Mandarin Orange, Blue Cheese & Toasted Walnut Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing

I've thinking about making this salad for a while and just wasn't sure on the dressing because so many raspberry vinaigrette dressings have 14 grams of fat per serving and that's no good. I fall back on my favorite brand of salad dressing, Bolthouse farms. The Raspberry Merlot dressing has only 1.5 grams of fat per serving and taste great. The key to this dish is to toast the chopped walnuts in a saute pan with a little bit of butter and salt. By doing this you bring out the oil and flavor of the walnuts.

Ingredients:

1 head of green leaf lettuce

1 cup mandarin oranges

1/4 cup crumbed blue cheese

1/8 cup toasted chopped walnuts
4 tablespoons raspberry merlot dressing

 

Preparation:

Prepare your lettuce by tearing or cutting into bite size pieces. Wash in a lettuce salad spinner and make sure to completely dry the lettuce. wet lettuce makes the dressing watery and diluted and brings down the overall quality of the salad. Place the lettuce in a large salad bowl and add 2 tablespoons of dressing for each serving and mix well.

 

Take the lettuce with dressing and add to a serving plate. Divide up the mandarin oranges, blue cheese and chopped walnuts and place on each salad. Finish the salad with a grind to fresh black pepper.