Kim’s Summer Salad May 7, 2008

Ingredients
10 oz. Spinach
1 Qt. Strawberries
1 Pint Blueberries
1/2 lb. Bacon (Cooked and Crumbled–omit or put on side if making for a vegetarian)

Dressing:
2 T. Sesame Seeds
1 T. Poppy Seeds
1/4 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Olive Oil
1/4 C. Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 t. Paprika
1/4 t. Worcestshire Sauce
1 T. Red Onion (Minced)

Method
1. Combine dressing ingredients in lidded jar and shake. Refrigerate a few hours or overnight.
2. Pour dressing over salad ingredients and serve.

Notes: I first had this salad at a Kowalski family dinner where Marc’s girlfriend Kim brought it. It was amazing and I couldn’t stop eating it! I asked her for the recipe and she verbally gave it to me, but I was missing some of the ingredients. After some searching around on the internet, I found enough similar recipes to tweak and recreate hers. This is great for a BBQ or just in the early Spring when the strawberries first come out and you want to pretend it’s not snowing in Colorado

Sweet and Sour Chicken March 2, 2008

Ingredients
6-8 Boneless Chicken Breasts
8 oz. Russian Dressing (recipe follows)
8 oz. Apricot Jam
1 Pkg. Dry Onion Soup Mix
1/4 C. Water
1 Small Can Crushed Pineapple (Drained)

Russian Dressing
1/4 C. Salad Oil
1/4 Ketchup
1 T. Sugar
1 T. Vinegar
1 T. Lemon Juice
1 t. Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 t. Paprika
1/4 t. Salt
1/8 t. Pepper

Method
1. Whisk Russian Dressing ingredients together in a medium bowl. Add apricot jam, dry onion soup mix and 1/4 water. Stir.
2. Arrange chicken in lasagna pan and pour dressing over top, making sure all pieces are coated. Sprinkle drained pineapple on top of chicken.
3. Cover chicken and bake 1 hour at 350 degres.

Notes: This recipe comes from my friend Kim! It’s a really great and easy meal for when you’re craving Chinese takeout. I add veggies in with the chicken (broccoli, peppers, etc.) and bake it all together, then serve over brown rice. The dressing makes a great salad dressing, and if you’re craving Thousand Island dressing, just make the same recipe, but substitute mayonnaise for the oil.

Tsatsiki (Greek Cucumber Yogurt Dip) December 13, 2006

Ingredients
1 Small Container of Plain Yogurt (Drain off any liquid)
1 Clove Garlic (Minced)
2 T. Olive Oil
1 Cucumber (Seeded and Grated)
1 t. Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper

Method
1. Mix together and let sit in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

This is really good with hunks of bread as a dip, and it’s also the topping for Gyros. Bryan calls it “The Greek Ranch Dressing.” You could use it in place of a creamy salad dressing…it’s really yummy and very good for you! I use nonfat yogurt and it tastes just as good.

Caesar Salad Dressing December 7, 2006

Ingredients
1/2 C. Mayo
1 t. Anchovie Paste (I know, I know. This sounds revolting. But trust me, as a person who cannot eat fish and can only stomach some seafood, that this MAKES the dressing. It’s that thing you taste in Caesar dressing that makes you wonder what it is…it’s basically a salty taste. Without it, the recipe isn’t nearly as good)
1 T. Garlic (minced)
1/4 C. Fresh Parmesan
Splash of lemon juice
Salt and Pepper

Method
1. Whisk together and let sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Just Two Ingredients Salad Dressing December 7, 2006

Ingredients
Soy Sauce
Olive Oil

Method
1. Add equal parts of each and whisk!

This is a great recipe for when you need a very quick salad dressing that tastes like you spent some serious time on it. One of my secret talents is being able to figure out what ingredients are in something by tasting it–I’m the girl who sits at restaurants and says “this dish has this, this and this in it.” Then I go home and try to recreate it. I’m usually not far off. Bryan loves this because when he has something yummy he’ll be like “make this for dinner sometime”…and I usually can. That said, I was over at Sarah’s mom’s house for Christmas one year and she knows I love to cook so she wanted me to taste this new salad dressing she’d come up with. I did and it was very yummy. She asked me to tell her what was in it. I went on for quite a while. She just started laughing because it was this recipe–just olive oil and soy sauce. It tastes really complex though!! Anyway, you could always add stuff to this like garlic, fresh herbs, giner, etc. if you wanted to get fancy, but it’s yummy as is.

Sue’s Famous Sunday Night Salad Dressing December 7, 2006

Ingredients
1 T. Minced Garlic
2 T. Minced Onion
1 t. Whole Grain Dijon Mustard
1/4 C. Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 C. Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Method
1. Whisk together and let sit in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before serving.

My best friend Sarah’s mom (who is like a second mom to me), Sue, has the biggest garden you’ve ever seen. Seriously. It looks like she’s producing veggies to stock a roadside stand or something, but she just has 5 kids and likes to have fresh produce. When we were little girls, she’d send us out there for HOURS to weed. But we got to eat fresh green beans, so it was always worth it and we never saw it as the “chore” it was. Every Sunday night, she hosts a dinner on their patio. When we were in college and working for the summer at Sarah’s family’s resort (and living across the road from her parents), we were always invited. Considering we ate garbage the rest of the week, this was the biggest treat! She always served this salad of mixed greens and red onions with this homemade dressing on it. Having myself grown up in a family where the only dressing option was store bought Thousand Island of questionable age, this was very exciting. Several years later, as grown ups, Sarah and I both live in Colorado, far away from her mom’s porch in Canada. One night she was over for dinner and she asked if she could make the salad. I said sure, and she made THIS DRESSING to go with it! Her mom’s dressing! I was really excited. It’s SOOOO good. And easy. And 100% better than anything storebought. I had been wanting to learn how to make homemade salad dressings, so she taught me and this was the first one I mastered. You can adjust the ingredients to taste, make more or less, whatever. Just play with it until it tastes right to you. Depending on what we’re having for dinner, I change it to go along. If we’re making Italian, I add sundried tomato paste and basil. If we’re going Asian, I add fresh ginger and cilantro. It can morph into whatever you want!