BALSAMIC VINEGAR DRESSING

We were having friends over for dinner the other day. I had planned this fancy salad with pears, dried cherries, glazed pecans, and goat cheese. I originally planned on using store bought dressing to save some time, but after further pondering, I decided I should up my game and rock some homemade balsamic vinegar dressing. With a fancy salad bursting with all that flavor I couldn’t lame out for the dressing. This balsamic dressing was super delicious and was a crowd pleaser. It kept really well in the refrigerator too. I think using the immersion blender helped keep the oil from separating. Continue reading “BALSAMIC VINEGAR DRESSING”

GRILLED SUMMER SALAD w/ CREAMY FETA DRESSING

I’ve never been a big grill guy. In general, cooking on the grill never really appealed to me to much because I’m not a huge meat eater. Burgers, ribs, wings, they are all good, but definitely meals I’d prefer someone to prepare. With that, we never bought a grill. We were that family. The only people living the suburban dream without a backyard grill. But a few summers ago, my dad was upgrading his grill and I gave me his old one. Great, now I have a grill! I got it just when I started to cook mostly vegetarian meals at home though. Now what? I didn’t want to pass up a free grill, but how much grilled asparagus can a guy make?

Continue reading “GRILLED SUMMER SALAD w/ CREAMY FETA DRESSING”

Mango Avocado Taquitos Salad Bowl

2014_06_01Ellie loves mango and avocado. I thought for sure she’d love this. But unfortunately, she did not. I think the added lemon and lime juice was too much for her to enjoy it. We on the other hand liked these a lot! Perfect for a summer day.

I do think the taquitos would have been a little better if the avocado to mango ratio was 2:1 instead of 1:1. Aya loved them as is though. Just depends how much sweet flavor you want. The corn tortillas were a little tricky since I haven’t worked with them before. But after the first few I think I got the hang of it. The homemade lime vinaigrette was delicious for the salad portion too. I love fruit in food so that’s why I loved this so much. If you don’t like fruit in food, you won’t like this at all.

RECIPES:

Mango Avocado Taquitos Salad Bowl

Chopped Salad with Baked Tofu and Almond-Miso Dressing

2014_02_04

This salad was filling and very delicious! The dressing also has no oil which is an added plus. This makes a perfect lunch and I’ve made this twice already. It was a little labor intensive with all the chopping and baking the tofu, but I expected that going in. The dressing is so tasty the kids had 3 helping of salad when I made this for dinner too!

RECIPES:

Chopped Salad with Baked Tofu and Almond-Miso Dressing

Salad w/ Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette and Brie

Aya threw this together for dinner. If avocado, strawberries, and walnuts weren’t awesome enough, I think the baked brie put it over the edge. The homemade vinaigrette was great too.

RECIPES:

Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette