Homemade Italian Dressing

*This is an update to my Pasta Salad with Homemade Italian Dressing.  I’ve noticed that it’s been showing up on Pinterest quite a bit and have been wondering if anyone has made – and liked! – it.  Care to comment?

Since the weather has been getting warmer and I’ve been trying a slightly more Paleo approach to my diet (more on that at a later date), we’ve been eating a lot more salads.   I have a couple other homemade dressing favorites – one for a basic vinaigrette, which I mix up depending on the type of vinegar and spices I use, and another for a Japanese ginger dressing.  Almost every time I make a batch, I think, This is my favorite!

Well, the other day I broke out this Italian dressing recipe and decided to give it another go.  This, my friends, is by far my favorite!  I suppose variety is the spice of life, but why mess with a good thing?  And if I can pare down my recipe collection, all the better!  This dressing is yummy on all types of salads and oh-so-versatile, since you can play around with the spices.

I looked at the original recipe again and went from there, staying pretty true to the basic ingredients, with a few minor changes.  I have loads of fresh oregano in my garden, so I opted for a small handful of leaves instead of the dried.  In addition to the black pepper I added a dash of red pepper flakes and since I don’t have any celery seed on hand I used celery salt.  Since I’ve been trying to nix sugar – even natural sweeteners *sniff sniff* – I decided to forego the sugar (or honey, which I prefer) and add a pinch of stevia, which added just the right amount of sweetness.  For the liquid I went with apple cider vinegar and rice vinegar in place of the water.  And please note that you should blend this to get everything nicely incorporated, rather than just mixing it together in a jar.  In fact, whenever you mix oil and vinegar or water, using a blender will better emulsify the mixture.  Just so it’s written out for you…

1T garlic salt
1T onion powder
2T ground oregano (or a small handful fresh)
1T parsley flakes
pinch stevia
1t sea salt
1/2t ground black pepper
dash red pepper flakes
1t dried basil leaves
¼t dried thyme flakes
dash celery salt
1/2c olive oil
1/4c cider vinegar
2T rice vinegar (or water)

For some reason, the dressing got really thick the second time I made this – maybe because I blended it longer?  In any case, I added a bit of water then.  But OMG, this is so good!  I could just eat it right out of the jar!

The other day we paired the dressing with one of our favorite salads, inspired by the side salad they serve at one of my hubby’s favorite steakhouse restaurants.  It’s so easy and so good!

Just dump half a bag of mixed greens into a 13×9″ pan (I find this works better than a bowl for getting a good ratio of ingredients).  Top with sliced cucumber and chopped tomato; sometimes I add alfalfa sprouts if I have them on hand and you could add carrots, onion, whatever.  Slice some hardboiled egg, crumble some cooked bacon, and toss that on top (I typically use four of each – four eggs and four slices of bacon – but you could add more if you want).  If you want to get really crazy, grate some cheddar cheese on top.  Voila!  A nice salad fit for a meal since you’ve got the protein and veggies all together.  If you keep some hardboiled eggs on hand it’s even easier and cooking the bacon in the toaster oven on some aluminum foil makes for hardly any clean up.

Pasta Salad with Homemade Italian Dressing

*May 2013: I wrote a little update on the Italian dressing.

We’re going camping tomorrow so I’ve been busy preparing the food and getting the fridge packed.  Phil asked me to make some pasta salad to take to work today, so I made a double batch so we’d have some to bring along.

The recipe was on an old favorite, passed on by a friend, and I hadn’t made it in a while.  It has very few ingredients but calls for bottled Italian dressing, which we don’t buy anymore.  So I decided to look for a recipe.  I, of course, put my own spin on one that I found and we were really happy with the way it turned out.  So now I’ve got pasta salad sitting in the fridge and an extra batch of dressing for fresh-lettuce-from-the-garden salad.

Pasta Salad
(freel free to double the recipe) 
1 box tri-color rotini (or any pasta you prefer)
1 big bunch of broccoli, cut into small pieces
1/2 container grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
1/2 block montery jack cheese, cubed
1 recipe Homemade Italian Dressing (recipe follows)

Cook the pasta according to the directions; leave slightly al dente.  Drain, rinse with cold water and drain again.  Stir in the broccoli, tomatoes and cheese.  Add half the dressing, stir to incorporate, and taste to see if it’s to your liking.  We don’t like our pasta salad dripping with dressing, but if you like yours a bit dressing-ier, continue to add more until it’s to your liking.

Homemade Italian Dressing
(based on the fresh fridge’s Homemade Italian Dressing Seasoning)
1T granulated garlic
1T onion powder
2T dried oregano (I used about 3 stalks dried oregano from my garden)
5 sprigs fresh parsley, stems removed
1T honey
1t sea salt
1t ground black pepper
dash red pepper flakes
5 large leaves fresh basil, cut into pieces
1/2t dried thyme (I used the dried stems from my garden)
1/4c rice wine vinegar &/or apple cider vinegar (I mixed the two)
1/2c olive oil

Blend everything in a blender and keep in a glass container in the fridge.

The original recipe calls for all dried herbs, but I used a combination of fresh and dried, depending on what I had on hand (mostly from the garden and farmers’ market).  I would love to try it with all fresh herbs – maybe even garlic cloves and some onion instead of the powders - and if you do so keep in mind that you need a greater quantity of fresh when a recipe calls for dried because the latter has a more concentrated flavor.  The flavor is wonderful!

Apple Chicken Salad

I know, I know… I can never follow a recipe! I used to make goodies every week for Phil to take to work, and one of his co-workers commented that I could never make plain brownies; I always had to jazz it up.  But actually, these days I’m usually jazzing it down! 

We got a couple whole chickens at the store this week, and I used some of the meat to make chicken salad for Phil.  We’re trying to get him off the processed lunch meats, and though I suggested chicken sandwiches, he’d rather have chicken salad (I guess mayo makes everything taste better). 

I clipped the original recipe ages ago, intending to make it because I loved the combination of ingredients.  However, since I didn’t have all the items on hand and didn’t feel like spending the money on it, I simplified it somewhat.  Here’s my version:

Apple Chicken Salad
Ingredients
1/4c mayo
1/4c plain yogurt
1T dijon mustard
splash of apple cider vinegar
2-3c cooked chicken, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 apple, peeled & chopped
fresh chopped parsley
sea salt, to taste
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Directions
Stir together first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl.  Add chicken, celery, apple, and parsley; toss gently to combine.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve immediately or refrigerate.

i blew it

i blew it, i blew it, i blew it. doing so well, having a treat here and there so i would be satisfied… and today i just couldn’t stop craving sugar. i think because i’ve been reading cookbooks. i’ve been desperate for low-cal dessert ideas, but of course all the good stuff isn’t low-cal! i was doing fine… but i think because i kept going over it in my head, i just got used to the idea and set myself up for failure.

i don’t even want to begin adding up all the calories. i had had a couple pieces of german chocolate, which brough me to about 1,300. i should have stopped there – i would have been fine, if not somewhat overindulgent. then i had to go and pack my brother’s lunch for tomorrow – i eyed the four no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies i had been saving for him, and popped ‘em one by one into my mouth.

that’s alright – i still had the chocolate cake left over from a couple days ago. i made a really yummy peanut butter topping (tastes like reeses – sooo good!), and while wrapping that up for him indulged in three pieces for myself! plus some peanut brittle, complements of my grandmother. it was supposed to be for philip, but he hasn’t been eating any – can’t let it go to waste!

debating whether or not to stay up all night and exercise. (pause) telling myself that as long as i start fresh tomorrow, not much damage is done. good thing i don’t own a scale! i know how fast i gain weight, so now i’m a might scared.

i know i tend to be an emotional eater – being by myself all the time and having to contend with negative thoughts and emotions can be a real bummer, and just making my mouth happy with yummy flavors momentarily fools my mind. ah, what fleeting pleasure.

on another note: i did have a couple yummy, healthy, snacks that i would like to share.  1 cup dannon light ‘n’ fit vanilla yogurt with a serving (1/3 cup?) of mandarin orange segments canned in juice, plus some chopped walnuts (a tablespoon or so). you could use different fruits, omit the nuts, whatever. i also made a waldorf-type salad with chopped cabbage, some more of that vanilla yogurt, chopped celery, chopped walnuts, and dried fruit bits.

for dinner last night i tried something different: polenta. i made a single serving, which consisted of mixing 1/4 cup of yellow cornmeal with about 3/4 cup cold water; bring that to a boil on the stove, stirring constantly. since i wanted a savory meal, i added some jane’s crazy (my favorite salt mix), paprika, and italian blend. after cooking for a few minutes, i spooned it into a bowl, topped with olive oil and grated parmesan cheese, and – voila! pretty good. oh! i also sauteed some spinach in some balsamic vinaigrette and put that in the bowl before spooning in the polenta. mighty tasty. it was suggested to have polenta for breakfast, topped with ricotta cheese and maple syrup – but i don’t think i like ricotta cheese by itself. the maple part sounds good, though. :)