Balsamic Mustard Dressing

I made salad dressing the other night.  I totally made it up too.  It's a nice and tart vinaigrette that still has some texture to it, so it doesn't run off of your lettuce... never to be seen again.

I hate it when that happens.

The recipe was inspired by looking in the refrigerator.  I wanted something simple and I thought that the mix of balsamic vinegar and mustard would work well together.

Balsamic Mustard Dressing:

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 large teaspoon grainy dijon mustard
Pinch of salt and pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Add everything to a container with a tight fitting lid (I used a mason jar) and shake it like a Polaroid picture.  Store in the refrigerator for a week or so.

Citrus Cranberry Sauce

It's the time of the year for cranberry sauce.  I love it and I tend to stock up on the fresh berries when they go on sale and then I pop them in the freezer to keep until I need them.

Citrus Cranberry Sauce:

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 bag cranberries
1/2 cup dried cranberries
juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon

In a sauce pan bring the sugar, lemon zest, and water to boil.  Add the fresh and dried cranberries and citrus juices to the pan.  Bring back to a boil then reduce the heat to medium and let cook for about 10 minutes.

Turn the heat off and let everything come back to room temperature then refrigerate until ready to serve.

Basic Pizza Sauce

Since pizza night is pretty common in our house we go through a lot of pizza sauce.  I have my homemade pizza dough recipe down but I really hadn't tried to make pizza sauce.  I just happened to have a couple of cans of tomatoes in my panty and decided to try this recipe out while my dough was rising.

Pizza Sauce:
(adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook)

1/4 cup olive oil
2- 28 ounce cans of whole, peeled tomatoes
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
salt
pepper

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and garlic, cook for a minute.  Crush the tomatoes over the pan.  Add the Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Cook over medium-low heat for 40-50 minutes, breaking up the tomatoes as it cooks.

Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Red Wine Sauce

I tried a new recipe tonight!!  (YAY me!)  I found the recipe online on the Cooking Light webpage and I will definitely be making this again.  It took almost no time and only used 5 ingredients.

Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Red Wine Sauce:
(Cooking Light)

4 (4-ounce) beef tenderloin steaks, trimmed (about 1/2 inch thick)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
1 package baby portobello mushrooms (sliced or just cut in half)
1 cup dry red wine
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary

Directions:
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper; coat with cooking spray. Add steaks to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Transfer steaks to a serving platter; keep warm.

Add mushrooms to pan. Coat mushrooms with cooking spray; sauté 3 minutes or until browned. Stir in wine, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook until liquid almost evaporates. Remove pan from heat; add butter and rosemary, stirring until butter melts. Pour sauce over steaks.

Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

This is the sauce that was served with the chipotle steak with gorgonzola cream sauce.  I wanted to go ahead and post it in another section alone so that it was easy to find.

Gorgonzola Cream Sauce:
(Queen of Points)

1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
2/3 cup 2% milk
1 oz. (1/4 cup) gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
1 teaspoon unsalted butter


Directions:

Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and saute for a minute. Add the garlic and saute for another minute. Add the flour and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add the milk and bring to a low boil.

Cook until reduced by half. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese and butter. Keep warm, but don’t let it boil.

Buffalo Yogurt Dressing

It's been like 900 degrees outside thanks to those pesky hurricanes in the Atlantic. I was not in the mood to cook a giant dinner on Sunday night so we opted for a salad. I threw some veggies in a bowl, broiled some chicken breast, and topped it with this great salad dressing.

Buffalo Yogurt Dressing:
(Clean Eating Magazine: March 2011)

1/2 cup Greek yogurt
3 tablespoons Buffalo Sauce
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 onion
Salt
Pepper

Chop the onion some so it'll blend easier.  Place everything in a blender. Mix unto it's a smooth consistency.















Serve on top of your salad!

Tzatziki Sauce

We had our own meatless Thursday the other night.   I made a friend's buffalo chick pea patties for dinner.  We served them flatbread with some tzatziki sauce on top.  It was a great dinner and it never hurts to go out of the box once in a while.

Tzatziki sauce is wonderful.  It's nice and cool and is pretty light.  It also helps with with my new love affair with greek yogurt.

Tzatziki Sauce:
(Chobani)

Ingredients:
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, shredded, and squeezed dry in a kitchen towel
2 cups Plain 0% Greek Yogurt
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh or 1 tsp dried oregano

Mix all ingredients together in bowl.  Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or overnight.

Cilantro Yogurt Sauce

We made fish tacos for supper the other night.  I love fish tacos but I tend to get in a rut with them.  I got a container of greek yogurt and was trying to find a use for it.  I decided to make a taco sauce with it.

Cilantro Yogurt Sauce:(inspired by Chobani)

1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon chipotle sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped finely
1 tablespoon lime juice

Mix everything together in a bowl and let cool in the fridge for at least 10 minutes.

Strawberry Sauce

It's strawberry season!!  Mr. T and I picked up a couple of pints this weekend and had a slice of angel food cake with a strawberry sauce on top.  It was awesome.

Strawberry Sauce:

1 pint of strawberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 sprig of mint, chopped

Cut the large strawberries in half. In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine strawberries, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and mint. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Use a potato masher and mash about 1/3 of cooked berries. Store in refrigerator.

Meyer Lemon Cranberry Sauce

I love cranberry sauce. My grandma made it fresh every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Canned cranberry sauce was a 4-letter word in our house.  I have found out that a lot of people get overwhelmed with it and just resort back to the stuff in a can.  I promise that this is beyond easy and will take almost no time, better yet... it'll sit in the fridge fine so there is no problem with making it ahead of time.

I'm using meyer lemons in this version.  They were on sale at the grocery store and I decided to go for it.  My mom usually makes it with orange juice and zest.  My grandma left out the citrus all together.  Go nuts, try new things.

Meyer Lemon Cranberry Sauce:
(adapted from my Grandma)

1 bag fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Juice from 1 Meyer Lemon
Zest from 1 Meyer lemon

In a saucepan add sugar and water.  Boil until the sugar has dissolved.  Add the lemon juice and zest.  Add cranberries and let them boil until the skins have popped.

Let them come back down to room temperature then place in an air tight container and place in fridge to finish cooling.













See?  Cranberry sauce is easy and takes almost no time.  There's no reason to get all freaked out about it.

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

When I was in college I worked at a small vegetarian cafe in town.  One of my favorite items was the sun-dried tomato pesto.  We served it as a sandwich topped with tons of veggies.

I love to spread it on bread, add some cheese, and toast it.  It has a hearty texture and would also work well with pasta or on some chicken as a topping.


Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto:
(Book Lover’s Café)

12 sun-dried tomatoes
½ cup olive oil
½ lemon, juiced
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp salt
½ cup blanched almonds, walnuts, or pine nuts.
Re-hydrate sun-dried tomatoes in hot water. Let stand for 15 minutes, drain. (Unless packed in oil)

Mix everything in a food processor.

It's awesome!!

Jackie's "Special Sauce"

I was making crab cakes for supper the other night and wanted something to dip them in.  We also need to go to the grocery store so the options were few and far between.  I found mayo, ketchup, and Old Bay and went at it.

"Special Sauce":

1 teaspoon Old Bay
1/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup mayonnaise

Mix everything together.  Pour on top of food.

It was better than I thought it would be.

Seafood Sauce

I got this one from my mom.  It's simple and amazingly good.  It's great on shrimp, chicken, and fish but also really good on steamed broccoli, greens, lima beans, and anything else you could think of.

Seafood Basting Sauce:
(Mom)

1-2 T Old Bay Seasoning
1 stick real Butter
1 finely diced small onion
2 finely diced garlic cloves
juice of one lemon.
Saute onion and garlic in butter . Add Old Bay and lemon and stir until incorporated.

Use as a glaze on grilled, baked or broiled fish, shrimp, crab, or scallops. If you like mild flavor, cut back on the Old Bay.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

I love balsamic vinaigrette.  It's one of my favorites and this version is my favorite without a doubt.  It's a little thicker than most which I love because it coats the veggies more.  It is worth keeping some fresh, homemade dressing at home... if for no other reason than to show off to people that you make your own dressings.

Balsamic Vinaigrette:
(Book Lover’s Café)

1 tbsp parsley, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic, minced
2 tsp sugar
½ cup balsamic vinegar
2 cups olive oil

Mix everything except oil in food processor. Slowly drizzle olive oil while processing.