Creamy Italian Dressing

Transcription

1 Creamy Italian Dressing

2 I m slightly embarrassed to admit how much I ve been using this dressing since I made it last week. I ve been putting it on literally EVERYTHING. Gahhh! Sandwiches, pasta salads, spinach salads you name it! But it makes everything taste that much better, I promise. Truthfully, with summer approaching I was looking for a bomb pasta salad dressing. I love keeping a big bowl of veggie filled pasta salad in the refrigerator all summer long to have something healthy to eat in a pinch. I kept coming back to how much I really enjoyed the dressing at Olive Garden so I started searching for a knock-off, then tweaked it to fit ingredients that I liked (no vegetable oils, Italian seasoning packets, etc.) What I found so crazy about some of the knockoffs is they were suggesting using an Italian Seasoning Packet. Doesn t that kind of defeat the purpose of a homemade dressing? When I checked out the ingredients in Hidden Valley s Farmhouse Original Homestyle Italian packet guess what the FIRST ingredient was? SUGAR! Am I the only one who thinks something just doesn t add up about that?

3 Making your own seasoning is super easy and only requires about 2 minutes. Who knew, seriously!?! A few teaspoons of

4 this and that, whiz it together, and you re done. Simple, easy, and delicious! Not only is this dressing delicious as soon as you make it, it actually gets better and better the longer it sits. 2-3 days later the taste will change ever so slightly each day to give you a robust and classic Italian Dressing taste that you can use in a number of ways (believe me, more recipes to come using this dressing). I also noticed each day the amount of spice from the red pepper flakes died down, so if you aren t a fan of a touch of spice I would suggest making this a few days in advance to let it chill out before using it. Just a note this dressing does include 3 Tablespoons of mayo, which is kind of an issue because most store bought mayo contains a bunch of nasty, unnecessary ingredients. For a really long time I avoided mayo all together because I ve *heard* making your own is kind annoying and the results aren t exactly great. I was never a mayo fanatic, but in a recipe like this it is kind of crucial. Fortunately I found an organic brand that doesn t contain anything weird (no preservatives at all), and uses expeller pressed soybean oil. Being that I don t use mayo that often, I ll take it! If you are looking for a store bought mayo I would suggest looking for one that doesn t contain anything you can t pronounce, and uses and expeller-pressed oils, which aren t as highly refined as their counterparts. I just recently found this product (Wegman s Brand Organic Mayonnaise) and it was the first store bought mayo I have found that I was comfortable with buying. With that being said, Thank You Wegman s for making all my mayo dreams come true!

5 Chicken Minestrone Soup

6 Can I cold, until Santa just puuurrrty please dive head first into this pot on a sleeting/freezing rain/snowy day and hibernate there May? PLEASE?????? Ok, maybe that s what I ll be asking for this year! Confession: most of this soup never even made it to leftover land. It was supposed to, that was the plan. Tomorrow is my husband s Holiday work party and the kids need a dinner. A big pot of soup is perfect, I said. It will last until the end of the week, I said. This is totally the last bite, I said. Then I lost all self control and kept coming back for more. Where did my self control go again?

7 Oh that s right, my self control flew right out the window when I realized how delicious and nutritious this soup was.

8 One more bite because it contains veggies, and then another because Hello! Whole Grains are good for you! And then just one more for the spinach! And the tomatoes! And the ground chicken is lean! And come on, one more because it looks pretty! Ok, heck just dump the whole pot in my mouth, please. Then all of a sudden I m all like honey did you eat all the soup?

9 This soup all started when I was at Wegman s today and saw the organic ground chicken on sale. I kept thinking back to a few

10 years ago when I tried to use ground chicken for tacos and it was a complete disaster. We basically just threw a TON of cheese on top and gagged it down because it had a really odd texture and was just plain awful. I used to use ground turkey quite a bit, so I thought ground chicken would be similar but in truth it really isn t the same at all. Today was the first time since the taco debacle that I even considered purchasing ground chicken again and I m so glad I did! Sometimes I get so sick of using the same meats over and over again, so I thought heck, why not give it another go. I m a much, much better cook now and I was confident I could doctor it up to make something super yummy out of it. Immediately I thought SOUP, so I went with it. I was really surprised how awesome it turned out, so I just had to share for all those ground chicken doubters out there like myself. So what made it different then the awful tacos? Well 1) I wasn t using a seasoning packet that contains an array of random crap added because we just don t get down with Ortega like that anymore! Then 2) There are so many other flavors going on, and everything kind of blends together to create an overall great taste. Basically what I m saying is that I was totally wrong for all this time and I used to be a horrible cook! *I usually use my own chicken stock, but in a pinch today I found this organic free range Pacific stock that does not contain any added MSG/Yeast Extract. If you don t have any homemade stock on hand, I highly recommend checking out this product.

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12 Mini Meatball Stir fry

13 Meatball Stir Fry is this even legal? Why yes, yes it is and I believe they (whoever they are) like to call this Fusion Food. You know, taking two things and putting them together to create something so much better than the two things by themselves. Yeah, Fusion Food people. Let s all get on the Fusion Food Train! Truth be told, there is a restaurant by my house that I pass often called Fusion Fire. They have a bunch of creepy statues outside but I ve heard the food is good. Another truth be told, when you have kids you don t get to go out to eat unless you want to deal with someone peeing their pants at the table or knocking a drink over on the waitress. I kid, I kid, those things never happened but they could have if we were brave enough to take our kids out to eat in the first place. Maybe in about, I don t know, 10 years or so we will get to Fusion Fire, but for now I m doin it homemaker style and it is kind of awesome.

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15 Can I just point out the fact that meatballs are ugly. Like step-sister with a wart on her chin ugly. But come now, let s not get all judge-y and such. Let s forget about those warts and remember the truth. Meatballs are delish. And step-sisters with warts are people too! Now you may have taken notice I m using white rice. Yes, I m a person too (just like that steppy sis) and sometimes I bend the rules. Brown rice is not bleached but it just isn t the same. If I m eating a bunch of veggies with a few mini homemade meatballs then I m going to have my big mound of white rice and drops of soy sauce on top. You know, Fusion Food just isn t the same without the white rice, right? Precisely. If you are feeling like you can resist the sticky white rice and soy sauce drizzled on top, please do! Brown rice would also go lovely with this. And just because I used white rice once doesn t mean I m selling out and going all Dump Cake on everyone. Don t worry, the unbleached grains will be back tomorrow! No Dump Cakes, and no nasty breadcrumbs either. Believe it or not those canned breadcrumbs (Progresso, Kraft, etc.) all contain a slew of ridiculous ingredients that have nothing at all to do with bread. Not even remotely! Progresso s breadcrumbs contain 59 ingredient. Why??????????? Is all I have to say to that! Just so you can t say I didn t warn you. buy the organic whole wheat version or make your own using 2 slices of whole wheat bread toasted and processed in a food processor.

16 This is a two step recipe. Make the balls (oh the kitchen jokes that come about when people are making meatballs, especially in a room full of guys!), and then make the veggies and sauce. Of course you can throw your rice on at any time during this process as well. If you don t want your balls to be spicy, just omit the fennel and red pepper flakes. Veggie Stir Fry Ingredients: 1 tsp sesame oil or olive oil 1 bell pepper 1 cup sugar snap peas 1/2 cup corn kernels (I removed them from one of my nongmo sweet corn cobs that I got at the market.)

17 2 Tbsp reduced sodium tamari soy sauce 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar 1 Tbsp sweetener (I used molasses. You could also use honey.) 1/2 tsp garlic powder Directions: Heat large sauté pan with sesame or olive oil. Put veggies in pan, and cook over medium heat until veggies are beginning to get tender. Add tamari soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, sweetener of choice, and garlic powder. Mix everything well and allow to cook to desired tenderness (I like crunchy veggies). Cook rice according to package directions. When meatballs are finished toss in pan with the stir fry and love on some Fusion Food! Oven Fried Chicken I ll be the first to admit.. I LOVE fried chicken. Have you ever met anyone who doesn t though?

18 When I was younger, I remember my parents taking me to

19 Hardee s after church. Remember Hardee s? Apparently they are still around. Who knew?!?! I totally thought Wendy s would have taken them down by now. At that time (20 some years ago) everyone was lovin the fried chicken at Hardee s. You know, because it was the 90 s and people were snackin on SnackWells and Rice Cakes then having some fried chicken. Not exactly how you remember your childhood? That s probably a good thing! *face palm for SnackWells* I always got the same thing at Hardee s. If it was breakfast I would get the biscuits and sausage gravy, and if it was lunch I would get friend chicken. I know, I know, WHHHYYY!?!?! I was a kid though and had no idea this stuff was horrible. Now don t get me wrong, a piece of fried chicken every once in a while isn t going to kill anyone, but now-a-days I realize the oil they fry the chicken in is likely GMO and may even contain some preservatives and trans fats. Trans fats = deadly. Enough said!

20 Then one day a light-bulb went off above my head. How about I make my own chicken in the oven. It will be crispy, juicy, and

21 delicious. No deep-fryer, no GMO oils, no trans fats. Just chicken, butter, spices, and whole wheat flour. Yes, it is THAT easy. And yes, this is one of those times I wish I would have realized this sooner. For this Oven-Fried Chicken I first marinate the chicken in buttermilk, then pat it dry. After that I season the chicken GENEROUSLY with kosher/pink Himalayan salt, and pepper. I mix the spices together, season each piece, then dredge it in flour. I bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, then give each piece a nice rub of butter, to ensure the skin cooks up crispy and golden. How easy is that?

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23 Not only do I love this meal because it is extremely delicious, it is also really inexpensive to put together, as chicken leg quarters don t cost as much as breasts, or boneless chicken meat. I served this Oven Fried Chicken with a baked sweet potato and asparagus to add a ton of extra nutrition to this meal. Take a look.

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