Summer salads need Chive Bacon Ranch Dressing This is the season of abundance if you're a gardener. Vegetables of all kinds are ready to harvest. For us, that means a lot of preserving - canning, freezing, dehydrating. It also means mean eating of course. Some of our favorite things to grow are perfect for salads. Salads need dressing, like this Chive Bacon Ranch dressing. I'm all about whipping up a quick vinaigrette a few times a week. Summer or winter, you can't go wrong with that. ... Read More about Chive Bacon Ranch Dressing
Dressings and Vinaigrettes
Warm Green Bean Tomato Salad
Warm Green Bean Tomato Salad is good at any temperature We get this idea that every salad has to be ice cold. I think this Warm Green Bean Tomato Salad demonstrates that is not 100% true. Don't get me wrong, now. This salad is actually very good chilled. But it is equally good right off the stove, or at room temperature. And having a salad that stays tasty and fresh without refrigeration is a great thing in the summertime. Warm or room-temperature salads are safer in the summer There are ... Read More about Warm Green Bean Tomato Salad
Chive Lemon Vinaigrette
Chive Lemon Vinaigrette is the perfect seasonal bridge In May we begin to see our chive plants really come into their own. We can still get plenty of nice citrus. So the combo of flavors in Lemon Chive Vinaigrette makes a lot of sense. And nearly anyone has the space to grow some chives. Chives are easy to grow Chives aren't the easiest plant to get started though. The seeds are super tiny and they take a long time to time germinate. You might give up on them entirely before they even get ... Read More about Chive Lemon Vinaigrette
Creamy Feta Cheese Salad Dressing
Creamy Feta Cheese Salad Dressing makes any salad special It's snowing right now, as I am writing this post - kind of a nasty surprise for more than halfway through March. But that's Upstate NY for you - spring is sneaky, and waiting in the wings sometimes. That's why a fresh, crisp salad is welcome. And why this Creamy Feta Cheese Salad dressing is especially welcome. We prefer to eat seasonally, but I'm not giving up salad, no matter what time of year it is. I love more seasonal salads ... Read More about Creamy Feta Cheese Salad Dressing
Caramelized Broccoli with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette
Caramelized Broccoli with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette is a mouthful! And a pretty delicious mouthful at that. This is a tried and tested method of preparing vegetables that our family has enjoyed for years. Caramelized Broccoli with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette is a two-part recipe. First, you make the Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette, and then you make the Caramelized Broccoli. Both parts of this dish are useful in other meals and recipes, and we will be getting to that. Fresh broccoli is ... Read More about Caramelized Broccoli with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette
Basil Pesto
Classic Pesto or Basil Pesto? This could be called "Classic Pesto". I'm pretty sure Basil Pesto is the classic combination of ingredients to make this bright and delicious addition to your repertoire of sauces. If your garden is anything like mine, basil is abundant this time of year. I pinch off my basil plants throughout the summer, using the leaves in salads and veggies and pasta dishes. It's prime basil time right now So now, I have some beautiful, compact plants with lots of bright ... Read More about Basil Pesto
Fresh Tomato Vinaigrette
You will love the flavor in this Fresh Tomato Vinaigrette! As I've mentioned in a few recent posts, we've not had the best gardening summer. Regardless, we have plenty of veggies making their way into the house still. It makes for busy days, getting everything preserved for the winter, so that nothing goes to waste. This Fresh Tomato Vinaigrette is the result of a few extra tomatoes lying on the kitchen counter at dinner time. It just makes sense - a vinaigrette is mainly an ... Read More about Fresh Tomato Vinaigrette
Garlic Scape Chimichurri Sauce
The best topping for any steak! We grow a LOT of garlic. We eat a lot of it and sell some, plus it's good for the chickens. That does give us a LOT of Garlic Scapes to deal with though. Garlic scapes are the flower of a garlic plant, and leaving them in place robs the garlic bulb of growth. The plant will put more energy into maturing a flower, which will eventually fling seeds around - nature's way of growing more garlic. Our way is to separate the cloves and plant them, but nature takes a ... Read More about Garlic Scape Chimichurri Sauce
Grilled Romaine Salad
Grilled Romaine? I have to admit that I didn't think up grilled salads all on my own. There are many versions out there, some more complicated, and many using different ingredients. I like to keep this to the most basic elements - fresh, crisp romaine, a flavorful vinaigrette and some salty cheese. Perhaps you haven't yet run across this idea yet, in which case, you might be thinking that I have lost my mind, but rest assured - grilling lettuce is not crazy! When you begin with a nice crispy ... Read More about Grilled Romaine Salad