Salads

Soap Operas and Salads

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...

Okay. Not really. Last night I dreamt I was in a soap opera. Not just any ol' soap opera, but Search for Tomorrow, circa 1958. I was in the soap, but not as an actor - it was recording daily life where we all lived and all that went on - and I was just a character in all of it. Kinda like the Truman Show, except I knew it was happening. Sometimes I could see myself in the scene, other times I was in the scene seeing it through my own eyes. Dreams are weird.

Search for Tomorrow was a 15 minute soap back in the day. I really don't remember what the plot line was other than a woman who was the main character, but in my dream, it didn't matter.

My mother and grandmother were both huge soap fans - the CBS lineup of Search for Tomorrow, Guiding Light, The Secret Storm, As the World Turns, and the only one I liked - The Edge of Night.

When my brother and I spent time with my grandparents in Bakersfield, we were usually called inside during the heat of the mid-afternoon - and that was when The Edge of Night came on. It was a mystery with Detective Mike Karr - It was very Perry Mason-like and totally unlike the others. It was pretty good.

One morning, I wasn't feeling well and had stayed home from school - Jr High '66 or '67 - and I heard my mom screaming upstairs "NO! Don't Do It NO! NO!" I went tearing up the stairs thinking someone had broken into the house and was trying to kill her. What I found was her standing in front of the TV with tears streaming down her face - someone had just killed their girlfriend or some such thing.

She blushed, tried to laugh, and tried to explain what had happened. I just growed and went back downstairs. I wanted to kill her.

Did I mention she liked her soaps?!? If you were wise, you did not call the house while her programs were on - she could really get into them.

The only soap I ever religiously watched was Dark Shadows. The first few seasons were really a lot of fun. Barnabas Collins was the gayest vampire, ever. Funny, I actually tried watch a few old episodes not too long ago and couldn't sit through them. It was too campy even for me! But back when it was new, we made sure we were home at 4pm every day after school to watch it! I couldn't watch the Johnny Depp movie, either. I tried. It was horrible.

Dreams definitely are weird. I  really don't remember them very often and very seldom remember a lot of detail. Like lst night, they tend to make sense at the time, but once you start looking at them, they can just be improbably weird as hell.

So what causes weird dreams? Something you ate?!?

I really didn't eat anything strange, yesterday... We picnicked at Monmouth Race Track and I ate a cookie, and a piece of cake - not part of the normal regime. And we had grilled chicken - the same chicken in tonight's salad. We had leftovers.

If I have a weird dream, tonight, I can blame the chicken.

We brought cold chicken and carrot and raisin salad to share with everyone - and had enough to bring back a bit for dinner, tonight.

I took my Oriental Flank Steak recipe and reworked it for chicken breasts. I cut each breast into thirds, marinated them, grilled them, and then put the breasts into the second marinade overnight.

It came out pretty good, if I do say so, m'self!

Chicken Breasts with Spicy Garlic Marinade

First Marinade:

  • 2 tsp peeled, minced ginger
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 cup rice wine or sherry
  • 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
  • 1 (or more) tbsp chili paste (Sambal Oelek)
  • 2-1/2 lbs. chicken breast, cut into thirds

Second Marinade:

  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
  • 1/2 cup rice wine, or sherry
  • 2 tbsp minced fresh garlic
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 2 (or more) tbsp chili paste (Sambal Oelek)

Mix the first five ingredients in a bowl or pan large enough to hold the chicken. Add the chicken, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Turn once or twice if you think of it. Discard any remaining marinade.

Make the second marinade.

Broil or barbecue the chicken and place in the second marinade.  It’s best to make the day before and let sit in the refrigerator (I use gallon-size zip-lock bags) to meld flavors.

You can eat as is or: mix with chilled, cooked noodles; or spoon over lettuce leaves for a luncheon salad; or mix with bean sprouts; or put out mini pita breads and a spread for sandwiches.

Just let your imagination run wild!

It's really simple to make but just screams flavor. The marinade will work with anything - from shrimp or other seafood to pork, beef, or chicken.

Have fun with it!

Salads

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Tim Dineen

Shrimp and Bean Salad

Shrimp and Bean Salad

Tonight's dinner is brought to you by a bit of miscommunication...

We watch more than our fair share of cooking shows on TV, and there are times when the shows just blur together. It's especially true when shows use a lot of the same ingredients.

Case in point: Last week Lidia had a recipe for a shrimp and bean dish - and so did America's Test Kitchen. I vaguely remembered the one from ATK and didn't really remember the one from Lidia. Victor did, however, and said he thought it sounded really good.

Never one to pass up a dinner suggestion and thinking I knew what he was talking about, I headed over to the ATK website and printed the recipe. Their recipe called for 2 cans of cannellini beans, but since we had a half bag of dried, I soaked them overnight and cooked them early this afternoon.

With beans cooked and shrimp thawed, it was just going to be a matter of a few minutes in the kitchen to get it all together. We were talking and I said something about America's Test Kitchen - we tend to mock them a lot - and Victor said, no, it's a Lidia recipe.

I did a classic HUH?!?

He said not to worry about it, dinner is dinner, but... he was looking forward to something else... I went to Chef Google and got Lidia's recipe.

Her recipe called for fresh fava beans and cranberry beans, but cannellini beans were ready. I used them.

It was really good.  It was fresh, it was light, and absolutely perfect for an 80°F day. And it saved me from shelling fresh beans - something I'm really not opposed to, but... I spent a good portion of the day cleaning out the shed and getting the 18 partial cans of paint opened and outside to dry do we can get it into the trash one of these days. I was looking for a bit of unattended cooking.

Shrimp and Bean Salad

So here is the Lidia Recipe and the America's Test Kitchen Recipe. I think I'll make the other one next week. it sounds good, too!

Have fun!

Shrimp and Mixed Bean Salad

Lidia Bastianich

Ingredients

  • 1 pound fresh fava bean, shelled
  • 1 pound fresh cranberry beans, shelled
  • 1/2 small onion
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 small carrot, sliced
  • 1 rib celery, cubed
  • 1 pound large (about 14-20) shrimp, shelled except for the fantails, and deveined
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons wine vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions

In two separate pans of boiling water, cook the beans until tender, about 4 and 8 minutes for the favas and cranberry beans, respectively. Drain and refresh the beans under cold running water, and remove the outer skins from the favas.

In a medium saucepan, boil the onion, bay leaves, carrot, and celery in 6 cups of water for 20 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook just until opaque throughout, about 1 minute. Remove and drain the shrimp and allow them to cool.

In a serving bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper. Add the beans and shrimp, and toss to coat the solids thoroughly. Serve warm as an appetizer.

Tuscan Shrimp and Beans

America's Test Kitchen

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 pound large shell-on shrimp (26 to 30 per pound), peeled, deveined, and tails removed, shells reserved
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 onion, chopped fine
  • 4 garlic cloves, peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced thin
  • 2 anchovy fillets, rinsed, patted dry, and minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans (1 can drained and rinsed, 1 can left undrained)
  • 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
  • 1/4 cup shredded fresh basil
  • 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest plus 1 tablespoon juice

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Dissolve sugar and 1 tablespoon salt in 1 quart cold water in large container. Submerge shrimp in brine, cover, and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Remove shrimp from brine and pat dry with paper towels.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add shrimp shells and cook, stirring frequently, until they begin to turn spotty brown and skillet starts to brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and carefully add 1 cup water. When bubbling subsides, return skillet to medium heat and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Strain mixture through colander set over large bowl. Discard shells and reserve liquid (you should have about 1/4 cup). Wipe skillet clean with paper towels.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons oil, onion, garlic, anchovies, pepper flakes, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in now-empty skillet over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add 1 can drained beans, 1 can beans and their liquid, tomatoes, and shrimp stock and bring to simmer. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.

4. Reduce heat to low, add shrimp, cover, and cook, stirring once during cooking, until shrimp are just opaque, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and stir in basil and lemon zest and juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to serving dish, drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon oil, and serve.

 

 

by Tim Dineen

Carolina salad

Carolina BBQ Salads

The warm weather of the past few days spoiled me. I am not pleased that it hasn't even reached 60°F, today. I am totally ready for 78°F and no humidity. Sadly, it ain't happening, today. [It's actually not going to happen a lot here in the mid-Atlantic states - but I can dream...]

What is happening, though, is salads for dinner. I took a lovely piece of tri-tip roast out of the freezer, doused it with Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce, and set it to cook on the grill.

The salads, themselves, were just a mishmash of things in the 'fridge - roasted beets, tomatoes, hard-cooked eggs, watermelon radishes, lettuce, green onions, fried hot peppers, French brie... - but the salad dressing was something decidedly different.

I took some of the Buttermilk Ranch Dressing I made the other day and added some of the Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce to it. It's a spin on a couple of recipes we did at work years ago - Carolina BBQ Chicken Salad, and Carolina Crunch.

Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce

Mixing the BBQ Sauce with the Buttermilk Ranch really took it all to a higher level - mustardy, smoky, spicy, creamy... The perfect BBQ dressing.

Just about any BBQ sauce can be turned into a salad dressing by mixing it into mayonnaise, sour cream, yogurt... even oil and vinegar. It's nice, because you can make as much as you need and not have a ton left over to become a science experiment on the 'fridge door.

Just for fun, I also made croutons from a couple slices of the bread I made the other day. Cubed, toasted, and then drizzles with a bit of olive oil and dusted with garlic powder and grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

The 10-Day forecast is looking promising... maybe some meals out back by the end of next week...

I'm ready.

 

by Tim Dineen

Salads

More Salads

We did our Monday run down to Gentile's after the gym, this morning... It was sunshine and blue skies - and just a tad chilly. Fast-forward 6 hours and it's gray, cloudy, and warmer. Go figure.

We overbought on the berries, a bit, so Victor made fruit salad and then made a berry sauce/jam with the rest of them, since they really weren't going to last too long in the 'fridge. I took some of the jam and made a salad dressing...

I used about a third of a cup of the sauce, added white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a chopped hot pepper I had fried, earlier. The beef was dry-rubbed with smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, and then grilled.

Fried hot peppers are a staple in our house and we fry our homegrows and freeze them - and when they're gone, buy 'em until the next crop comes in... We have a dozen pepper plants in the garden this year - four of them for hot sauce and the other 8 for eating, cooking, and frying. I really like making hot sauce and have a few new peppers to play with - including a habanero. We have six tomato plants in the ground, right now, and another eight or so that will go in in a few weeks. And added a cucumber, today.

I'm really getting psyched about the garden - it's really fun having the energy to actually work out there and I can't wait until we can harvest dinner! I'm going to add a hanging strawberry plant since strawberries are the one thing the critters have really taken a fancy to. And we'll see about adding a few more things as the season progresses. One thing we have learned is not to plant everything at the same time - we can't eat it that fast!

We're expecting more rain, tonight... we won't have to worry about watering.

Life is good.

 

 

 

by Tim Dineen

Easter Salads

The Leftovers

We had a lot of food around here, yesterday, but a lot of it was planned - especially the salads. These are our go-to lunches, now that the weather is turning warmer.

Lunch, today, was ham sandwiches on the last of the hot cross buns, so dinner became salads. Gotta keep our trim boyish figures, ya know...

 

by Tim Dineen

Salads

Spring Salads

The weather was absolutely perfect, today... Mid 70's, partly cloudy, and a gentle breeze... The windows were all open as we started our Easter preparations... It's a small group - only 13 adults and 2 kids. We're making our standards and adding a few new dishes to the menu. It's a lot more fun, that way.

The key to cooking really is being organized. All of those years in restaurants and hotels has us doing the prep in advance, so putting the actual dinner together will be a snap. We even have checklists. Really.

Tonight was a clean out the 'fridge salad so there's room for the produce shopping, tomorrow. Tomorrow is also our weigh-in day, so... making that little bit of effort won't really matter, but it's part of the mental game. I must admit I kinda blew it when making chocolate Easter nests, today - I ate more than I probably should have. But... life is also about having a bit of fun.

The salads had mixed greens, radishes, poblano peppers, green onions, roasted beets, avocado, hard-cooked eggs, mixed grain salad... and a homemade Italian vinaigrette. A grilled chicken breast on top. Pretty simple and basic - and more food than we could consume.

It's interesting to see how our dietary habits have changed - and that we actually think about it. Once upon a time, we would have cleaned our plates just because there was still more to eat. Now... we're paying attention to those full signals.

Who woulda thunk?!?

 

 

 

 

 

by Tim Dineen

Salads

More Salads

It's 80°F right now... that's around 27°C for the rest of the world... It's been really nice all day long.

After our gym workout, we did our produce run to Gentile's, I took a truckload of yard garbage to the dump, and Victor went off to an eye doctor appointment.

In between all of that, we roasted beets, fried peppers, hard-boiled eggs, and made a couple of salads. Multi-tasking.

Our secret to our lunch salads is having stuff readily available. We can have a salad on a plate in mere minutes. It just takes a bit of advance planning - something from those years of restaurants and hotels that is finally paying off.

First thing is hard-cooked eggs. These are breakfast and salad items, so we always have a lot of them.

Hard Cooked eggs

It took me years and years, but I finally figured out how to cook them so they will peel. I steam them for 20 minutes. I do not boil them in water. It's working.

And roasted beets... Both red and golden - they look just spectacular - and taste even better. Victor always hated beets. He's the one who picked them out at the produce store and roasted them. Never say never.

Roasted Beets

And then a couple of salads...

I soaked a pound of cannellini beans last night and made a really simple salad - carrots, celery, radishes, leeks, a bit of garlic... lots of crunchy things to go with the soft beans.

Bean Salad

Oregano, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Simple, and really yummy.

Next is a rice and grain salad. Red rice, farro, and barley, with more leeks, watermelon radishes, artichoke hearts, broccoli, and zucchini, with a dressing of tomatillo salsa and south of the wall-type spices.

Rice and Grain Salad

Besides a great dinner, tonight, these will get us through about 3 or 4 days - and then we'll start on another batch.

Tonight's dinner included all of the above and avocado, tomato, lots of greens, a NY steak, and Spicy French Dressing.

The perfect end to an industrious day.

 

 

by Tim Dineen

Salads

The End of Week Thirty-Eight

Fifty Pounds, boys and girls. We have both lost FIFTY POUNDS! I am pretty much in shock. And really psyched!

Tim and Victor

When we walked into LA Fitness 38 weeks ago, it was about signing up for Silver Sneakers - a senior fitness program included with our health insurance. Neither of us knew our way around a gym, and we ended up signing up for personal training - three days a week. I don't think either of us really thought much would come of it, but... we did it, anyway.

The first few months were brutal. We'd crawl out of the gym and suffer for hours after. I was living on aspirin. I hurt in places I didn't even know existed. And then, one day, I wasn't exhausted for hours, after. I didn't need aspirin to ease the pain. Everything we were doing was getting more difficult - but, oddly, easier.

And, obviously, our diet changed - but not as in we went on a diet - because we haven't. We've changed our eating habits and we're doing smaller portions, but we're eating bread and pasta, drinking whole milk and eating full-fat yogurt.

No gluten-free/keto/paleo/whatever/bullshit-billion-dollar-a-year-phony-diet-scheme. We're eating real food - with no foods off-limits. We can and will eat whatever pleases us. We're just aware of what it is and adjust, accordingly. We're not eating a lot of crap. The biggest change we did was to knock off the ooey-gooey desserts every night, but we are satisfying the after dinner sweet tooth with fresh fruit - or, the occasional freshly-popped buttered popcorn. Yeah... real butter.

And losing weight.

It's funny, but I don't miss eating them as much as I miss making them... I'm looking forward to the Easter Bake-A-Thon and a bit of baking creativity! Fortunately, I am still getting my baking fix by making bread all of the time, and while I'm looking forward to baking several fun things, I'm more looking forward to tasting little pieces. My days of gorging on desserts is over.

Fifty pounds... We celebrated with salads...

We have become salad kings - after being soup kings during the winter. There are lots of containers of really good things in the 'fridge at any given moment. It's the alchemy that creates the final plate.

Salads

There are usually two salads - a bean-type and a grain-type - in the 'fridge along with accompaniments like roasted beets, boiled eggs, or steamed broccoli. Lentil sprouts just became a staple, and I'll be making more of them this weekend. Greens and cheeses and, for the dinner salads, something marinated and grilled.

Back in the good old days of Demo Cooking, Ruth and I made five-ingredient formula salads - a green, a crunchy, a dried fruit, a cheese, and a dressing - that were constantly changed and always different - yet remarkably easy to make and we were always being hailed as the geniuses we were.

I'm pretty much doing the same thing, here... It's just a matter of having a few things ready in the 'fridge.

And as the weather continues its upward climb, we will continue to fill those containers.

In the meantime, we both have some new weight goals still to be met -  and we need to continue this well past our training obligation - but, dammit, we have lost fifty pounds.

I could not be more proud of Victor and of myself.

We did it.

 

 

 

by Tim Dineen

Sprouted Lentils

Sprouted Lentils

Several days ago, an ad for a stainless steel mesh mason jar screen popped up on my Facebook page. The screen, said the ad, was for making lentil sprouts. While the majority of the ads I see on Facebook have no connection to my life or any sort of reality, this one intrigued me. At any given moment we have pounds of lentils in the house.

I clicked on the ad - I'll be sure to get a bazillion ads for mason jar accessories, now, although they will be better than incontinence pads and hearing aids - and up popped a recipe for making the sprouts with their hand little gadget.

My first thought was I have tons of cheesecloth - I don't need a stainless steel mesh cover. My second thought was to make some. I used to make alfalfa sprouts back in the pot-smoking '70s but had relied on the grocery store variety until salmonella pretty much removed them from sale around here.

I really, really like sprouts - and with salad season upon us, I couldn't think of an easier project or tastier addition to out salads.

This is one of those things that if you have kids, you can get them involved and maybe even eat something different!

Sprouted Lentils

  • 1 1qt mason jar with ring
  • square of doubled cheese cloth
  • 1/2 cup lentils - I used French green lentils, but brown lentils will work quite well

Rinse lentils well. Place in jar and add three cups of cool water. Cover with cheese cloth, place ring on to hold tight. Let sit overnight.

The following morning, drain the lentils, and rinse them very well, and drain. Place jar on its side on a plate or shallow bowl to allow water to completely drain so lentils are not sitting in water.

Do this twice a day.

Continue doing this until sprouts are about a half-inch or so long - maybe three days. At this point, rinse and drain one final time and place in a covered container in the 'fridge.

They should keep about a week.

They are just slightly crunchy with that perfect sprout flavor. We put them on our lunch salads, today - a perfect addition.

Sprouted LentilsAnd speaking of perfect, lentils are a nutritional powerhouse - and sprouted lentils, even more so.

Check them out at Nutritional Values.

And then make some.

by Tim Dineen

More Salads

It was a glorious day - sunshine and blue skies. I spent a few hours in the yard working on the clean-up, clipping branches, raking beds... We kinda let it go last year so there's plenty to do. I did a trip to the dump the other day with a truckload of branches - and I have enough for another truckload just waiting to get loaded. Too bad it's going to rain tomorrow... ::snicker::

It was great being out in the yard, though. I've missed the sun and the outdoors. I'm getting antsy about planting the vegetable garden - but I'm still a month too early. I'm going to have to be satisfied with just getting the soil ready...

But the sunny weather has really gotten me into salads. And that meant I had to use a beautiful bowl made by the wonderful and talented Kel Darling.

 

This is a simple bean salad with fresh green beans, 1 can of black beans, 1 can of cannellini beans, a bit of leek, chopped fennel, minced garlic, and a simple dressing of olive oil and apple cider vinegar. A bit of S&P, of course...

And then we have a lentil salad...

 

Cooked lentils, chopped radishes, chopped zucchini, chopped fennel, chopped leeks, chopped carrots... all held together with a dressing of blood orange olive oil and blueberry balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. These are serious clean-out-the-refrigerator salads. They're fairly similar, yet always different. It totally depends on what needs using up and then, what oil and vinegar I want to put on them. There are no rules.

And, for even more fun... homemade salad dressings, of course!

Salad Dressings

The best part of cooking - in my not so humble opinion - is heading into the kitchen with a vague idea and making something good. It doesn't have to be a blockbuster winner every single time. Good, basic food is more than satisfying - and when you do hit one out of the park... well... smile and realize that if you were winging it to begin with, you probably won't be replicating it. And that's okay. There are a bazillion more recipes to be created.

So here's to an abundant garden and lots of fresh produce and continued fun in the kitchen.

 

by Tim Dineen

Salad Dressings

Homemade salad dressings are easy to make and are infinitely better than anything you can buy at the store.

This recipe is a close approximation of a salad dressing we made when I worked at The Red Chimney in San Francisco…

Louie Dressing

  • 1 cup mayo
  • 1/4 cup chili sauce
  • 2 Tbsp white grated onion
  • 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped fine
  • hefty pinch cayenne
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped

Mix first 5 ingredients and then fold in whipped cream.

Spicy French Dressing

  • 1/4 cup apple-cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp. dry mustard
  • 1/4 tsp. celery seed
  • 1/4 tsp. finely grated white onion or 1/8 tsp. granulated onion
  • Kosher or fine sea salt
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup sunflower or safflower oil
  • 1/4 cup ketchup
  • 2 to 3 tsp. Sriracha; more to taste
  • 1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters (optional)
  • 1/4 tsp. grapefruit bitters (optional)

In a small saucepan, warm the vinegar, mustard, celery seed, onion, and 1 tsp. salt over low heat, whisking occasionally until fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Pour the vinegar mixture into a small bowl. Whisk in the honey, oil, ketchup, Sriracha, Worcestershire, and both bitters, if using.

Transfer the bowl to the refrigerator and chill, covered, for 1 hour.

Season to taste with salt. Serve or store in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.

 

Italian Dressing

  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 8 basil leaves, chopped
  • 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
  • Salt & Pepper, to taste

Add all ingredients to jar. Shake well. Check for seasoning and add S&P, as desired.

Gorgonzola Dressing

  • 2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • 1 tsp Blue Cheese mustard (or mustard of your choice)
  • 1/2 tsp celery seed
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • a few drops worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola
  • Salt & pepper, to taste

Mix vinegar, shallot, mustard, celery seed, garlic powder, worcestershire sauce, and a hefty pinch of salt & pepper. Mix in the sour cream and then the milk.

Add the gorgonzola and mix well. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper, as desired.

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 3/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 tsp granulated onion
  • 1/4 cup white-wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp minced fresh chives
  • 3 tbsp minced fresh Italian parsley
  • 1 tsp granulated garlic
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • Salt & Pepper, to taste

Whisk the buttermilk, mayonnaise, and sour cream until smooth.

Stir in the the remaining ingredients and mix well. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Salad Dressings

by Tim Dineen

Dinner Salads

Dinner Salads

Time to start emptying all of those containers in the 'fridge.

There's Bean Salad from Friday, Lentils from Monday, and Celery and Apple Salad from today. Plus a brand new bottle of Gorgonzola Dressing! We are living high!

Our produce run , yesterday, saw lots of fresh stuff come into the house - so it's rather important to use them all up, since we're slowing down on the soups. Soups are the perfect foil for produce that has seen better days. Bean or grain salads work well in the non-soup months - but not as good as soups.

Tonight's salad was a base of greens topped with broccoli, tomatoes, radishes, olives, grilled chicken, green onions, bean salad, celery and apple salad, lentils and butternut squash, and cucumber, topped with the gorgonzola dressing.

Fresh foods brimming with flavor.

We're hosting Easter, this year, and one of our ideas is to have sort of centerpiece salad with lots of different salads surrounding assorted greens and stuff. It's one of those things I can visualize pretty well - but have to work on the actual presentation. In the meantime, we're working on the salads we're going to have - the celery and apple has made the cut! There will also be a bean salad of sorts, and a lentil salad of sorts... And... and... and...

I love doing stuff like that - and tonight's salad is a bit of a mini-idea... Lots of fun stuff.

So here's to Spring and Fresh Produce! I can't wait until we start harvesting our own.

 

 

by Tim Dineen