Month of Macro: Caesar Salad

I love Caesar salads- they're so tasty: that perfect combination of crunchy croutons, salty cheese, leafy lettuce and delicious dressing totally hits the spot sometimes! So the other day, when I was craving a salad for lunch, I decided to try my hand at homemade Caesar salad dressing.

Unfortunately, anchovies gross me out, so I tried to find a recipe that didn't include them (though I realize that a real Caesar salad dressing would include a few of those slimy little things). Here's what I ended up using:

I started with a bulb of garlic (taking photos of a recipe with my macro lens sure was an interesting experience, btw).

Then I peeled 6 cloves...

And plopped them in my mini-food processor to mince them.

Once the garlic was minced, I added some grainy mustard...

White vinegar...

And mayonnaise.

Once everything was blended together...

I added olive oil (a bit at a time) and pulsed the processor until everything was mixed.

Finally, I added some salt and pepper to taste...

Before pouring it onto my salad and topping with croutons, Parmesan cheese shavings and more pepper!

This dressing was pretty good; however, it uses a lot of garlic! (If you're a wimp like me, you may want to cut back on the number of cloves that the recipe calls for below.) If you're up for an anchovy free dressing recipe, here it is:

Caesar Salad Dressing

Ingredients:
6 cloves garlic, mashed and minced
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon white Vinegar
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
Combine garlic, mustard, vinegar and two pinches of salt in a food processor and mix thoroughly. Add mayonnaise and blend together to form a thick base. In a small amounts, add olive oil through hole in lid, blending thoroughly throughout. Scrape dressing with spatula into a bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour dressing on top of romaine lettuce, topping with shaved Parmesan cheese and croutons. Finish with a dash of freshly-ground pepper.

So while I still have a bit of work to do to find the perfect Caesar salad dressing to fit my tastes (and no-anchovy preference), this option was a tasty experiment!

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!

CHOPPED!

I must admit: in the summer I tend to get spoiled with the variety of fresh, local vegetables available at the grocery store and I don't take advantage of the produce while it's available and cheap!

So this weekend, I rectified that by making a big bowl of Chopped Salad!

When I lived outside of Chicago, there was a local restaurant that made the best chopped salad. (My mom will vouch for me on this, because she loved going to Gullivers when she visited me and she almost always ordered the chopped salad!) And ever since that amazing place, I've loved chopped salads.

I think the chopped salad is a pretty incredible invention. Not only can it combine a huge variety of ingredients, but the small pieces ensure that every bite is delicious! And with all the incredible veggies available this time of year, I couldn't resist making one! So for my chopped salad, I grabbed some of my favorite vegetables from my fridge (along with the non-veggies: bacon and cheese).

After everything was washed (and the bacon was cooking) I got to chopping. This isn't necessarily the fastest meal to make, since it requires a lot of knife skills (which I don't posses), but the extra time spent at the cutting board is totally worth it!

After I was done peeling/chopping my various veggies, I had a bowl full of tasty 'bits.'

And with a quick stir, everything was incorporated!

So I served up a small bowl of veggies...

And topped it with bits of bacon and tiny cubes of cheese. (I know- a real chopped salad would have the bacon and cheese mixed into the salad... but since I wanted to veggies to keep in the fridge for another meal, I decided to add these 'extras' later.)

After the salad was ready to go, I turned my attention to the dressing. I've recently stumbled upon a great ration for my balsamic/honey vinaigrette (see photo below), and while it may not suit everyone's taste, I just love it! (I could also just be in love with the AWESOME fig balsamic vinegar I have... it's to die for!)

Since I'm old-school, I added all the vinaigrette ingredients to a canning jar and shook it until it was combined...

Before spooning it on top of my chopped salad.

And that my friends...

Is how you make the most delicious chopped salad!

(Looks good, right? I love that every bit can include so many different things!)

The only bad thing about chopped salads? They're gone way too quickly!

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!

Totally tomatoes!

Earlier this summer, I completed my first "solo" canning experience (under the helpful eye of my mom). And you know what? I really liked it!

So with tomatoes coming into season, my mom suggested I try my hand at another canning venture...

SALSA!!

I was pretty excited about the prospect... but unlike the last time, this canning experience would take place in my NYC kitchen. For those of you who have visited me, you know that my kitchen is "cozy" and "modest", both terms that brokers here use to make tiny kitchens sound nicer!

So after lots of phone calls home asking every possible question I could think of, not to mention a package from the midwest full of canning tools and a nice new canning pot, I was ready to make my salsa! 

So I gathered up my ingredients: tomatoes, salsa seasoning and vinegar!

Then I set up my canning stations. With very little counter space available, along with a mini-stove, I had to be pretty organized to ensure that I had the space and heat sources available for everything I needed.

I started by blanching the tomatoes. After 1 minute in boiling water...

I dropped them into a bowl of ice water.

This easy step makes the skin slide right off the tomato. Then I took that funny looking tool and dug the stem right out of the fruit before tossing it into my food processor.

I prefer salsa with a few lumps, so I chose to process some of the tomatoes while I diced the rest by hand.

I poured the 10 cups of tomatoes into my soup pot along with the salsa seasoning...

And a half cup of white vinegar before heating the mixture until it boiled.

While the salsa heated, I also boiled some canning jars and lids. Once the salsa was boiling I pulled a jar from the pot...

Placed a funnel in the mouth of the jar...

And ladled the piping hot salsa into the jar, taking care to leave about half an inch empty at the top.

Once I wiped the lip of the jar to ensure that there wasn't any tomato residue that might have prevented the sealing, I placed a lid on the rim and screwed on the ring to secure the lid.

When I had finished canning a double batch of the salsa I was very proud of two facts:

#1: All 10 pints of my salsa "popped" (which meant that they ALL sealed)

#2: I was able to take photos during my canning, which is a pretty fast and stressful process for a newbie canner like me

Oh- and to top it all off, the salsa tastes great! (We really like the Mrs. Wages seasoning brand in our family!)

So if you're ever interested in canning salsa, you should pick up a packet or two of Salsa Seasoning- it's delicious, and the canning recipe is included on the back of the package!

Thanks for stopping by and joining me in this little canning adventure- I hope you have a great weekend!

Soup + spuds

My mom makes the best soups!! 

I mean, they are really delicious! Unfortunately, I live pretty far away from her, so I don't often get to enjoy her soups these days.

So the other day, when I had a craving for one of her soups, I decided to make it myself. 

After a quick call to my mom, she shared her recipe for Cream of Potato Soup!

I really like this soup, and since I had plenty of room in my freezer I decided to double the recipe. (However, a single batch of the recipe still makes over 10 cups of soup!)

First, I peeled a ton of potatoes. Whenever I do this, I always think of those WWII movies where people pull "KP Duty" and sit for hours peeling buckets full o' spuds!

Then I poured the chicken broth into my soup pot (our preferred brand of broth for this soup is Swanson).

Once the potatoes were peeled, I chopped them into similar sized pieces and added them to the broth.

While the potatoes simmered, I sauteed some chopped onions in butter.

While the potatoes cooked, I organized the rest of the ingredients.

Most importantly was the milk. In order to thicken the soup, we mix flour into the milk.

It is important that the milk mixture be smooth, so instead of just dumping the flour into the milk, we mix a bit of the milk with the flour until it it smooth, and then we whisk that mixture into the milk. Are you still with me?

Once the potatoes were tender, I added the onions which had been sauteed in butter, along with the milk that had flour mixed in.

As the soup cooked more, I made sure to stir it frequently so it didn't burn.

Of course what is potato soup with a bit of salt and pepper?

So I ground a couple teaspoons of black pepper...

And added it to the soup. (This step is pretty important, as you'll see from my mom's recipe below!)

Believe it or not, that's all it took to make my mom's tasty Cream of Potato Soup!

If you'd like to try this recipe yourself, here it is:

Cream of Potato Soup
Recipe courtesy of my mom!!

Ingredients*:
3 ½ C Potatoes (or more)- cut into cubes
8 C Chicken Broth (Swanson)
½ C diced Onion
1 stick of butter
2 C milk
5 T flour
1 teaspoon black pepper
Salt to taste


Directions:
Peel and cut potatoes into small cubes and simmer in chicken broth until tender. Sauté onions in butter until translucent. Mix together milk and flour until there are no lumps. When potatoes are tender, add sautéed onions and butter and stir in milk and flour mixture. Soup will thicken. Add pepper starting with ½ tsp. and adding more to taste. (The pepper makes a huge difference, so don’t be a sissy!). Add salt to taste.

 *Note: I doubled this recipe in the blog post above!

Thanks for stopping by- and special thanks to my mom for the recipe! I hope you have a great day!!