Salad Dressing – Lemon Vinaigrette

One of the basic things I miss with my onion allergy is salad.  Salad is so refreshing, healthy, and a great summer meal.  It is so easy to have salad when you have an onion allergy — WRONG!   Creating the salad itself is easy.  Just don’t add onions!  Simple.  This is where it gets hard: salad dressing.  You can’t just grab any old bottle off the grocery shelf; trust me, I’ve stood there for hours hoping the ingredient labels would change. (P.S. They don’t.).

I have some Chef friends who are really patient with me and my allergy.  They are so quick to give me recipes for onion-free eating.  This is one of the most amazing salad dressings I’ve had on behalf of them.

Lemon Vinaigrette

• 1 cup Canola oil
• 1/4 cup White Wine Vinegar
• 1/3 cup Fresh Squeezed lemon juice  (Meyer lemons are lemony-er)
• 1/4 cup Water
• 2 tbsp Lemon Zest
• 1 tbsp Minced Garlic
• 1/3 cup Honey
• To taste Salt
• To taste Pepper

Combine everything into a salad shaker and shake vigorously to marry all of the ingredients.  This vinaigrette yields about 2 1/2 cups.  This will keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks.  The ingredients will separate like any other store-bought dressing, so be sure to shake prior to every use.

Don’t be afraid to bring it with you to a restaurant!  I’m cool like that!  BUT if you do have salad at a restaurant, be sure that the chefs create your salad with a clean/new cutting board and knife.  Cross-contamination is a silent killer (and the bane of my existence).

Greek Pasta Salad

Another thing I miss… Greek Salad. I have found the most amazing recipe — tweaked of course to eliminate all things onion — and it is so inexpensive and plentiful!

• 2 cups cooked Rainbow Fusilli (get it in bulk from a Bulk Barn… VERY cheap!)
• 1 package of sliced in half cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 english cucumber cut into thick-ish slices and then quartered
• 1 bell pepper cut into chunks (I’m partial to yellow, but red or green will do just fine)
• 1/2 a small brick of feta cheese, drained and crumbled
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 6 tbsp of Olive oil
• 6 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• salt and pepper to taste (I use fresh ground sea salt and fresh ground black pepper)

Cook fusilli until al dente. Drain and run under cold water to cool. While pasta is cooking, combine Olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano, garlic, salt & pepper into a small bowl or measuring cup – stir until ingredients are married. Chop veggies and put into large salad bowl. Combine in cooked and cooled pasta. Crumble feta cheese on top. Add dressing. Toss until everything is coated and combined. Chill for a couple more hours in fridge. ENJOY!

Yields: enough for a backyard bbq or lunch for a week!

Oh Indian Food… How I Miss Thee

It’s been years since I’ve had Indian food.  There was this place in Terrace, BC that made Indian Food to order.  It was called Hariyana’s.  I always got the Tandoori chicken with onions, peppers on a bed of rice, with roasted sesame seeds.  I’d also have naan and pakoora aloo and veggie (onion usually) pakoora.  Oh, my mouth is watering just thinking of it.

At home, we usually made butter chicken or chicken masala.  I miss that the most.

A former co-worker of mine made me paneer earlier this year.  It was good, but not as hot as I usually like.  I sincerely appreciated the effort and thought, but something just was missing.

Last week I was at the West Edmonton Mall.  There is an Asian market there called T&T Market.  It’s authentic as authentic can be.  I scoured the sauces and read the translated labels.  Time and again I woefully returned the bottles to the shelf, until I discovered this:

My heart nearly stopped.  Could it be?  Oh. My. God.  It was real.  Real. Real. Real.

Tandoori Chicken

4 medium sized skinless/boneless chicken breast

5 small tomatoes

olive oil

2 cups of basmati rice

1 bottle of World Foods Tandoori

Fry chicken and cut into slices.  Simmer in Tandoori sauce.  While cooking chicken, make basmati rice (follow instructions on rice package).  When chicken is good and infused with tandoori sauce, add tomato wedges. Simmer for another minute.  Pour in rice and mix.  Serve!   (Serves about 4 with plenty of leftovers… it’s always better the next day!!!)  Tomatoes should still be fairly cool and solid.  (They’re my favourite part).  

Only note: this tandoori sauce is HOT!  HOT!  HOT!  I love it, but the weak of stomach may not find it so delightful.  You might want to add a dollop of plain yogurt to the mix or drink a tall glass of milk while enjoying this awesomeness.

World Foods website: http://www.worldfoods.com.my/wf/index.php

 

☆ Onion-Free Homemade Salsa Recipe ☆

I just found this salsa recipe on Facebook.  I make my own pico de gallo, so this intrigued me as a salsa recipe…

☆. This is a medium salsa. This is also a chunky salsa so if you want a smoother salsa cut your veggies into smaller pieces.

☆. Yields 3-6 quarts or pints.
8 cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained
1 1/2 cups green peppers
1 cup jalapeno pepper, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons pepper
1/8 cup canning salt
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup chopped Italian parsley or Cilantro if you prefer
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 ounce) can tomato paste

 

Directions:

1. Mix all together and bring to a slow boil for 10 minute.

2. Seal in jars and cook in hot water bath for 10 minute.

3. Add 2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice and salt and pepper to taste.

4. Mix everything together and let sit overnight for flavours to meld.

Caesar Salad! It is possible!

This is a craving that is about 2 years in the making.  I miss salad.  My favourite dressing — pre-allergy — was Kraft Sundried Tomato and Oregano, or any Italian dressing (fat free… ewww all that oil in regular!)

Caesar salad… the discovery!

Ingredients

• Romaine lettuce of your choice
• Boccalino Caesar European Style Dressing
• Great Value brand (Walmart) Romano Cheese & Garlic croutons

If you’re a bacon bits kind of person, go ahead and add those too!  You can also add on some shaved or shredded parmesan cheese as well.  You could even create an entire meal by adding grilled chicken and spritzes of lemon.  Chicken caesar salad or wrap.  YUM!

Let’s look at the Boccalino Caesar European Style Dressing further.  I found this in the produce section cooler at Save On Foods.  There were a few varieties available.  The other onion-free dressing that I discovered was the Basil Garlic flavour (Lemon Pepper dressing and Swiss are no-nos!).  The only thing I had issue with (and this is a personal preference), the dressing wasn’t thick (European style?), and not as garlicky as I’d like.

Ingredients in Boccalino Caesar European Style Dressing

Canola Oil, Water, Red Wine Vinegar, Garlic, Vinegar, Frozen Egg, Salt, Capers, Anchovies (soy oil), Dijion Mustard (Organic Mustard Seeds, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar) Lemon Juice Concentrate, Xanthan Gum, Pepper.

For Reference, the Basil Garlic dressing contains the following ingredients:

Canola Oil, Water, Vinegar, Garlic, Frozen Egg, Red Wine Vinegar, Salt, Herbs, Basil, Pepper, Xanthan Gum.

Website is here: http://www.boccalinogrotto.com

 

Croutons… oh how I love and miss thee!  I’m a bread and carbs junky!  One of my favourite things about Caesar salad has always been a good garlicky, buttery, herby crouton.  I think I got something good when I found the Great Value brand Romano Cheese & Garlic croutons.

I’m so excited to have found this dressing and those croutons.  Salad… tasty salad may be in my future after all! 

ENJOY!