoon, which can only mean one thing! I am bound to get stressed out in a matter of mere minutes. Sitting in a car line for over an hour to pick up two kids at different schools, rushing home to meet the reading tutor, making sure homework has been completed, getting one kid ready for select soccer practice ALONG with feeding all the hungry mouths in the house… It is no wonder I am SLIGHTLY stressed – and yes, worn out too.

Family dinners are an important daily occurrence in our house. It is a time for all six of us to share stories from our day. We spend the time to connect, even if it just for a few minutes before Jacob and Paul run off to soccer.

I grew up with daily family dinners and I want the same for our kids. However, when life gets busy, it is hard to stick to those daily traditions – except when they are REALLY important to you.

On soccer nights, I usually struggle to find a meal that everyone likes, something that is quick and easy – and not chicken nuggets! All of a sudden it strikes me, the salad my mom used to make is refreshing, offers something for everyone and it is a perfect complement to the Freschetta Brick Oven Crust pizza I was planning on serving. DINNER has once again been saved – and this time by my mom – although she lives in Denmark and has no idea of the good deed she did for me today. Thank you, mor!!!

[bctt tweet=”Don’t have another #PizzaNight without this #Danish salad. It has #BACON -#FreschEats #ad” username=”MamaintheNow”]

I picked up the Freschetta Rising Crust Cheese pizza from Publix, because Jordan can’t get enough crust on his pizza and he only likes cheese as his topping. Jansen, on the other hand, loves pepperoni, so to appease everyone, I also got the Freschetta Brick Oven Pepperoni pizza. On busy evenings, I pick my battles and I make sure to serve a little something for everyone.

Freschetta has a pizza for every palette in your family, even the pickiest eaters! (Trust me on this, if OUR kids love it…)

I am really excited for our local Publix store to start carrying the brand new Freschetta Artisan crust pizzas. Imagine a delicious crust with three whole grains… I can’t WAIT to try it. In the mean time, we love the quality ingredients in the Brick Oven and the Rising Crust Freschetta pizzas. Their topping choices are also great for our family, even when we have visitors from out of town. There is something for everyone!

The salad my mom makes when she visits reminds me of all the great things that Denmark has to offer: fresh crispy spinach, bright red sweet strawberries, sliced crunchy almonds and only the best of the best delicious bacon. This refreshing twist on the usual run-of-the-mill spinach salad takes no time to prepare and is deliciously healthy (if you ignore the bacon!).

Summer Spinach Salad with Strawberries and Bacon paired beautifully with Freschetta pizza, for a quick and healthy dinner.

Ingredients:

1 bag of organic baby spinach, thoroughly washed.

8 large fresh strawberries, thinly sliced.

1/3 cup sliced almonds.

8 strips of cooked bacon.

The dressing of your choice. Tonight we used a light vinaigrette.

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 400 for the pizza.
• Place the Freschetta pizza(s) directly on the oven rack for the required length of time according to the instructions on the box. (Generally between 13-20 minutes.)

• Wash the spinach. (I know the package says it’s been prewashed, but just wash it again, for good measure.)
  • Pat the spinach dry in a paper towel and put it in a large bowl.
• Wash the strawberries and cut off the green tops.
  • Slice the strawberries into thin slices and sprinkle them over the spinach.
• Heat the precooked bacon for 30 seconds in the microwave and let it cool, to get it extra crispy.
  • Cut into 1/2” pieces and sprinkle over the salad.
• Pour the almonds over the salad.
  • Serve with the dressing on the side. This salad is so delicious, you may decide to eat it without dressing.

Verdict:

I have to admit this dinner didn’t go as they usually do. We sat down to eat. I passed the pizza around, making sure Jordan got the cheese pizza and Jansen, his pepperoni slices. All four kids devoured the pizza. The crust was perfectly “big and fluffy” for Jordan and deliciously “crusty” for Jansen – this is considered a “mom win” for those of you who aren’t blessed with picky eaters.

I then casually mentioned to my husband that this salad recipe is one from my mom in Denmark. He asked what made it so special and I had barely spoken the magic words before all the kids BEGGED for salad.

I dished a big heap of salad on their plates and they happily went to town on it. For a minute, I felt like one of those parents with children who eat seaweed and every exotic dish imaginable. It was a glorious thought: my kids were eating salad!

Until I realized they just went for the bacon and strawberries.

Regardless of the optical illusion of my salad-eating kids, they loved the Freschetta pizza – and there were of plenty salad and pizza to feed our big family of six. This meal is now in our standard meal rotation because Freschetta pizza, strawberries and bacon – what’s there not to love?!

After reading this, I highly recommend that you head on over to Publix to check out the different varieties of Freschetta pizza they have. Now, until June 8, 2016 you can buy two Freschetta pizza for $10.

Check out their website: Freschetta.com and follow them on Facebook.

What is your family’s go-to meal on a busy school night?