Jeweled Red Cabbage Salad

This is a recipe I found on Spark People http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=619496.  I highly recommend the free Spark People site or app for tracking calories, exercise, etc.  It's a great place for finding healthy recipes, storing your own recipes, and calculating nutritional information.  There is lots of health, diet, and exercise information on the site, as well as videos and social networking opportunities.

Anyway, I'm going to visit my friend Pam for a couple of days, and she's very fond of this salad, especially if I leave the scallions out (her tummy does not like raw onions).

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups shredded red cabbage (about 1/4 head of cabbage)

1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts

3 carrots, grated or shredded

3 scallions, thinly sliced (I leave out when sharing with Pam)

1 small can mandarin oranges

1/2 cup pine nuts

1/3 cup dried cranberries/craisins

DRESSING

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (original recipe uses canola oil)

3 Tbsp brown sugar, packed

3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (can also use white wine vinegar or plain white vinegar)

1 Tbsp mandarin orange juice from can

Salt and pepper to taste

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

In a large bowl, mix together salad ingredients.  In a separate bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients.  Add dressing to salad and mix to combine.  I usually double the salad recipe and still use a single recipe of the dressing.

Nutritional information: Makes 8 servings, per serving = 196.1 calories, 15 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 605.1 mg salt, 16 g carbs, 1.9 g dietary fiber, 1.9 g protein