Mandarin Orange Salad

My mom and I have liked vinaigrette dressings for a while now. They are healthier for you and easy to make! We like to mix and match to try and create our own creations. Sometimes they turn out interesting, but we've found one or two keepers for dressings. That aside, with a good dressing you need a good salad to pour it over. One combination that we've found as a winner is a fresh salad with mandarin oranges (one of my and my brother's favorite fruits!) . This is a simple salad and can be adapted however you'd like it! Even try some different fruit, we've added apple slices instead of mandarin oranges with great results too.

Ingredients
Lettuce/baby spinach
Mandarin oranges (can substitute apple slices)
Craisins (raisins work too)
Sliced almonds (opt)
Cherry tomatoes
Feta Cheese (or whatever type of cheese you wish...this is also optional)

Balsamic Vinaigrette
Red Wine Vinegar
Olive Oil
Honey

Assembly
Quick and simple just make your salad how you prefer. I usually use just regular lettuce or a mixture of lettuce and baby spinach. Toppings of the salad are a spread of mandarin oranges or apple slices, sprinking of craisnins, sliced almonds, and cherry tomatoes, and finish it with feta cheese or some form of shredded cheese. Again you can be creative with this but I think that mixture works well. For the salad dressing in a small bowl mix together Balsamic Vinaigrette (probably about 1 tbsp or so), red wine and olive oil in equal parts (about 1 tsp each), and a good squeeze of honey. Whisk the dressing together until it is well mixed. It should have a tangy but sweet taste to it, play around with the quantities until you get just the right mix for your tastes (I honestly eyeball it whenever I make it). Drizzle the dressing over the salad and ta-da! A tasty salad with some homemade dressing!

Final Thoughts
As you can see, I actually eye ball a lot of things when I cook depending on what I'm making. If the honey doesn't cut it for sweet you can add a pinch of sugar in as well to sweeten the mixture, but make sure to whisk it good so that the ingredients mix together well (and don't let it sit or it will start to separate). A quick and simple salad that is a mix of tangy and sweet! I make the dressing a lot, and if you're like me be careful. I usually end up spilling some! It'll clean up but still, you will smell a bit like the vinegar if you spill it on you! Well, hope you enjoy! Happy eats! =)