I am perfectly happy having a salad for lunch or dinner. GI Joe and The Athlete just sit back and roll their eyes if we’re at a restaurant and I order just a salad. I love all kinds of salads, hot, cold, fruit, pasta, vegetables. Then add to that nuts, goat cheese, blue cheese, feta cheese, mozzarella. I will take any of the above. Oh my gosh, what about dressings? The options are endless, but the one I’m sharing today is one of my favorites.Today in class we discussed all types of lettuce and how to buy, store, and prepare it. I’m not a big fan of bagged lettuce. Most of the time it’s a lot of white pieces of the core with a few green leaves, but I do like the spring mix with spinach. That’s what I use for this salad mixed with some fresh romaine. Add to that some mandarin oranges, almonds and best of all some freshly pan fried bacon bits and top it with a fresh basil vinaigrette and you have yourself a salad. Why do we buy salad dressings? I don’t get it. Dressings are so easy to make and can be done in five minutes. No preservatives and you have fresh ingredients with great flavor. Try this salad and it will become one of your favorites.
Bacon Mandarin Orange Salad from Southern Living
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon fresh basil
- 1/8 teaspoon hot sauce
- 2 15 oz. cans mandarin oranges drained and chilled
- 1 bunch red leaf lettuce torn
- 1 head romaine lettuce, torn
- 1 16 – oz of bacon cooked and crumbled ( I used about 1/2 of this)
- 1 4 oz. toasted almonds
Whisk together the first 5 ingredients, blending well in a small jar. Mix orange and lettuce in a large bowl. Toss gently. Sprinkle with crumbled bacon and sliced almonds. Add dressing. Toss. Serve immediately.
Happy cooking,
The Teacher Cooks
The Teacher Cooks 
Why do pork and citrus get along so well? This is a lovely salad.
Unusual salad, Wanda, with a bite in the vinaigrette! Looking good! We make all our own dressings but must admit, I love the way Whole Foods packages some of it’s unusual lettuces.
(And btw: the new ads on my blog are the result of my kids asking me why I’ve never tried it! And I agreed….why not?)
i learned that mandarin oranges and bacon can go well together 🙂
Buying fresh salad like romain lettuce, red lettuce or spinach is most likely the healthest lettuce for you. The darker the lettuce is the more nutrients it has for you.
Looks good! I’m not a big fan or salad but the mandarin oranges look tempting! And I learned how to make easy salad dressing!
The salad that we tasted yesterday was very delecious and the dressing was much better than store bought and the two ingredients made me just love salad even more.
im not really a fan of oranges or any other salad dressing besides ranch but this looks tasety!!:)
When buying lettuce you should always get the darker kind, it’s healthier. Also when preparing a salad you should take the leaves off the core and leave it out, it makes the salad lighter and healthier. Also making your own salad dressing is way cheaper and tastes much better than buying salad dressing. Very yummy!
Salad wouldnt be my first choice but this salad looks delicous anything with bacon i would try :-). l learned how to store lettuce and that the core of the lettuce has less protiens then the leafy part.
Looks great , think imma try this at home !
I learned that when making a salad you should always use fresh salad! I also learned how to make a quick and easy salad dressing that taste amazingly delicious!
Making salad dressing is quick and easy. I now know that adding to much vinegar will make the dressing taste more tart.
In my household we eat alot of salad, and we can never find a dressing that we all like, but i think learning how to make an easy dressing from this recipe will help my family out. and the bacon and oranges look so good together.
looks great ive never tired oranges on salad but i could try
I learned that the darker the leaves the more nutrients it has!
I bet this was a amazing recipe that you cooked ! I hope I can try it sometime soon, because it looks very tasty !
Loooooks amazingg Mrs Lupo 🙂
looks very DELICIOUS!! the color is so pretty and the mandarin oranges looks so good! but the whole hot sause in the dressing somewhat threw me off.
i learned how to make salad dressing!! and that u can store lettuce in the fridge for about 10days!:)
I learned that the darker the lettuce the healthier it is for you .
looks delicious and healthy
looks delicious ,, maybe you will be making this soon
I learned that the greener the lettuce the better it is for you.
i learned the different varieties of lettuce.
Dark green vegtable are better than light green vegtables;
they carry MORE protein !
I learned that bagged lettuce tends to have more core than leaves
By looking at the pictures it seems like a pretty summer food. I never would put oranges on a salad, but i would love to try it.
i learned that when buying lettuce you have to make sure you get the kind thats darker cause its healthier!
our class didnt make this, but it looks really good! I will deffinately be making this at home for my family! (:
i learned that the darker green the lettuce the better it is for you than the bag
it looks delicious! i definetely am gonna try it. i learned that darker lettuce leaves have more nutrients
I learned how to store the lettuce when you buy it so that it will last longer.
Personality i would not put oranges in a salad but from my point of view it adds lots of color. A must try
it seems really easy to throw together and very healthy since the leaves are a dark grean
i never knew that hot sauce could be added to dressing! and i love mandarin oranges so i will try it out=]
i learned that oranges can go on salads.
I learned that you could use bacon and oranges in a salad. I’ve never known of someone to combine them both.
I learned that salad dressings can be simple and easy to make at home which eliminates our need to buy them in the grocery store where they have preservatives! Also fresh lettuce is way better than bagged lettuce.
i’m a firm believer that bacon belongs on every salad ever made. it also belongs in all pasta dishes and breakfast platters. 🙂
great salad–it’s lovely!
I learned how to clean cut and bagg lettuce ! that when you buy lettuce bagged ahead of time, and then put in the store that they sell you a bunch of heavy white pieces to make it heavier so they can actually use less lettuce! this salad looks amazing and the dressing we had in class is one of my favorites!
I loved that i learned how store fresh lettuce and how long it lasts because my family always buys lettuce but it goes bad within a few days, its a money saver!
i learned about the different varieties of lettuce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!