Wedge Salad with Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing

My new favorite salad!

The salad is very easy to make and the blue cheese dressing is out of this world good.  In fact, I loved it so much I went out the next day and got the ingredients to make it again.  It’s that good.  Honestly, I will never buy blue cheese dressing again.

I cut down the whole recipe to make 2 servings and I wish I had made the whole dressing recipe.  I won’t make that mistake again.

Wedge Salad with Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing

Blue Cheese Dressing:
1/2 pound crumbled blue cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
ground black pepper to taste

Salad:
1 head iceberg lettuce, cut into 8 wedges
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 pound crumbled blue cheese

To make the dressing: combine 1/2 pound blue cheese, sour cream, buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar, olive oil, sugar, garlic, and pepper in a bowl; blend using a hand mixer; chill until serving. Make sure the garlic is really minced (I used a press) so you don’t bite into a piece of garlic.

To make the salad: place 1 lettuce wedge on each of 8 plates. Drizzle equal amounts of dressing over each wedge. Scatter tomatoes, onion, and 1/2 pound blue cheese over each salad. I did not use the onion because I didn’t think it really went with the salad or extra blue cheese because it’s cheesey enough.

Source: Allrecipes

Happy Cooking!

Spring Salad with Parsley Vinaigrette

It has been so cold this winter that we haven’t even been to the dog park except for a handful of times.  I really needed some Spring the other day so I found this salad recipe, tried it, loved it!

I was a little afraid of the vinaigrette but I was pleasantly surprised.  it was bright and delicious and easy to make!  I left out the almonds because they aren’t my favorite.  Even Mr. Meat Eater ate two helpings!

Spring Salad with Parsley Vinaigrette

Parsley Vinaigrette

1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsps sugar
2 tbsps white vinegar
1 tbsp chopped fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley
1/2 tsp salt
dash black pepper
dash Tabasco

Salad

1/2 head Boston lettuce, torn into pieces
1/2 head red leaf lettuce, torn into pieces
1 quart fresh strawberries, cleaned and sliced
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 (11 oz) can mandarin oranges, drained

To make the vinaigrette, combine all the ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake to combine all the ingredients.

To make the salad, toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the vinaigrette and toss to coat all the ingredients.

Source:  Simply Sarasota

Happy Cooking!

Barefoot Contessa’s Potato Salad

Super Bowl post #5!

Every Super Bowl feast needs some side dishes and this salad is perfect.  It’s easy to make and tastes wonderful.  I love my Mom’s potato salad but this one is just different enough and we really love it.  It does not make a huge amount so double it if you need to.  I would not double the dressing ~ I used 3# of potatoes and had some leftover.  There is probably enough for 5# of potatoes.

I saw Ina make this on her show and I cooked the potatoes like she did which is different than I usually do.  I put the smallish Yukon Gold potatoes in the pot without cutting them up.  I poured cold water over the top  and boiled them, covered, for 20 minutes until just cooked through.  I drained in a colander and then put the potatoes (still in the colander) back in the pan and covered it with a tea towel and let them steam for 20 minutes.  Perfectly cooked!

Barefoot Contessa’s Potato Salad

3 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tbsps Dijon mustard
2 tbsps whole-grain mustard
1/2 cup chopped dill
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped red onion

Cook the potatoes as I explained above or use your own way of cooking potatoes for potato salad.

While the potatoes are cooking, in a small bowl, whisk the mayo, buttermilk, both mustards, dill, and pepper together until combined. Set aside.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them in chunks into a large bowl. Pour enough dressing over to coat. Add celery and red onion and mix.

Cover and refrigerate for several hours for flavors to blend.  Check for salt and pepper before serving.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Source: Barefoot Contessa’s Potato Salad

Happy Cooking!

Greek Salad

I have posted about this recipe before but I love this recipe so much that I think it’s worth repeating.  I make this salad at least once every couple of weeks, it’s that delicious and easy to make.  I think it’s one of my very favorite recipes!

I do a couple of things differently ~ I never add the green pepper because I am not really a fan of raw green pepper and I usually use regular black olives because kalamata olives are very expensive here.    After making it so many times, I now use  grape tomatoes.  Sometimes I cut them in half and sometimes I don’t but they taste much better in the off season than regular tomatoes.  I also use regular cucumbers if I can’t find English cucumbers. The dressing always looks like it won’t be enough but it  is.

Greek Salad

Dressing:
6 tbsps olive oil
1 1/2 tbsps fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp oregano ~ Mediterranean if you have it

Salad:
1 head lettuce or about 1 1/2 bags lettuce
3 plum tomatoes or 1/2 carton grape tomatoes, chopped
1 English or regular cucumber, chopped
1 medium red onion, cut into rings and soaked in ice water for a few minutes to help make it less sharp
1 small green pepper, cut into rings
3/4 cup kalamata olives
3/4 cup feta cheese

Blend dressing ingredients together until well mixed. I put all the ingredients in a jar and shake until blended.

Mix all salad ingredients, except cheese, in a salad bowl. Add drained onions after patting them dry with paper towels.

Toss the salad with the dressing and sprinkle cheese over the top.

Serve.

Makes 6 servings.

Source:  Food.com posted by evelyn/athens

Happy Cooking!

Strawberry Sour Cream Jello Salad

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I love jello.  It’s weird, I know, but I crave the stuff.  At one of my daughter’s bridal showers, this salad was on the table and I was in heaven.  I didn’t get the recipe right them so I searched around until I found it.

It’s easy to make but takes a little planning.  I made it with sugar-free jello and less fat sour cream so it was not full of sugar and fat.  Mr. Meat Eater loved it, too, and I think it would be great for picnics or BBQs.

Strawberry Sour Cream Jello Salad

1 large box strawberry jello ~ I used sugar-free
1 small box strawberry jello ~ I used sugar-free
2 cups boiling water
2 (10 oz) boxes frozen strawberries ~ I used berries in light syrup
1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple
1 (16 oz) container sour cream ~ I used less fat

Mix boiling water with jello in a large bowl. Add strawberries (Frozen is fine) and pineapple ~ all the juices from the fruit go in too.

Pour half this mixture in a 13×9 pan and leave the other half in the bowl. Put both in the refrigerator. When the bottom layer has jelled, spread sour cream over it. Pour thickened jello from the bowl carefully over the sour cream.

Chill until the all the jello is firm.

Makes 8-10 servings

Happy Cooking!

Creamy Orange Fruit Salad

I love fruit salad of any kind but in the winter it can be hard (and expensive) to find enough fresh fruit for a nice salad.  I like this recipe because it uses canned fruit and bananas and apples which I can get all year round.

This salad is very easy to make and it makes quite a bit and keeps for a few days in the refrigerator or until the bananas start to turn brown.  When I made it, I had lots of creamy part and actually did not use all of it so I think it would be safe to say that doubling up on your favorite fruits would be fine but don’t be surprised if you have too much creamy part.

The recipe came from Allrecipes.

Creamy Orange Fruit Salad

VIEW PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE!

1 (20 oz) can pineapple tidbits, drained
1 (16 oz) can peach slices, drained
1 (11 oz) can mandarin oranges, drained
2 bananas, sliced
1 apple, chopped
1 small box instant vanilla pudding (I used sugar free)
1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup orange juice concentrate, defrosted
3/4 cup sour cream

In a large bowl, combine the fruits and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat pudding mix, milk and orange juice concentrate for 2 minutes. Add sour cream and mix well.

Spoon mixture over the fruit and toss gently making sure all the fruit is coated.

Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

Makes 8-10 servings

Happy Cooking!

Warm Mushroom Salad and Some Blog Housekeeping

Something else that I want to do this year is to make an index tab at the top of the page to make it easier to see what all is here.  That will take a bit of time so maybe in the next couple of months that will get done.

The printing issue continues to vex me so I found a neat little site that will take a page from here and put it into a printable form.  You will have to copy the URL of the page you are trying to copy, then go to Print Friendly, paste the URL in the bar and hit print preview.  From that page you can print, put it in a PDF, or email it.  It works, I’ve tried it.  I’ll be adding the button to my sidebar here shortly.  That’s about the best I can do until wordpress puts in a printer friendly function.

Now, the recipe.  This salad is the BOMB!!  I love mushrooms ~ I mean I REALLY love mushrooms.  I was in mushroom heaven eating this.  It’s super easy to make and I can’t see any reason why you can’t just use whatever mushrooms you like.

Remember I said I was going to cook from my cookbooks more?  This recipe is adapted  from one of my newer cookbooks ~ More Recipes Worth Sharing by Favorite Recipes Press.  Really delicious recipes in this book and well worth buying!

Warm Mushroom Salad

2 tbsps olive oil
2 shallots, sliced thinly
8 ozs white mushrooms, sliced
4 ozs shiiitake mushrooms, sliced
4 ozs baby bella mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsps olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
6 cups salad greens
2 tbsps olive oil
2 tsps balsamic vinegar
4 ozs crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

Heat 2 tbsps olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and saute until shallots begin to caramelize. Add all the mushrooms, 2 tbsps olive oil, sand salt and pepper and continue to saute until the mushrooms are tender. Stir in the 1 tbsp balsamic.

Toss the salad greens with 2 tbsps olive oil and 2 tsps balsamic and season with salt and pepper if desired. Arrange the salad greens on a platter and spoon the warm mushrooms mixture over the greens. Sprinkle the Gorgonzola over the top.

Serve warm.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Happy Cooking!

Holiday Salad

My daughter served this salad on Thanksgiving and it was sooooo good.  I know the bowl looks really messy and I’ll take the blame for being a messy salad tosser.  The recipe called for a raspberry vinaigrette and I couldn’t find just a plain raspberry vinaigrette so I used a raspberry-pomegranate vinaigrette and it was superb as well as being fairly healthy.  This salad is chock-full of yummy ingredients and the color just makes it perfect for the holidays.   The recipe came from allrecipes originally.

Holiday  Salad

1 (10 ounce) package Italian-blend salad greens
1 (5 ounce) package spring mix salad greens
1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
1 medium red apple, cored and chopped
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 (8 ounce) bottle raspberry vinaigrette ~ I used about 1/4 to 1/3 of the bottle

In a large salad bowl, toss all of the ingredients except the dressing.

Just before serving, drizzle with vinaigrette and toss.

Makes 10-12 servings.

Happy Cooking!

Quinoa Salad

This recipe is so easy and delicious and it would be perfect for a potluck or a party because it makes a big salad.  I left out the red bell peppers because I’m not a fan of them raw and I made a few other adjustments.  The vinaigrette is perfect for the salad.  I was a little leary of the maple syrup but it works.  You can always use your favorite vinaigrette or even a bottled one.

I found both recipes on food.com/formerly Recipezaar posted by magpie diner.

Quinoa Salad

Salad:
1/2 cup peas, fresh or frozen (I used frozen and did not cook them)
3 cups cooked quinoa
1 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup cucumber, diced (I used 1/2 of a cucumber)
3 tbsps chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp sea salt

Dressing:
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sea salt
black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 tbsps real maple syrup, do not use pancake topping only real maple syrup
5 tbsps olive oil

In a large bowl, combine all of the salad ingredients and toss to combine. If serving immediately, add about 1/2 cup dressing and serve. If not serving immediately, put salad and dressing in refrigerator separately and add the dressing just before serving. The quinoa will soak up quite a bit of dressing so you may need to keep adding a bit.

Dressing:
Using a stick blender or a small food processor, mix everything except for the oil. With blender running, slowly add the oil in a steady stream.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Happy Cooking!

Deely’s Seafood Salad and New Directions

Well, it looks like meal planning is the most asked for feature so that’s the direction I will take.  I am working on some meal planning tips, how I meal plan, etc., so look for those in the near future.  I will try to incorporate some of the other things asked for as well.

I also thought that I would start posting about making everyday foods like bagels, tortillas, pitas, and my success or failure at it. I am also trying to go more towards fresh foods but there are some things that I’ll never stop using so I am going to try to find healthier alternatives.  I hope you all will stick with me!

Any other ideas, please shoot them my way!

We had a BBQ for DH’s co-workers and some family friends a couple of weekends ago and one of the salads I made was this very delicious seafood salad.    Deely from Food.com (formerly Recipezaar) suggested it to me and it was a HUGE hit at the BBQ.  I took her advice and used fresh shrimp and crab and I would suggest that you do the same.  It’s a very easy salad to make and I know that I’ll be making it over and over.

Deely’s Shrimp and Crab Pasta Salad

Deely’s Shrimp and Crab Pasta Salad

2 (6 ounce) cans shrimp (drained) or 1 cup fresh shrimp, chopped (I used medium size)
1 (6 ounce) cans crab (drained) or 1 cup fresh crab, picked through
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 (8 ounce) cans sliced water chestnuts (drained)
3 cups pasta shells uncooked (cooked)
1/2 cup onions chopped
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
salt and pepper

Mix seafood and lemon juice and then combine all ingredients.

Refrigerate over night.

Makes 8-10 servings.

Happy Cooking!