Want some salad with your dressing?

As a woman, I am supposed to really love salads. I can tell you that I do really love GOOD salads. To me, however, the salad dressing is what makes a salad good. No matter how many yummy ingredients you pack into the salad itself, if the dressing isn’t up to par, you might as well just skip the salad all together.  I love dressing and I love lots of it.

I’ve made several homemade salad dressings, but I always seem to go back to this Balsamic Dressing.  The recipe was given to me by my mother-in-law.  My mother-in-law is the type of woman who has a good recipe for just about everything.  I’ve included the recipe for the dressing and a delicious salad below.

Mandarin Orange Salad

5 cups red leaf lettuce, torn (I sometimes substitute spinach)

1 red onion, thinly sliced

2 stalks celery, sliced

11 oz. mandarin oranges

1/4 c. slivered almonds

Top lettuce with all ingredients and chill.

Balsamic Dressing:

1/4 c. balsamic vinegar

1/3 c. peanut oil

1/2 c. sugar

1 Tbsp. dijon mustard

1/8 tsp. salt

Whisk all ingredients together until sugar is incorporated.  Store in airtight container 7-10 days.