My black thumb strikes again!

I was lucky enough to inherit a lot of great qualities from both of my parents, but their green thumb was definitely not one of them. It’s pretty much a give in that I will eventually kill any plant I’m put in charge of. I can’t even keep those little “lucky bamboo” plants alive longer than a month or so. I have no idea why I seem to have such a honker of a black thumb, but I figure I can’t excel at everything in life and accept it as a small flaw and then go eat some ice cream.

Still, every year I am so jealous of people who can plant a little garden and get beautiful veggies and herbs by summer’s end. This year I decided to give herbs a try and I was met with some success. I planted basil, cilantro, parsley, chives, dill, and oregano. What I ended up with is a lot of weeds, a sprout of dill, a little tiny bit of cilantro, the start of some parsley and more basil than I know what to do with at this point. The basil has pretty much become a monster plant.

Surprisingly Brent knows more about growing herbs than I knew he did, and has helped me out a wee bit. But then he keeps saying we should give some of the basil away and I’m thinking not. I grew something! From a seed. It’s like my baby and there is no way someone else is going to reap the benefits of my diligent watering everyday. Especially since everything else was pretty much a bust.

This picture was about two weeks ago and it has gotten even bigger!

So I’ve been dreaming up as many ways to use the basil as possible. One dish I knew without a doubt I was going to make once I could pillage some leaves was a caprese salad. For me the caprese salad screams summertime with fresh ripe tomatoes, sweet mozzarella, and bright basil. It’s an absolutely perfect salad and I could probably eat it everyday if given the chance.

While the last thing the world needs is another recipe for such a simple salad, I figured I’d share the basic idea here because just posting my failed attempt at growing herbs isn’t all that exciting. And I’ve come realize that I do one thing that most people do not… I add some red onion. Is that weird? I just like the contrast of flavor it has against the other ingredients. Don’t use too much though or it will overpower everything else.

On the day I went to pick up the tomatoes, the larger vine-ripened and beefsteaks weren’t looking so hot. They were kinda pale and not a juicy red color, so I went with roma that day. Use any kind you prefer.

Caprese Salad
*Serves how ever many you want!
(printable recipe)

Ingredients:
- fresh, beautifully ripe tomatoes
- fresh mozzarella
- red onion
- basil
- balsamic vinegar
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper

Fast and Loose Directions:

- Evenly slice your tomatoes and mozzarella to be about the same size. Generally I use about 25% less mozzarella than I will tomato. Layer on a plate.

- If doing larger slices of tomato and mozzarella, thinly slice red onion, or mince red onion if using smaller, bite-sized portions. As a general rule, I will only use about the same amount of red onion as I will basil. Layer in or on top of salad.

- Tear or mince basil. You can leave it whole as well and layer in-between the mozzarella and tomatoes.

- Season with salt and pepper, than lightly drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Enjoy!

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Pesto Chicken Salad

If you were to ask me to list my top three most hated foods, the list would most certainly include mayonnaise. I just can’t stomach it and therefore I steer clear of a lot of summer favorites such as potato salad, macaroni salad, and chicken salad. This recipe is my solution to that problem and is probably one of my favorite new recipes I’ve come up with in the last couple of months. It’s very satisfying but not overly heavy, and if you buy a rotisserie chicken to use, you won’t even need to turn the oven on. An added bonus is that it’s a little healthier given that mayo has a good amount of calories in it.


The “hardest” part of making this salad is the prep work, other than that it comes together in a snap and is a great make ahead lunch or light summer supper. When we had this for dinner a couple of weeks ago we served it with a lightly toasted flatbread and some mixed greens but you can certainly enjoy it alone, either warm or cold.

Pesto Chicken Salad

*Serves 4- 6
(printable recipe)

Ingredients:
- 3 cups cooked and shredded chicken
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
- 1 cup baby swiss cheese, cubed
- ½ cup chopped prosciutto
- ¾ cup artichokes, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup red onion, minced
- 3 tablespoons plain yogurt
- 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon prepared pesto
- Salt and pepper

Optional: flatbreads, pita bread, fresh spinach, arugula, or mesclun greens

Directions:

1. Prep and chop the chicken, tomatoes, cheese, prosciutto, artichokes, and red onion. Add to a large mixing bowl.

Strawberry Bistro Salad

This is my favorite salad of all time. It has mixed greens, strawberries, walnuts, bleu cheese, tortilla strips, and raspberry vinaigrette. Now if you’re thinking that all those ingredients don’t sound good together - don’t worry, I was really skeptical myself the first time I tried it. When the waitress described the salad to me, I must have looked hesitant because she assured me it was tasty, and she was right. Years later, when I worked at Grillmarks as a bartender, I’d have to assure many guests too and I can’t recall one time they didn’t like it.

Such a pretty salad!

Side note: I don’t recommend going to work at one of your favorite places to eat; you will inevitably gain a minimum of 10 pounds. Trust me on this.

The “glue” that pulls all the ingredients together is the raspberry vinaigrette. I’ve never had another one like it. It’s sweet, tangy, and slightly thicker than your normal vinaigrette dressing. I’ve tried several store brands over the years trying to get one that was close, and failed miserably at home many times over attempting to replicate it. And then the other week, I happened to see a bottle of raspberry vinaigrette and the color was the closest I’d seen yet. (The color of Grillmark’s vinaigrette was PINK. Like really pink.) So I snatched it up and decided to make salads for dinner.

Strawberry Bistro Salad
*Serves 4 as side salad
(printable recipe)

What you need:
- 6-8 oz mesclun mixed greens
- ½ cup chopped walnuts, toasted
- 1/3 cup bleu cheese, crumbled
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced
- 1/3 cup Marie’s Raspberry Vinaigrette
- 1 ½ tablespoon plain yogurt
- tortilla strips*
*My store has them in the same aisle as the croutons

What to do:

1. Start by toasting your walnuts in a dry sauté pan over low heat for about 6-8 minutes. Give them a toss every couple of minutes until fragrant. Core and slice strawberries.

2. Mix the raspberry vinaigrette with the yogurt. I did this to make it a bit thicker like the original.

3. In a large bowl, or on individual plates, combine greens, bleu cheese, walnuts, strawberries, tortilla strips, and drizzle with raspberry vinaigrette. Serve and enjoy.


Thoughts: Success! While the vinaigrette wasn’t exactly spot on, it was {thisclose} to being perfect. This is the closest I’ve gotten to date, and it definitely satisfied my craving. This is such a light and refreshing salad for summer. If you want to make it more of a meal, you can add grilled chicken or salmon. Both go beautifully with it.

A Retro Classic

The “Wedge” Salad is a classic American salad that was popular a couple of decades back. It sort of went by the wayside when Americans became more interested in darker greens such as romaine. You can still find it on some menus, and to me it’s a great and tasty salad because it combines two of my favorite things: bleu cheese and bacon. I find this simple salad to be a great to entertain with, or to serve along a great grilled steak for a simple supper.

Before I get started I need to point out I did not make my own bleu cheese dressing. Bleu cheese dressing is one of those perfect recipes that I’m still perfecting…like the perfect meatball recipe for example.

The “Retro” Wedge Salad

*Serves 4
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:
- 1 head of Iceberg Lettuce
- 1 large tomato, diced
- 6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
- ¼ of a large red onion, sliced
- Bleu Cheese crumbles
- Bleu Cheese Dressing

Asian Skirt Steak Salad

So I think this might be the second recipe that I have posted that BD made and not yours truly.

Anyway, in our house I do about 90% of the cooking. Why? Because I am the woman and he is my man. I’m kidding, totally not true. I don’t know why really. Maybe its because I’m kind of a control freak… or maybe because I secretly think I am better than he is, but know in my heart I could NEVER cook professionally, so then he wins that argument again. (BD has professional experience while I do not. At all. Shocking, I know.) BD usually gets to cook when I say: I’m tired and don’t feel like cooking, or I have too much school work to do so you get to cook tonight. Its my gift to him really.

Italian Mix Green Salad

Several weeks ago BD and I had some family over for a Sunday supper. We planned on making lobster ravioli in a tomato cream sauce for the main course, so I went in search of a new salad that would go well with pasta. I came across this idea and ran with it. Since that dinner, his cousin G, has asked about it a few times and I promised her that I would stop being such a slacker at posting and would get it up tonight. So somewhere in between catching up on my favorite show, doing homework, cooking dinner, and cleaning up after BD, I managed to find the time!

Italian Mix Green Salad

Serves 6-8

(print the recipe)

Ingredients:

- 10oz Spring Mix

- 4oz prosciutto

- 1 pint grape tomatoes

- Half a large red onion

- 6oz fresh mozzarella

- ¼ cup Balsamic Vinegar

- ¾ cup EVOO

- S&P

Directions:

1. Prepare the fresh ingredients: cut tomatoes in half, red onion thinly sliced, mozzarella in bite-sized cubes, prosciutto in short strips.

2. Prepare the balsamic vinaigrette: add the vinegar, S&P, and EVOO to a small bowl and whisk vigorously. You could also use one of those salad shaker things, which is what I did. I wasn’t sure who would like the Balsamic Vinaigrette so I gave everyone several choices. If I’m making a small amount of dressing I use the bowl/whisk method, but for larger amounts that I intend on serving a crowd the dressing shaker is perfect.

3. Add all the fresh ingredients to a large salad bowl and toss. You can choose to drizzle the balsamic vinaigrette over the salad and toss together, or serve on the side.

Thoughts: This salad has a lot of bold flavors but it really works well together. I think adding some sliced grilled chicken would make for an excellent entrée salad for lunch or dinner.

Warm Goat Cheese Salad

This salad is simple but sounds fancy and tastes unbelievably good. I’m not sure where I got the original idea, but I’m sure it was some celebrity chef. Below is my own recipe.

Warm Goat Cheese Salad

(print the recipe)

Ingredients:

- Mesclun greens

- 1 4oz goat cheese log per 4 people

- Loaf of Italian or French bread

- 3 lemons

- 1 egg

- 1 garlic clove, peeled whole

- ¼ cup bread crumbs

- ¼ cup EVOO (some extra for sautéing)

- White wine vinegar – 2 tablespoons

- Tiny drizzle of honey

- S&P

Procedure:

I’ve broken the recipe down for each ingredient. I recommend prepping the goat cheese first and while it’s chilling make the crostini and vinaigrette.

Goat Cheese

1-Make sure your goat cheese is cold and remove from package. Cut goat cheese in ¼ inch thick slices. Should get 8 per log.

2-Whisk your egg in a shallow dish. Place ¼ cup of bread crumbs on a shallow dish or plate.

3-Take each slice and coat in egg and then bread crumbs. Place on a separate plate and refrigerate for 15 minutes to an hour.

4- (This last step should be done right before assembling the salad) In a sauté pan heat a couple of tablespoons of EVOO over medium-high heat. Once pan is hot enough, add chilled goat cheese and pan fry for about 1 minute on each side. This will toast the bread crumbs but keep the cheese from melting.

Lemon Vinaigrette

1- Juice three lemons into a deep bowl. Remove any seeds.

2- Add two tablespoons of white wine vinegar and a very small (half teaspoon) of honey.

3- Add salt and pepper.

4- While whisking the mixture, stream in ¼ cup of EVOO.

Garlic Crostini

1- Slice bread ¼ inch thick and layer on a baking sheet. 2 slices per person.

2- Drizzle lightly with EVOO.

3- Broil on low in oven until crisp and golden brown. Should take about 5 minutes.

4- Remove from oven and rub each slice with garlic clove.

Assembly1- Place two crostini on a plate per person.

2- In a large bowl toss mesclun with S&P and a small amount of Lemon Vinaigrette. Don’t drown the mesclun – just enough to coat it. You’ll have a good amount leftover for other uses. Or you could serve on the side if anyone wants to add more.

3- Place about one cup of mesclun greens on top of crostini.

4- Place two pieces of warmed goat cheese on top of each salad and serve.

Warm Goat Cheese Salad

My thoughts: Everything in this salad just plays really well off the other ingredients. Nothing overwhelms the other. The honey in the vinaigrette mellows out the tartness enough without losing the lemon flavor or making the vinaigrette sweet. The crostini adds the salad a nice crunch and adds just a hint of garlic. And honestly, what’s not to love about goat cheese? Tangy and creamy and just slightly melty from being pan fried. Simply fantastic!

Kitten ^..^