Mandarin Orange Salad with Almonds

My local supermarket has flyers at the tills with recipes on them. I picked this one up and it's been a favorite at our house ever since. We are big salad eaters, mostly because we follow 'The Zone' and salads allow for you to have a big meal without pigging out on bad carbs or too much protein.

This salad is fantastic as a lunch or dinner entree when you cut up a grilled chicken breast and add it on top.

NOTE: The type of lettuce does not matter too much, use whatever you have on hand or whatever you feel like. I've used spring mix and spinach as well as romaine and they all were great.

Salad
8 cups romaine lettuce leaves, torn (you can reduce this to suit your portion sizes)
1/2 cup celery, thinly sliced
2 green onions, chopped
1 can of mandarin oranges, drained (about 10oz)
1/4 cup candied slivered almonds*
Combine all ingredients in a large salad bowl and toss.

Dressing
2 tbsp white vinegar
4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Parsley - either 1tbsp fresh chopped or 1 tsp dried
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp hot sauce
1/4 tsp salt
Black pepper to taste
Whisk ingredients together in a small bowl, pour over salad and toss to coat.

* To make candied almonds, put 1 tbsp of sugar and 1 tbsp of water into a small frying pan and melt the sugar over low heat (stir it to melt the sugar). Add the almonds and cook for 5 minutes or until almonds are well coated and lightly browned. Spread them out on wax paper or foil and allow them to cool before breaking apart the ones that are stuck together.