Posts Tagged ‘salad’

I’m really excited about this little dinner Valentines Day dinner party I have been planning.  I’m trying not to go overboard with it but it is really hard!!  I have been trying to plan this meal so that I’m not in the kitchen the entire time which has not been that easy.  This week ya’ll are getting the salad and the invite, next week you will get another portion of the meal.  I don’t know what portion that is yet because I’m still planning this little shin dig. 

I found this glaze in my Reata cookbook and I have been dying to try it because it looked so amazing.  After whipping up a batch of it I have decided I’m pouring this over all meat and vegetable products until the end of time.  It is really that good.  If you swing by our store page you can buy the cookbook: Reata – Legendary Texas Cooking by Mike Micallef.  This is by far one of my all time favorite cook books.

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup dark corn syrup

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Pour all the ingredients in  a small pot and heat on the stove until the mixture is simmering.  Stirring occasionally.  You want the glaze to reduce down slightly so that it is nice and thick.  Wait until it coats the back of a spoon nicely.  Gently poor it over everything for a sweet and savory kick!!  Warm it back up to use again if you have extra.

Emily’s Sour Vinaigrette Dressing:

4 tbs olive oil

1 tbs balsalmic vinegar

1/4 tsp crushed garlic

pepper to taste

1 tsp chili powder

1tsp worcestershire sauce

Combine and whisk well.

Salad: (4 Servings)

Lettuce of your choice – enough for 4 people

1 chopped avocado

3 strips of pepper bacon cooked and crumbled

1 large tomato chopped

2 tbs olive oil

4 jalapenos diced and de-seeded

3 large shallots

1 tsp crushed garlic

1 tbs worcestershire sauce

1 lb medium sized shrimp peeled

Asiago Cheese for sprinkling

Saute the shrimp, garlic, worcestershire sauce, jalapenos and shallots in a pan with the olive oil.  While the shrimp is cooking chop and prep all the other ingredients.

Toss the vegetables and the bacon with the vinaigrette and plate.

I did a double dressing/glaze on this salad which gives this salad some complex flavors.  Next, I topped the salad with the sauteed shrimp, shallots, and jalapenos finishing with the glaze.  Sprinkle the salad with some Asiago cheese and TA DA!  You’re done!

For the party I will most likely leave out the shrimp to help keep it less filling but I will do the glaze!

I’m asking all of my guests to send me pictures of them as well as to tell me their wedding songs. I plan to have the pictures popping up on the TV the entire time and I want to add the wedding songs to my music play list for the evening.  This way there is a simple personal touch for each couple to enjoy.  I also plan to ask each couple to talk about the first time they met or how they got engaged.

I’ve had a few of my friends tell me that they’re hosting a meal this holiday season.  They all have small children and are frantic to find recipes that allow them flexibility.  No one enjoys spending the whole holiday slaving away at a meal that will probably take fifteen minutes to eat.  And if you have kids running around and relatives to please, that all just adds to the pressure.  I think it’s great that some mothers have begun to pass the baton to their daughters, but I completely understand the stress that these daughters are feeling.

So I decided to dedicate the next three weeks to a delicious meal that will please any crowd.  You guys know I’m big on themes, so naturally this meal will have one.  I know what your thinking…”um, isn’t Christmas enough of a theme?”  Well probably, but I always like to be annoying and take it one step further.  My theme or common ingredient will be the cranberry.  Shocker, right?!  Who would have ever guessed I’d make foods with cranberries for Christmas?  Whatever, it’s MY theme and I’m proud of it!

Today I bring you the beginning of your meal.  I make this salad all of the time because it’s my favorite.  Crunchy, sweet, and sticky.  It’s practically dessert for dinner.  I’m not going to give you actual measurements for the salad ingredients because it’s a salad.  You add as much or as little of each ingredient as you like.

Stay tuned because next week we will dive into the main course.  I’m going to show you the easiest and best freakin’ cranberry chicken recipe on the planet.  Well okay, maybe not the planet, but at least in Texas.  My mom has been making it as long as I can remember and we all still BEG for it every year!  Check back next Monday for the recipe and details!  Happy Holidays Y’all!!

Cranberry Walnut Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette

For the Salad:

baby leaf spinach
spring lettuce mix
walnuts (toast them up for a few minutes in a 200 degree oven if you want a deeper flavor)
dried cranberries
feta cheese
crumbled bacon (optional)

Champagne Vinaigrette
Adapted from Martha Stewart

1 small shallot
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch of freshly ground black pepper

In a blender, add the shallot, mustard, and vinegar. Blend until the shallot is chopped fine. While the blender is on low, slowly drizzle in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. The vinaigrette may be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

 Michael and I started a new workout video last night that is supposed to be totally awesome and life changing.  So when I got home I put on my new cute workout outfit to get ready for the life changing workout.  You all know what I’m talking about here because you totally do it too.  Before I start a new workout routine I have to go out and buy a new workout outfit or shoes or a sports bottle.  Just something pretty that is going to make me feel skinny and give me a renewed sense of wanting to sweat.  I usually put on this said outfit about an hour before I actually start to work out just to pump myself up about how awesome I look and that I don’t even need to work out because I look so hot in my cute new outfit holding my super cute new sports bottle.  Sometimes this goes on so long that I decide it is too late to work out and I’m totally starving and can’t work out while I’m starving but I also can’t work out when I’m full so I need to just eat dinner and I will just start tomorrow.  You have totally done this – I see through you!

This feeling of “look at how cute I am in my new little “outfit” lasted for a whole 3 minutes because by the 4th minute of my video my heart nearly exploded out of my chest.  I know I haven’t been working out a lot lately, or you know, at all but seriously I thought I was going to throw up about 4 minutes into this video.  The jumping and the running and the jumping and the push ups and the jumping had my head spinning.  When this torture was finally over  (a whole 30 minutes later)  I was on my back huffing and puffing trying not to black out.  The sad thing is that I actually only did 15 minutes of working out because with this video you do one thing for a solid minute and then you rest for a solid minute.  People – I only worked out for 15 minutes….  How is it that I feel like I might die.  Only 3 short months ago I ran a half marathon and didn’t stop running the whole time.  How did this happen?!!  I’m starting to think that chocolate chip/peanut butter cookie I had for an afternoon snack was so not worth it.  I’m pretty sure I didn’t even burn it off….

I promise I have a point with all of this and the point is food!  I have decided (for like the 20th time in my life) that I’m going to get back to cooking healthy.  I’m making a serious effort to cook with really good ingredients and I’m going to actually pay attention to my portion sizes.  So be prepared for my next few posts to be on the healthier side of things.  Let’s see how long I can keep this up!!  I also plan to invent new food labels that I’m going to force the government to add to products from now on.  These labels are going to have workouts instead of calories on the back.  If that stupid cookie had said run: 3.5 miles per serving instead of calories: 375 per serving I would never eat a cookie again.  Hello!  Genius!

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat couscous

3 chicken breasts

the juice of one whole lemon

pepper to taste

1 tbs olive oil

1 cucumber cut into small cubes

1 cup Arugula

2 cups of your favorite lettuce

2 roma tomatoes

1/4 cup feta cheese

Dressing

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp paprika

6 tbs olive oil

juice of 1 large lemon

2 tsp minced garlic

1/3 cup chopped basil

1/3 cup diced red onion

1/3 cup white wine

Clean and marinate the chicken in the juice of one lemon and some pepper.  The chicken only needs to sit for about 30 minutes so make sure you start marinating the chicken first.  By the time your are done prepping everything else the chicken should be ready to go.  Heat 1 tbs of olive oil in a large skillet and cook the chicken thoroughly.  Allow the chicken to cool to the touch and then chop into bite sized pieces and place them in a large bowl.  Chop the tomatoes, and the cucumber, shred the arugula and mixed greens and add them to the same bowl.  Add the feta cheese and then begin to cook the couscous.  Follow the package directions for 1 cup of couscous.  I always use chicken stock instead of water because it helps with the flavor but this is up to you.  When the couscous is finished cooking allow it to cool fully before adding it to the bowl.  If you add it to quickly it will wilt the lettuce.

Dressing:

Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk well. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix to combine.

Wedge salads were all the rage in restaurants a while back.  Okay, sorry, that just sounds kind of stupid.  “All the rage.”  Like people were just flying out of their houses and running to local restaurants to get their hands on a wedge salad.  Riots breaking out and everything.  Crazy times, people, crazy times!  So, yeah, while they may have not been all the rage, people were like really digging these types of salads.  Iceberg lettuce doesn’t have a whole lot of taste, but it has massive crunch appeal and completely rocks covered in blue cheese.  I think my dad was the most excited when these salads came back in style.  He loves iceberg lettuce and doesn’t quite understand (or care) that it has like no nutritional value.  But, he also calls the refrigerator an ice box, so we’re used to his crazy ways!  I love my dad.  He makes me smile and is always the life of the party.  Someday I’ll tell you all about him having a pet deer when he was little.  Just kidding, that is a family joke that like no one reading this will understand, but I’m sure all of my readers have clicked away already anyway because I am rambling like a crazy woman.  I know, just get on with the freakin’ recipe already!  Okay, okay. 

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If you’ve missed the previous chocolate dinner posts, click the icon in the left sidebar to see them all.

I love balsamic vinegar.  I love to dredge a slice of rustic bread in it, reduce it down and drizzle it over tomatoes or turn it into a great salad dressing.  I can’t say I’ve ever mixed it with melted chocolate, but the result was delicious.  It was definitely the perfect topping to this crunchy, sweet salad.  The colors in the salad are beautiful and it will be a great way to start the chocolate feast!

This recipe calls for caster sugar.  If you’re not familiar with caster sugar, it’s a very fine granulated sugar.  It should not be confused with powdered sugar though, which is  even finer still.  Caster sugar can be a little hard to find (or at least it was for me), so a quick way around this is to take your regular granulated sugar and grind it up in a coffee grinder or food processor.  You’re dissolving the sugar into the vinegar, so it needs to be a fine grain.

The dressing for this salad is a bit sweet, so use it sparingly by adding a drizzle to the top of your salad.  And if you find yourself dipping strawberries into the leftover dressing I won’t blame you at all!!

Strawberry Salad with Chocolate Balsamic Dressing

spinach or arugula leaves
cucumber
sliced strawberries
feta cheese
walnut or pecan halves
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup (25g or two squares) dark chocolate, 75% pure

Divide the greens between the plates.  Slice the cucumber length-ways, seed, and slice it into half-moons.  Arrange the cucumber, sliced strawberries, and feta cheese over the greens.  Drizzle dressing on top.

To make the dressing:  place balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan, add the sugar, and dissolve it over a gentle heat.  Remove pan from heat and stir in chocolate.  Leave to cool at room temperature.  Do not refrigerate or dressing will solidify.