Sunday dreads sneaking up on me…you’d think after all these years I’d have come up with a strategy to deal with Sunday night?

Part of what makes me so blue on Sunday night is the imaginary (and real) To DO list in my head that I don’t seem to chip away at. Which is why I challenged myself to a salad a day in March. Knowing I’ve done one healthy thing for myself every day is a pick-me-up in itself. Anyway, make this salad & take it to lunch tomorrow. (Keep the dressing & croutons separate. Hell, skip the croutons or use store bought if you have no time to make them! But try to make them next time!)

If you are a Caesar salad purist (or snob), keep walking. Nothing to see here! This is a Caesar salad for people without much time, without any anchovies and who don’t want to eat raw eggs. (Though I have eaten and REALLY, REALLY enjoyed that kind of salad myself!) This is a Monday morning salad. Brighten up your lunch salad. Do something nice for yourself salad. Even when you’re in a rush salad.

INGREDIENTS:

3 hearts of Romaine

For the dressing:
1 clove garlic, minced
5 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP mayonaise
2 TBSP lemon juice
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper to taste
1/4 c parmesan cheese

For croutons:
2 c of firmly packed bread cut into 1/2″ cubes (a crusty loaf is ideal)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c olive oil
large pinch of salt

1. Cut the ends off the romaine and separate leaves into a large bowl. I used my salad spinner as even my wooden salad bowl is too small for these leaves.

2. In a small bowl, add half the minced garlic.

Add lemon juice, mayonnaise (sorry G!), olive oil & Worcestershire sauce to garlic and whisk together.

Isn’t this lemon gorge?? I picked it up at the Farmer’s Market yesterday after running like hell from the Cat in the Hat visit at the library. Kill me now.

While we’re on the topic of lemons, that reminds me, I picked up some limes at Trader Joe’s to make margaritas with last weekend. Trying to get juice from them was like trying to squeeze blood from a stone. Holy schmoley! I think we ended up drinking tequila & cointreau with a hint of lime.

3. Meanwhile, in another small bowl pour 1/4 c olive oil alone with the other half of the minced garlic. Let the garlic infuse the oil. Just push it aside and don’t give it another thought. That will be for your croutons.

4. Drizzle lettuce with olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste and toss lightly. Use your hands if you have to and don’t have too many rings on which could be gnarly.

5. Drizzle some of the dressing (depending how much you like) over the lettuce and toss lightly again.

You can probably tell I added black pepper to the dressing but that’s b/c I like a lot of black pepper. Feel free to do that or not!

6. Sprinkle parmesan over lettuce and toss for the final time.

7. Back to the croutons. Are you with me? Drizzle remaining olive oil over bread cubes & toss with a large pinch of salt.

Spread out evenly on a baking sheet.

I baked them in my toaster oven since it was such a small amount. 375 for about 12 minutes. Taste one of the croutons after 12 minutes. If they are chewy, bake another 2 minutes. They should be crunchy.

8. Sprinkle croutons over lettuce. Serve!

Secret: The first time I made this I didn’t read the directions very closely and combined all the dressing ingredients at once: salt & pepper, olive oil, mayo, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and garlic. I even threw in 1/4 c grated parmesan. It came out EXCELLENT!! Today I actually read the directions (except I did the croutons a different way that seemed less labor intensive to me) and it also came out excellent. In the printable recipe, I give you the fast way. After making it the second time, I think I prefer the way I made it the first time simply because it’s quicker.

Adapted from The Other Pamela Anderson

Just a break between salads to add this recipe. I know I just did a chocolate chip cookie recipe a week or two ago but this one is:

A. Simpler

and

B. WAYYYYYYY better!!!!

These are very light, fluffy cookies. If a cookie can be fluffy?? They look “undone” coming out of the oven and don’t flatten out or darken. Don’t worry though! That is how they are supposed to be. I made these for the Daleos’ visit last weekend and they were all eaten BEFORE the Daleos arrived so I ended up making a second batch really quickly. They were so good I just made a THIRD batch this weekend!

You probably have all these ingredients!

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 c unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 c all purpose flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c butterscotch chips

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars.

Add egg (replacer) and vanilla and beat well.

3. Whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda & salt.

Add dry ingredients to wet and mix!

You’ll notice this sandy, grainy texture. This is exactly as it should be!

4. Once it’s thoroughly combined, add chocolate/butterscotch chips and stir until spread throughout the batter evenly.

5. Drop dough onto a prepared baking sheet using a Tablespoon. Since the dough hasn’t really “come together” you may need to make small balls with your hands. I did.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. NOTE: the cookies will NOT darken or flatten. They will not seem to be “done” but they are done! If you truly are worried about them being underdone, just bake them for the full 10 minutes.

By the way, my brother in law got me this Airbake cookie sheet for Christmas. I put two dozen cookies into the oven – one on this sheet and one on a regular one and the regular ones burned on the bottom. I really love this cookie sheet! (I am not being compensated in any way, by anyone really, for saying this…)

The top.

The bottom.

Back to the cookies. Here’s what they look like PRE baking:

I make ‘em on the small side since they have so much butter/sugar.

Here’s what they look like POST baking:

It almost looks the same as the raw dough!

Trust me on this one.

Barely adapted from Kelseys Apple a Day

Everyone in the house is asleep. Even the dog.

The cat is outside fighting though. I just heard him. It’s 8:33PM.

Phew. I don’t know what to do with the PEACE. I guess I’ll just have a beer & unload the dishwasher. Which is like being at the SPA at this point!

Since we just did potato salad, I decided to post this broccoli slaw recipe I made back in December. Today I was out of the house all day and poor G is sick, sick, sick so I wasn’t able to make a new salad. But I’ve been meaning to post this one anyway since it was:

A. Easy

and

B. A success with the young-uns.

This is a great side dish. I served it with fried rice of all things (which was a weird paring but made sense since I wanted to use up my veg before leaving town). Not that you care about that…

This is really pretty, tasty & both my kids ate copious amounts of it which makes me love it.

Pardon the pictures. Not my best work. Taken at night. With my cell phone.

All ingredients are available at Trader Joe’s. Btw: this will go well with cabbage slaw too but Trader Joe’s happened to have the broccoli slaw ready to go.

Here’s all you need:

INGREDIENTS:
2 heads of broccoli OR 1 bag (undressed) broccoli slaw from Trader Joe’s
1/3 small red onion, finely chopped

Buttermilk Dressing
1/2 cup buttermilk, well-shaken (as usual, I had to MAKE buttermilk!)
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot (or, you could just use a little extra red onion to simplify it)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Chop broccoli into small pieces (or using food processor.) Mine was pre-cut from Trader Joe’s. I prefer cutting it myself if I have time but I don’t always! Toss broccoli with red onion in a large bowl.

2. Whisk together the dressing ingredients with salt & pepper to taste.

Pour over broccoli. (If you used 2 whole heads, the dressing amount should be right. If you use a bag of pre-cut slaw from Trader Joe’s – use a little at a time. You should have some left over.)

3. Toss to coat & season with salt & pepper to taste.

Yummy additions:
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds, toasted
1/3 cup dried cranberries
2 stalks chopped celery

Kids liked it and they probably wouldn’t appreciate the “yummy” additions.

These kids eat like wild animals. Or don’t eat at all.

Source: Smitten Kitchen

I know, it’s wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too early in the year to start making potato salad. Hold on a minute? Says WHO? I felt like making this salad in March and so I did.

Lord knows, G will gag and possibly need to be hospitalized if he so much as smells mayonnaise. Also, although I love almost ANY kind of potato salad, I wanted to try a brighter, lighter version. This one is AMAZING and can be eaten room temp, warm or cold.

This salad has NO mayo.

All you need is:

and these:
Please excuse that basket of junk in the back.

Here’s a gratuitous shot of the parsley from my garden:

INGREDIENTS:
8 oz green beans, trimmed & cut into 1-1/2″ pieces
3 lbs small red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled, halved (if yours are medium-sized, then quarter them)
2 TBSP dry vermouth
2 TBSP white wine vinegar
1 large shallot, chopped
1 TBSP coarse-grained Dijon mustard
2/3 c olive oil
2 TBSP chopped fresh parsley

1. Boil beans in large pot of salted water until crisp/tender, about 4 minutes.

Drain. Transfer to a bowl of ice water. Drain. Pat dry with a towel. (Or let drip dry, like I did!)

2. Cook potatoes in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 12 minutes. Drain. Transfer to large bowl (I put them back in the pot to save dishes!) Sprinkle vermouth over hot potatoes. **NOTE: I had medium sized potatoes so I ended up cutting them into quarters. I think I overcooked them a tad but they were still excellent.**

Toss gently and let stand for 5 minutes.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, shallot, and mustard. Gradually whisk in oil.

Uh, YUM!

4. Pour over potatoes and toss gently to coat.
Obviously, pre “tossing to coat.”

Cool completely. Mix in green beans and parsley. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

I love this salad!! It’s a little more “refined” maybe? Fresher & definitely lighter than the mayo based potato salad we all know and still love. (Except for those of us who gag and throw themselves on the floor at the sight or even thought of mayo ((Christina Lynch & George, you know I’m talking to you…))) Wow, those parenthesis are blinding me!

Source: Epicurious.com

Yesterday  in L.A. it was cold out. And grey. What I mean is, we had to wear socks & jackets. But we didn’t – we wore flip flops.

Anyway, what better meal to come home to at the end of the day than a thick, warm soup with homemade croutons? Try this for your next Meatless Monday (since it’s now Tuesday…)

I made a barley vegetable soup a few month ago and it was really good but this one is WAY better. I had bought a bag of dried split peas a few weeks earlier because I thought they’d be tasty but I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with them. Since I still had some barley in my cupboard, I looked for a recipe combining the two and VOILA! With some adjustments I had a hearty, thick and really tasty soup. It called for croutons and since I didn’t have any I made ‘em! This is the first time and I want to tell you – make croutons as often as you have soup. They are REALLY easy to make & add that extra something that soup sometimes needs.

Here we go! You’ll need these items:

SOUP INGREDIENTS:
2 c dried yellow split peas, rinsed & drained
6 carrots, chopped
6 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3/4 c pearl barley, rinsed & drained
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper, to taste
3 garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 TBSP olive oil
5 TBSP bouillon (I used vegetarian chicken flavored – you can also use vegetable broth or whatever you have on hand!)
10 c + 8 tsp water (adjust for desired thickness)

Let’s get started!

1. Saute chopped onions in the olive oil until soft and translucent, about 4 minutes. Add crushed garlic for another minute. Be sure to stir occasionally to coat with oil.

2. Add carrots and celery. Stir to coat with oil and sauté for another 3-4 minutes.

3. Add split peas and powdered bullion/water to pot OR vegetable broth. Cover and bring to a boil.

4. Reduce heat, add bay leaf and barley.

5. Simmer covered for about 2 hours.

No, it’s not 1:20PM. 60 minutes + 60 minutes.

D’OH!!! That’s a long time.

6. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Add water/broth as needed. I like my soup sort of thick so I didn’t. Sprinkle some croutons on top & serve.

How to make the croutons??

You’ll need:

CROUTON INGREDIENTS:
6 oz whole grain bread, cut into 1/2″ cubes
Olive oil
2 TBSP butter (or, you can just use 2 more TBSP olive oil which is just as tasty)
1 TBSP Dijon mustard

NOTE: I used one of my homemade breads that I froze a few weeks earlier. If it doesn’t get eaten within the first day or so, I freeze it for croutons. I hadn’t actually made any croutons, EVER, but I knew I would! That said, you can use any old bread you have – so next time you have a couple of heels from your Oroweat sandwich loaf – wrap them tightly in plastic wrap or a ZipLoc and freeze ‘em!)

This is so easy!

1. Preheat oven to 375. Cut bread into 1/2″ cubes.

2. Heat olive oil in saucepan. Melt butter in oil over medium heat. (Incidentally, you can also just use oil if you prefer.)

3. Pour heated oil/butter and mustard over bread cubes & toss to coat.

4. Spread bread cubes across a cookie sheet evenly.

5. Bake for about 12 minutes. Taste one – it should be crunchy, not chewy. If it’s chewy return it to the oven for another 2 minutes.

Sprinkle atop soup. YUM!

My helpers:

Soup adapted from Food.com
Croutons from Annie’s Eats.