Monthly Archives: January 2017

Caesar Salad Dressing

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I could eat Caesar Salad every day! People think the recipe is too much work, but it’s really not. You can make a bottle of the dressing and use it over the course of several days. Pre-grate fresh parmesan, keep some croutons in the pantry or fridge, and then it just comes down to washing and tearing up the lettuce. Hey, that can be done in advance too!

When I’m planning this salad with a meal, I put the washed and torn lettuce in a bowl in the morning and place a wet paper towel over the top to keep the lettuce moist. Then I put small bowls of grated parmesan and croutons on top of the paper towel. When it’s dinner time, all I need to do is remove them from the fridge, remove the paper towel and dump in the cheese and croutons. Toss with the dressing just before serving.

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Caesar Salad

A very flavorful traditional recipe! Easy to make and very fresh.
Prep Time30 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Salad
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: caesar salad
Servings: 4 salads

Ingredients

Caesar Dressing

  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/8 cup vinegar, red wine or apple cider
  • 1/4 cup lime juice, fresh
  • ? anchovy paste (or Vietnamese fish sauce) to taste
  • 1 egg yolk stirred
  • 1 TB worchestershire sauce

Caesar Salad

  • 1 sm head Romain lettuce washed, dried & torn into bite-size pieces
  • 1 cup croutons
  • ? ground black pepper to taste
  • 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese finely grated

Instructions

  • Mix all dressing ingredients together in a jar and put in the fridge to thicken and flavors meld. Can be made days before.

Salad

  • Place lettuce in bottom of a large bowl. This can be covered with a damp paper towel and kept in the refrigerator until serving time.
  • Remove dressing from fridge about 15 minutes ahead of time to soften (olive oil gets thick in the fridge).
  • Just before serving, remove lettuce from fridge and add parmesan, croutons and ground pepper. Shake dressing well, pour about 1/4 over salad ingredients, and toss.
  • Store leftover dressing in the fridge.

Salad Dressing Mix: Good Seasons knockoff

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I love a good flavorful Italian dressing. I’ve been using Good Seasons Salad Dressing Mix, but over the past few years have been using processed foods less and less due to extra ingredients that really don’t need to be in there and I really don’t want to consume. Such as MSG in any form, sugars, artificial or ‘natural’ flavorings. Here’s a mix you can make yourself that contains only herbs and seasonings. You can store this mix in a jar in the pantry and mix up some fresh dressing whenever you need it.

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Good Seasons salad dressing knockoff

An all good ingredients dry salad dressing mix: Not only bursting with flavor, but healthy as well, especially if you use organic ingredients. Mix up the dry ingredients, use some for a bottle of dressing today and save the rest for next time.
Prep Time15 minutes
5 minutes
Total Time20 minutes
Course: Salad
Cuisine: American
Keyword: good seasons, recipe knockoff, salad dressing
Servings: 4 bottles of dressing

Ingredients

Dry dressing mix

  • 1 TB garlic powder
  • 1 TB onion powder
  • 2 TB dried oregano flakes
  • 1 tsp basil flakes
  • 1 TB parsley flakes
  • 1/2 tsp celery salt or celery seeds
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 2 TB sea salt

Salad Dressing

  • 2 TB water
  • 1/4 cup vinegar red wine or apple cider
  • 2/3 cup olive oil

Instructions

Dry Mix

  • Mix all dry ingredients together and store in a jar for future use.

Salad Dressing

  • Add 2 tablespoons of dressing mix and wet ingredients (water, mix, vinegar, oil) in a jar or cruet (the Good Seasons ones are great). Shake well and let sit for 15 minutes so dry ingredients to soften (can be kept in the fridge to thicken).
  • Pour some over salad and toss.
  • Refrigerate any leftover dressing.

Kitchen Sink Salad

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Salad, chopped, a hearty meal

Note: If you want to use my Salad dressing mix on your salad, you'll have to make that first.

Base of salad is a heathy mixture of lettuce (Iceberg is low nutrition, go for Romaine or spring salad mixes); spinach; any greens you have on hand such as Mustard Greens, Kale, Chard; all torn into bite-size pieces.

Extras such as tomato chunks, cucumber, avocado, carrots, peppers, radishes, sprouts, green onions, leftover cooked or raw veggies such as zucchini, yellow squash, asparagus, green beans, brussels sprouts; corn; any other beans or veggies; chow mein noodles; nuts such as almonds, cashews or pinion; sunflower seeds.

A protein if you're so inclined, such as leftover cooked meats; fish such as salmon, tuna, shrimp; hard-boiled eggs; cut up cold-cuts. If you're vegan, tofu works.

Cheese if you want: chopped or shredded cheddar or feta are great; freshly grated parmesan is hard to beat as well.

Croutons if available, or make your own: Sauté stale bread in a butter/olive oil mixture. Add salt, pepper & garlic. Cook until crisp. If you have some Chinese noodles, these are great too.

Herbs are a great addition. If you have scraps of dill, parsley, oregano, thyme etc., chop & throw them in.

Get Creative! If there's anything else in the fridge that is a leftover and you like it, it may just work out fine in your big salad.
Prep Time30 minutes
Total Time30 minutes

Ingredients

  • Several cups Mixed greens, torn
  • Two cups Mixed fresh vegetables Your choice, see above
  • One cup more Vegetables Any cooked leftovers?
  • One cup Protein Your choice, see above
  • 1/2 cup Herbs Your choice, see above

Instructions

  • Place all ingredients into a big bowl and toss with your favorite dressing, or just mix in some olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and herbs and seasonings of your choice.
  • Serve and enjoy.