Americorps Week

Today marks the start of Americorps week. The theme for this year is community gardening, so I am hosting a potluck at growing power tomorrow.

Because I have an excessive amount of gorgonzola cheese in my fridge from that pasta recipe, I'm making a salad based of a recipe I found on allrecipes. The recipe on the website calls for mixed greens, dried cranberries, gorgonzola cheese, candied walnuts, and a dressing that is a mixture of raspberry vinaigrette, white vinegar, and olive oil. I am changing this up a bit. I am using dried bing cherries instead of dried cranberries, because they aren't sweetened with added sugar. I am also candying my own walnuts. It's pretty simple, actually. It's one part walnuts to half part sugar combined in a frying pan and stirred constantly over medium heat until the sugar starts to caramelize, then you put in on a baking sheet to cool. I am using one cup walnuts and a half cup of sugar. I am also just going to bring a bottle of raspberry vinaigrette with me to the potluck instead of doing their mixture. It's just easier that way.

I spent a total of $16 at whole foods on the ingredients I didn't already have for this (walnuts, cherries, and mixed greens). This salad makes 8 servings. pretty good deal in my book.