Not The Week We Were Expecting

Greek Pasta Salad

Daddy-O is under the weather. I am mostly staying out of his way, letting him snooze. Lack of appetite is one of his symptoms. But then his medicine says "Take after breakfast and dinner." As on a full stomach. 

This recipe popped up on my computer yesterday and I had all the ingredients here. I thought it would make a nice light dinner. I mixed it up while he napped. I'm happy to say he ate this for dinner.

This recipe is the only greek recipe I've ever seen that didn't include olives. I don't like olives. I wonder if the recipe developer doesn't like them either. The only good thing I can say about olives is that it's easy to leave them out—or in this case, add them in. 

Because it doesn't have a lot of other vegetables that would need to be peeled and chopped, this salad is very simple to make. The star of this recipe is the dressing––it's really good and really easy, so keep it in mind if you want homemade greek dressing for a green salad later. 

GREEK PASTA SALAD

1 (16-oz) box penne pasta (or other short cut variety such as rotini or bowtie)

2/3 cup olive oil

juice of 1 lemon, about 1/4 cup

1/2 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons Cavendar's seasoning, or other greek seasoning

1 (6-oz) container of crumbled feta cheese

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup fresh basil slivers

Cook pasta. While it's cooking whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, mayonnaise and greek seasoning. When pasta is cooked, drain, rinse with cold water and pour into large bowl. Add dressing mixture, cheese, tomatoes and basil. Mix until combined. Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Will keep in refrigerator for 4-5 days.

When the mood strikes—or you have vegetables you need to use up– you can change this up by adding other vegetables. Red onion, artichoke hearts, red peppers, green peppers, cucumbers are all candidates. 

Or toss in some leftover cooked chicken  and make this a main dish. 

Note: Daddy-O got up this morning and made the coffee. That's a good sign!

 

Blue Cheese Dressing Two Ways

BLUE CHEESE DRESSING

At the lake last weekend I made Daddy-O a treat. He loves a wedge salad and often orders one when we go out to eat. It's not something I ever make at home. Of course, the best part about wedge salad is the blue cheese salad dressing. I have bought the bottled version a few times. They were barely acceptable. So this time I decided to find a recipe and make it.

There are a zillion recipes floating around out there in cyberspace. But I wanted an easy one. The recipe with the fewest ingredients. And mercy, this could not have been any more simple. And it far exceeded our expectations. Why on earth have I not been doing this for years? The leftover dressing made a good dip for celery sticks the next day.

BLUE CHEESE DRESSING

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
2-oz blue cheese crumbles (I used 1/2 of a 5-oz container)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
pinch fine sea salt
pinch ground black pepper
water, to thin it (optional)

Blend all ingredients until well combined. Use the back of the spoon to mash some of the blue cheese into the dressing. This consistency makes a good dip. For pouring onto a salad, thin with a little water.


Now...I am on a mission to lose some extra "pandemic pounds," so that rich, luscious dressing was not going on my salad. And glory be, SkinnyTaste has a "skinny" version on her website. I didn't have exactly what her recipe calls for, so I made do with what I had at the lake. Here is her recipe along with my substitutions. 

SKINNY BLUE CHEESE DRESSING

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
6-oz fat-free Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon light mayonnaise (I used regular)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (I used all lemon juice)
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste

Mix all until well blended.  I made my substitutions and just eyeballed the amounts to make a single serving.

Did this taste like the dressing Daddy-O ate? No. Was it good? Yes! He even said if he had not tasted his, he would have been perfectly happy with this one. I will be using both of these recipes from now on.

Heart Healthy Foods

I don't get home until 7:30 on Wednesday nights. That means I need a supper that can be table ready in a flash. Sometimes it's a slow cooker meal. Other times it just means leftovers. But last night it was salad. I turned a simple side salad recipe into a main dish salad and added a toasted slice of the artisan bread to the meal. Yum!

A salad was also a healthy choice. Several times this week on assorted news outlets, I saw reports about a new study on the ten foods that significantly affect your heart health—6 foods to include, 4 foods to avoid.

This was reported, on our local news and again on morning national news:

Just 10 foods —eating too much of them or too little — account for nearly half of all heart disease deaths in the U.S., researchers reported Tuesday.
If people ate less salt and meat and ate more nuts, fruits and vegetables, they could greatly lower their own risk of heart disease, the researchers at Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy found.

For the most part, we already know these are choices we should make, but the new study added weight to the importance of those choices. In your diet, include more (1) fruits, (2) vegetables, (3) tree nuts, (4) healthy oils, (5) omega-3 rich seafood and (6) whole grains. Avoid (1) salt, (2) sugar-sweetened beverages, (3) processed meats and (4) red meat.  

Hello...we are beef cattle producers here. Let me say that the television report did say that red meat was at the bottom of the harmful list. The least harmful of the "harmful" foods. Red meat does make some good nutritional contributions to our diets. And we know that research also shows some benefits from eating lean red meat.. So we will still include beef in our meals—but in smaller portions and certainly not every day.

If nothing else, this list of 10 foods is a reminder that what we eat affects our health. Some illnesses and health problems are simply beyond our control, but why not choose good foods if they might help us live healthier lives?

You see much of what I cook here at the farm. Our food choices could be worse, but there is certainly room for improvement in the "healthy" department. Last night, a big portion of dark leafy greens—one of the best vegetable choices—was on the menu. I loved this easy recipe.

To turn this salad into a dinner salad, I added feta cheese and sliced roasted chicken on top. The flavor combination was a winner. (A dinner winner. Ha! Sometimes I amuse myself.)

I mixed the dressing ahead of time. I had put two chicken breasts in the oven in the afternoon (sprinkle with rotisserie seasoning-bake at 350 for 1 hour, uncovered) and refrigerated it until dinner time. If you work all day, cook the chicken the night before. Or, use a rotisserie chicken from the store.

APPLE KALE SALAD

4 to 6 cups chopped kale, or assorted salad greens
1 large apple, diced (I used a Honey Crisp)

Dressing:
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoons honey

Put greens and diced apple in a large bowl. In a small bowl (I love to use a custard cup for this) mix the dressing ingredients until blended. Drizzle over the kale and apples. Toss to coat.

This made two large dinner salads. It would serve 4-6 as a side salad.

I will admit that when I see a salad recipe call for kale, I usually choose this baby blend that is more tender and is milder. If you are new to kale, this is a good place to start.

So Simple

 Everyday Salad Dressing

He took a couple of bites and said, "This is good." I told him what was in the dressing. He asked, "That's all?" Yep. That's all.

I found this recipe at judyschickens.org. When I saw the it, I was also in need of a new bottle. I also followed her lead and asked for this OXO bottle for Christmas. (I got the small one.) Sometimes the simple gifts are best.

This dressing is so simple, just right for a lightly dressed salad She advised NOT using balsamic vinegar here because it gets "syrupy." I'm taking her word for it. The change I would make? I would add a little more garlic pepper.  In fact, I'll add a bit more before we use it again.

The other big plus with this recipe is that she says "store at room temp" part. An olive oil based dressing gets solid when stored in the refrigerator. It takes quite some time for it to liquify again. I like being able to pick this up and use it without waiting and hour or so. If you are more comfortable with refrigeration, do it that way.

If you Google "Everyday Salad Dressing," you'll find an abundance of recipes. (I almost never figured out where I found this recipe in the first place.) Most are based on a 1 part vinegar/2 parts oil ratio. You can change up the seasoning to suit you. But for now, I'm sticking with this one.

EVERYDAY SALAD DRESSING

1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2  teaspoon McCormick’s Garlic Pepper* (I will add just a little more next time.)

Put ingredients in a jar with a tight lid. Shake until blended.


*I found McCormick's Garlic Pepper at my local store. That means it shouldn't be hard to find for you.


PS  Go visit Judy at http://judyschickens.org/  Fun things there!