(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Now that my baby, my beloved Canon is restored, I thought it was time to get back to photographing actual food and do I have one for you today. If it’s 95­­° in the shade where you live, a salad is really the only thing you can imagine right now. But the meat-and-potatoes eaters in your home think salads are wimpy. Well, this one has a bit of heat to throw them off and confuse them but it’s still healthy. It actually filled up my empty-pit of a husband. He didn’t eat anything else for three (3!!!) hours! That’s a record!

CHICKEN CHIPPOTLE SALAD

Dressing:
1/3 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
2/3 c. light sour cream
1/4-1/3 c. buttermilk (depending on how thick you like your dressing)
2-4 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced (more or less varies the heat)
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
Juice of one lime plus a little lime zest
1/4 tsp salt

Mix that all up and put it in the fridge to chill while you make the salad.

4 c. shredded romaine lettuce
2 c. shredded cooked chicken breast
(I cooked mine in the microwave and tossed with Southwest seasoning mix but leftover grilled chicken would rock here!)
2 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 avocado, peeled and sliced
1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
OPTIONAL:
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, rinsed and drained
Tortilla chips for garnish

You know how to take it from here, right?

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By the way, here’s the updated nest-cam. Remember how cute they were? Well, they’ve entered the awkward teen years. Thus we have a rebel bird who is rejecting his parent’s conservative values. As soon as he can fly, he’s getting a tattoo.

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Congrats to Lauren who won our Strawberry Cookbook giveaway!

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Growing up, salad was a couple chunks of iceburg lettuce drowned in bacon grease.  With all men in the house except me, somedays the family just considered the tomato on our cheeseburger the “salad.”  Needless to say, we didn’t actually eat a lot of salads in a house where Sunday dinner was a can of Spam. (I’m not joking.) So my salad dressing collection is a bit thin.

So I’ve compiled a few.  Some are family faves and some are new but sound delicious.  Now I can whip up the perfect salad to go with that bacon grease sandwich.

VINAIGRETTE

• Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette @ Modern Day Ozzie & Harriet
• Kalamata Olive Vinaigrette @ Kalyn’s Kitchen
• Lemon-Basil Dressing @ Enlightened Kitchen
• Balsamic Dijon Vinaigrette @ Liz’s Cooking Blog
• Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette @ Claudina’s Kitchen
• Honey-Roasted Almond Vinaigrette @ The District Domestic
• Lemon Oil Vinaigrette
• Maple-Soy Dressing @ Take Back the Kitchen
• Vidalia Onion Vinaigrette
• Maple-Balsamic @ Yumsugar

CREAMY

• Avocado Green Goddess Dressing
• Honey Mustard @ Noshtopia
• Creamy Dill Dressing
• Apricot-Curry Dressing
• Caramelized Garlic Dressing (yours truly)
• Supermodel Ginger Dressing @ Worst Cook Ever
• Healthy Homemade Salad Dressing @ Autumn’s Attic
• Mango Onion Dressing
• Kiwi Dressing
• Grady Spear’s Buttermilk Dressing @ Feed Me/Drink Me
• Coconut Cream Dressing @ Scotland Cooks
• Garlic Caesar Salad @ The Sisters’ Cafe
• Blue Cheese Salad Dressing
• Roquefort Dressing
• You-Have-It-All-On-Hand Salad Dressing
• Pistachio-Mint Dressing

LIGHT/LOW-FAT

• Low-Fat Ranch Dressing @ Charlene Johnson
• Fresh Fruit Vinaigrette
• Ginger Carrot Dressing @ What’s Cookin’
• Light Blue Cheese Dressing
• Poppy Seed Dressing
• Chive-Yogurt Dressing
• Dill and Cucumber Dressing
• Guiltless Caesar Salad Dressing @ A Year In the Kitchen
• Cantaloupe Dressing
• Sesame-Tofu Dressing @ Fennel and Flax
• Mango-Herb Mojo Dressing
• Greek Yogurt Salad Dressing @ Life Chef’s Food for Life

TRAVELING THE WORLD

• Creamy Cotija Cilantro Chile Dressing @ The Feast Within
• Chile/Cheddar’s Honey Lime Dressing @ and so she blogs
• SMOKY CHIPOTLE-BALSAMIC DRESSING @ The Perfect Pantry
• German Salad Dressing @ A Veggie Adventure
• Spicy Thai Peanut Dressing
• Moroccan Salad Dressing
• Outback Ranch (Aussie) Dressing @ Meemo’s Kitchen
• Curry Vinaigrette @ QC Tester
• Thai Dressing @ Randy’s Grub
• Panera Bread Greek Salad Dressing
• Aussie Station (Not Ranch!) Dressing
• Miso Dressing @ Tess’s Japanese Kitchen

(9 votes, average: 4.78 out of 5)

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So I’m walking through the store and these tomatoes catch my eye.  Ugly Ripe Tomatoes are touted as having “just-picked” flavour out of season.   Nothing compares to the taste of a just-picked tomato so I had to try it.  I shelled out $3.40 for two tomatoes (!) to make a salad.  It has Ugly on the label so as not to confuse it with the Supermodel Tomato (which, sadly, has anger issues.)

You’ve got to feel sorry for these tomatoes.  They got teased by the Cheerleader Tomatoes, passed over by the Jock Tomatoes, laughed at by the Stoner Tomatoes and were consigned to lonely weekends at home eating Haagen-Dazs.  (Not that I’m the tomatoes are bitter.)

Truth time.  Do they taste like vine ripened, still warm from the sun tomatoes?  Not really.  But they’re definitely better than the artificially-red rocks that usually pass as tomatoes in the produce section this time of year.  So they really livened up this easy salad.

CHOPPED UGLY SALAD

2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 English cucumber, chopped
1 roasted red pepper, chopped (or about 1/2 cup of chopped roasted red peppers from a jar)
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 c. pitted Kalamata olives
1/2 c. crumbled feta
1/2 c. light extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbl. chopped oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

(I’m pretty sure you don’t need the instructions, but here they are.)  Mix the veggies and olives.  Whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, oregano, garlic and salt and pepper.  Pour over.  Best if chilled for a couple hours but you can eat it right away if you’re starving.

Take that, Cheerleader Tomatoes.

(Like would you totally, like, StumbleUpon! this post?  Thanks! You’re, like, the best! )

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Some days you open the fridge and realize the last time you saw a grocery store checkout was when Britney Spears had her own hair. On days like these, when there’s nothing in the house but a can of tuna, ketchup and an unrecognizable container of green (let’s toss that, shall we?), dinner on the table can be a daunting experience.

Fortunately, I’d picked up some romaine lettuce (local and organic, no less!  Aren’t you proud of me?) at the farmer’s market.  As long as you have lettuce, you have dinner.  Because salad dressings can be made so many different ways, you can almost pull one out of thin air.

My reconnaissance mission turned up the following:  garlic, olive oil, sherry vinegar and dijon mustard.  Dinner!

CARAMELIZED GARLIC DRESSING

4-5 cloves garlic, peeled
1/3 c. light olive oil
1 Tbsp. dijon
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
4 Tbsp. sherry vinegar
Pinch salt and pepper

Pour about 2 Tbsp. of the olive oil into a skillet and saute the garlic until caramelized and light brown.   Don’t let ‘em burn or they’ll turn bitter.  You already know that though.

When they’re browned, drop them into a blender, add the sherry vinegar, brown sugar and the mustard and puree.  Slowly drizzle in the olive oil from the pan, then add the remaining olive oil.   Blend until it comes together and thickly coats a spoon.    Toss in a pinch of salt and pepper.  Taste.  If you want it sweeter, add more sugar, more tart, try a bit more vinegar.  You get the idea.   I’ve made this with Splenda too and it’s still good.

Further digging turned up some leftover chicken, a few black olives and a hunk of Asiago.  Not bad.

Ta da! Dinner from thin air (almost.)

(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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