Strawberry and Spinach Salad with Candied Walnuts

My favorite salad and pretty much the only one I ever bother to make.

Ingredients (for 1 serving, multiply out for the number of servings you want):
1 cup Baby spinach
1/2 cup Sliced strawberries
1/4 cup Walnuts
1 tbsp butter or margarine
1 tbsp organic sugar or light brown sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
Dash cinnamon
1/2 tbsp olive oil or walnut oil
1 tsp vinegar, either red wine or balsamic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sweetener, such as sugar or Ideal or Splenda
1/2 tbsp minced shallot

To prepare walnuts, melt the butter in a small pan over medium-low heat. Stir in the walnuts and sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until the coating seems crispy/crumbly, or until it begins to smell a little like popcorn or generally "toasty." If it begins to brown, REMOVE FROM THE PAN at once or it will burn.

To prepare dressing, just whisk the oil, salt, sweetener, and vinegar together until smooth. Stir in the shallots.

Place the spinach on individual plates or in a salad bowl and top with the strawberries, then the walnuts. Allow people to pour the vinaigrette on themselves, since the liquid will make the walnuts not crisp anymore if it sits on them too long. Delish!

For extra fanciness, you can cook the walnuts with maple syrup, and/or use maple syrup as the sweetener in the vinaigrette. It's extremely delicious. Honey works, too, for the dressing but not for the walnuts.