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Bright, Fresh and Easy Spring Salad

Joy Johnson, Dakota County Master Gardener

There is nothing like a fresh salad made from ingredients grown in your own yard. If you were as ambitious as our author, Master Gardener Joy Johnson, and started your own lettuces earlier this year, you could enjoy this spring salad with your home-grown lettuce. Not to worry though, this salad can be enjoyed with grocery-bought, or perhaps, farmers markets ingredients also. This salad says – welcome spring!

Bright, Fresh and Easy Spring Salad

Spring is in full bloom and since I was anxious to get my garden started back in March, I have a bounty of young spring greens and lettuces, along with herbs to enjoy fresh from the garden. There is nothing like a fresh salad made from your own yard. I hope you enjoy a bowl full of this while sitting and watching your garden grow. A fellow master gardener in Dakota County has an orange tree that grows in a large pot (also a lemon and a lime tree). She diligently drags them outside to her patio each spring and hauls them into her attached greenhouse area off the kitchen each fall. She’s probably the only person I know who could use the fresh ripe oranges off her tree for this salad. The rest of us will have to make do with the canned ones.


Mandarin Orange Salad



Salad Ingredients

  • Approx. 2 cups mandarin orange slices 

  • 5 ounces mixed baby greens, whatever fresh lettuce you have

  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries

  • 1/2 cup almonds (chopped, slivered, or sliced)

  • Approx. 2 Tbsp fresh mint (torn or chopped)

  • 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese

  • Salt + pepper, to taste


Lemon dressing ingredients:



Instructions


  1. PREP ORANGES: If using fresh mandarin oranges, peel them well, removing as much of the white pith as desired. If using canned oranges, drain the orange slices from the liquid they are stored in.

  2. MAKE DRESSING: Combine all dressing ingredients together in a small jar or bowl. Shake or whisk to combine.

  3. PLATE SALAD: Plate salad on a large serving platter or bowl. Start with baby greens as the base, following with orange slices, dried cranberries, almonds, mint, and crumbled goat cheese. If you are using fresh goat cheese (I am spoiled to have a daughter who milks goats and makes cheese, you can drop little dollops on the salad after you’ve tossed it with the dressing). Season with salt and pepper, as desired.

  4. TOSS IN DRESSING: Toss salad in lemon dressing right before serving. 



Credits:

Recipe from Walderwellness, https://www.walderwellness.com/mandarin-orange-salad/


Photo credits: Walderwellnes.com, Carrie Walder, MS, RD, registered dietician (1), www.publicdomainpictures.net (2)


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