Dressing Edition

Hi friends,

I've found some yummy ways to dress salads living in the Middle East and wanted to share a few with you.

For Arabic salads just add some olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice and salt to taste

Or just lemon juice, sumak, chopped oninon and salt

Or for American Salads which really are our favorites:

Olive Garden Salad
2 purple onions, sliced
8 jumbo black olives, preferably pitted
6 banana peppers
3 tomatoes, sliced
Lettuce mix (Romaine, purple cabbage, julienned carrots)
Large homemade croutons

Olive Garden Dressing – in blender
½ c. mayonnaise
1/3 cup white or grape vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 tablespoons parmesan like cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
½ t Italian seasoning or oregano
½ t. parsley flakes or 1 tablespoon fresh.
1 tablespoon lemon juice.
Instructions:
Put ½ of lettuce in bowl, add half of toppings, add remaining lettuce and toppings, add dressing or leave on side and toss well.

And Sweet Mustard Dressing by my friend Cara Key and her Mom Deana Blackburn https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1235357455272471736&postID=4121038719760490996&page=1&token=1270138851027_AIe9_BF6z_UQgtkUn2ThkYTAQ7GiWvV0bMD577E9Zu-kNWjDAX09fjvcwYi0BfFSo7pVRpAxTpYWU7VSBQtJ1u9zjDqbYceaW28TiM2gW5iruHI0juUjGhksLuXC8iSWv0lhnrm5uz0psgTtT67Uq0bZIRalYFsYL1SIC-R6WjycS271Ij7grBSVVxYYZb1LeT1EEQ3WCU4HMG6uyu5bOpKo0WKopw0n8K64GSdiF4dyhsqcx8TUs8h7VHlS5vbQYOC8T9X9QESP

I substituted the sugar with 1/4 cup honey the last time I made this and really liked the results too!

1/2 onion
1 t salt
1 t celery seed
1 T vinegar
2 T mustard
1/2 C sugar

1 c oil

Whirl first group of ingredients in blender

Slowly add oil

Tip: do not add the oil all at once. It takes a very long time to blend, if you do. Ask me how I know.

Hint: this recipe can be made without the celery seed. It changes the taste, but it is still good.


(I'm sure I'll do more with salads as the weather turns warmer, but one of our favorite salad toppings is sardine cakes, which I've made for dinner tonight.

Robert's Sardine Cakes
2 cans of Sardines, washed
1 egg
parmesan cheese
bread crumbs, we like the spicy ones

Mix all of the above with your hands or a fork in a bowl then shape into "cakes" or "patties" Then put onto a heated pan and turn after a few minutes. Enjoy with a salad or dip.

Don't let the canned fish scare you. But enjoy the homemade dressings if that interests you.

Dinner's in the Crock Pot 3/28/2010

Hi friends and readers. I made something easy yesterday, I actually started it without 2 of the ingredients, then went shopping, bought 3 shirts and a basketful of grocheries from Safeway, added the canned corn, diced tomatoes and some tomato paste, stirred it and went out again to visit a friend at her hair salon with Janelle. I invited Janelle to dinner, then Robert suggested I invite Tim and Rebecca too, which they happily agreed to. Their new baby slept the entire time. This crock pot soup served all 5 of us with no leftovers. I also made a yummy salad.

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup from a new blog I found called Real Mom Kitchen
http://realmomkitchen.blogspot.com/2009/01/crock-pot-chicken-tortilla-soup.html

1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz size - southwest style, if possible)
1 packet enchilada sauce mix (or if you can't find this, mild taco seasoning works well too)
1 1/2 C water
1 can (8 oz)tomato sauce (1 spoon of tomato paste)
1 can ( 10 3/4 oz) cream of chicken soup (I used a packet)
2 C milk
3-4 boneless chicken breasts (I only used 2 chicken breasts)

In crock pot, mix the enchilada packet together with the water and tomato sauce. Add cream of chicken soup and milk and whisk together until smooth. Add chicken. Pour drained black beans, drained corn and diced tomatoes on top of that.Cook on low 6-8 hours.Before serving, take out chicken and shred or dice, then put back and stir it all together. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, lime, avocado, or tortilla chips. (I put out yogurt and chips, I was the only one that added yogurt)

Mexican Salad
1/2 head of Romaine
1 1/2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup of cilantro leaves
3/4 medium red onion, diced
juice from one lemon
teaspoon of salt

I topped my soup and salad with tortilla chips