The Recipe Redux: Summer Currant salad with Honey Balsamic Vinagrette

This month's Recipe Redux theme was "Beat the Summer Heat with No Cook Meals."  This is right up my alley because lately I just haven't wanted to use my oven.  In fact, I re-named our toaster oven the "roaster oven" because I've been using it to roast vegetables instead of using the big oven.
Using the big oven turns our apartment into more of a furnace than it already it. It's a pretty good compromise because it uses less energy to heat it up, and it doesn't affect the temperature in the kitchen as much as the oven does.

This recipe challenge takes it one step further, and doesn't require any cooking at all!  Just a few chops here, a few grates there, and a whisking at the end to make the dressing.  Simple as that!


Salad Ingredients:
Baby Spinach
Walnut nuggets
Red Currants
Cucumber
Carrots
Purple Bell Pepper

Dressing:
Olive Oil
Honey Dijon Mustard
Balsamic Vinegar

Directions:

Wash all veggies and spinach

Chop up the veggies into desired sizes
(I use a cheese grater for the carrot slices)
Remove red currants from stems and sprinkle over the salad

To make the dressing:
Combine 2 tbsp Honey Dijon with 2 tbsp Olive oil, and 2 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
Whisk together

Pour dressing over salad and enjoy!

This was a fun salad to make (and eat) because it's so colorful.  I love the purple bell peppers I got from my CSA, and the red currants are a flavorful addition to the salad.