Monday, August 25, 2008

Lemon Salad Dressing

This a simple recipe that can be adapted to many different purposes. When I made it, I used some as a marinade for chicken that I later grilled. I served the chicken over a salad of romaine, tomatoes, red onions, and mushrooms, that I dressed with the same the lemon dressing.

The dressing, when used for salad or as a marinade, can be adapted - you can add fresh herbs, more garlic, the addition of blood orange juice (I love blood oranges and it would give the dressing great color) or whatever sounds good to you. I used regular lemons, but I think it would be even better with Meyer Lemons. If you've never tried a Meyer Lemon, you are really missing out - they are incredible. When I made the chicken, I added some Garlic and Herb Mrs. Dash to the chicken, for added oomph. It made a very nice dinner, when accompanied by garlic toast.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cup olive oil
1tsp sugar or honey (I used raw sugar, but usually I would use honey)
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Put juice and everything except for the oil in a containe. Mix well, then add the oil. Mix again. An old salad dressing bottle works well for this.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Toasty Cheese Sandwiches

I'm sorry about the big break between posts. I will try to be more consistent with my posts from now on.

This weekend, I wanted to make something good for lunch, for my children and myself. I had some chicken lunch meat, some left-over kaiser rolls from the previous nights turkey burgers, and some pre-shredded pizza cheese (a mixture of parmesan, provolone, and mozzarella). Typically I would use sliced cheese for sandwiches, but I didn't have that, so I decided to try a sort of melted cheese sandwich.

I took the rolls, cut them in half, buttered one side, then added a light layer of Dijon mustard. I sprinkled the pizza cheese over the half-buns, then set them on a cookie sheet, under the broiler.

In the meantime, I took the other kaiser halves and put a layer of mayonaise on them, then piled the chicken meat on top. When the cheese halves were nicely browned (mine were not as dark around the edges as they appear in the photo), I took them out of the oven and set them to the side for a moment.
Then, I put the two halves together and ta-da! Yummy sandwiches.