Day 1-Mandarin Onion Poppyseed Salad

I had to throw together tonight's salad with ingredients I had around my house so I was limited to what I could fix...or so I thought.  With a little moving around of the the cabinets I found a few hidden gems (aka a bag of walnuts and a can of mandarin oranges) and with that I was off!

I've had mandarin orange salad before, but never with this lovely little arrangement I have here!  I'd love to say I picked up some greens at my local farmers market...but in reality the leafy wonders in my salad were from Dole's Baby Garden Mix.  It lists: Baby Lettuces (green romaine, red romaine, red oak, green oak, tango, lolla rossa, red leaf, green leaf), Baby Greens (mizuna, arugula, tatsol, mache, red chard, green chard.....I have no clue how to pronounce most of these)  I toasted the walnuts in the microwave with about half a dash of olive oil.  I'm not sure WHY I did this, but I remember reading somewhere that walnuts should be toasted that way.  I topped my deliciousness with a cheap-o brand of oranges, sliced red onion, some amazingly delish croutons, and Marzetti's Poppyseed dressing.  (hey its day one...I'm not making my own dressing, cut me some slack!) 

AND MMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMM it was tasty!  And beautiful.  My dad made fun of me for taking a picture of my meal, but I think he was a bit jealous since he chowed on a frozen one!  ha!

What a lovely meal!  I dont tend to drink beverages with carbonation, but this Raspberry Blackberry sparkling water from Price Chopper is delicious and I actually really enjoy it when I'm looking for something flavored.

My tortoise, Garrett, got a bit of the delicious salad too.  (minus anything non-leafy)  Yum yummmm

and my enormous pup, Shelby, snuck a little taste too! 

This was absolutely delicious and a great way to start my (1/2) month-long goal!  Feel free to comment and suggest salads, ask questions, or just tell me I'm insane for taking on this challenge!

Until tomorrow my friends!
-RFB