Mandarin orange salad

This salad has greens, mandarin oranges, celery and green onions, a lovely asian vinagrette dressing, and is topped with sweetened, toasted almonds. The recipe was originally given to me by a friend, and has become one of my favorite salads to throw together for lunch or dinner, or to bring to a party. It is a simple basic salad recipe, that can be modified in many ways – you can add strawberries, or blueberries – you can add grilled chicken to make it a main course -or you can change up the almonds and use walnuts instead! I have even added crumbled goat cheese for a little extra richness. Endless possibilities.

I start with a bowl of mixed salad greens – you can use whatever kind of greens you like. The original recipe calls for romaine and iceberg lettuce.

Then add 4 chopped green onions, and 1 c chopped celery.

Add 1 c mandarin orange slices. (I use 2 small containers of these fresh from the produce section – I drain them first)

Then make the dressing:

1/2 c vegetable oil
4 Tbsp sugar
4 Tbsp red wine vinegar (I like to use 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar, and 1 Tbsp Pomegranate or other flavored balsamic vinegar)
1 tsp salt
a few grinds fresh ground pepper to taste
2 Tbsp parsley flakes
few drops of hot sauce

Combine all dressing ingredients, and stir frequently til sugar is dissolved – over about 20 min.

Prepare the sugar-glazed sliced almonds (you can use walnuts if you prefer)

Place 1/4 c sugar in a skillet over med-low heat. Add 1/2 c nuts. Watch this mixture CLOSELY, as it will burn quickly.

Once the sugar begins to dissolve, stir the mixture to coat all nuts. The nuts should be light brown, and all of the sugar should be melted. This takes about 5-6 min. DON”T WALK AWAY!

Pour nuts onto a piece of parchment paper to cool, spreading out mixture to cool. Once cooled, the nuts will be crunchy, and will break apart into smaller pieces. Place in a bowl to serve with the dressing alongside the salad!