Fresh Herb Dijon Mustard Dressing

On hot summer days all I want to eat is fresh picked salads, fruits, and veggies.  If it involves using the stove or oven, I'm not interested in cooking it.  So today I have a super simple salad dressing, a Fresh Herb Dijon Mustard Dressing.  Happy Nom Nom Monday!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

-  1 Small Lemon

-  1/4 Cup jammed pack with fresh Basil

-  2 Tablespoons fresh Mint (I used Orange Mint)

-  2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard (I used a tablespoon of store brand, and a tablespoon of fancy Sweet Vidalia Onion Mustard)

-  1 Small Clove of Garlic

-  1/4 Cup Cold Water

-  3 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I only had regular olive oil)

Directions:

Pick the basil and mint you'll need.  I've made this dressing before with parsley instead of basil, and it was super yummy too.  Experiment with different herbs, that would compliment the dijon mustard flavor.  Experimenting with different dijon mustards would be fun too!  

Prepare your herbs and clean everything.  Then squeeze the juice out of the small lemon.  Dump all the ingredients expect for the olive oil into a blender.  Blend everything super smooth, about two minutes.  Season with salt and pepper, and then slowly add in the olive oil.  Mix for another minute or so.

Pour into a salad dressing container.

It's a lovely creamy green color.  It's a great flavor for salad dressing.  Usually I'm one to view lettuce as the perfect vehicle to transport blue cheese into my system, but this dressing could have me moving over to the healthier side of salad dressings.  Even my grandmother who is a SUPER picky eater said she liked it, and she's not one to hide her true feelings about anything.  She would definitely tell me if it was gross.  So if you have a picky eater at home, and it's hard to find healthy salad dressings they like, give this a try!  Hope you enjoy!  

Happy DIYing, chris

Spring Eating

For today's Nom Nom Monday I wanted to share one of my favorite cookbooks.  It's called Everyday Food: Great Food Fast, by Martha Stewart Living Magazine.  One of the reasons I adore this book, is because the recipes are categorized by season.  Food tastes great when eating seasonally, and there is no arguing with that.  Plus my body craves different types of foods with the seasons.  In the spring I like to eat light, more salads, cold pasta, and fruit.  I don't want to spend much time cooking, and I'd rather eat light food and graze all day, than a couple heavy meals in a day.  

These are my two favorite recipes from this cookbook, leaf-lettuce salad with parmesan crisps and sauteed chicken in mustard-cream sauce.  For a starch we added in a light garlic and herb pasta.  

All the greens are from our garden!  I love eating food that we grew with our own hands.  There is a freshness that can't be compared.   I made the salad dressing with homegrown parsley, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, a garlic clove, extra virgin olive oil, water, and a little salt & pepper.  I liked this dressing a lot!  Actually, I'm going to make it again to use as a dip for tortilla chips.  The hardest part was picking all the parsley, I used a jammed packed 1/4 cup of leaves.    

I love to make parmesan crisps, so simple and yummy.  All you need is shredded parmesan cheese and parchment paper.  Make mounds of cheese on parchment paper, cook in oven at 350ºF for 10 minutes, rotating halfway through.  Remove from oven, and let cool.  The crisps taste great in salad or soup, and even on their own! 

Season chicken breast with salt and pepper.  

Heat a skillet with a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  Once it's warm, place your chicken in the pan, and cook for a total of 10 - 20 minutes depending on the thickness of your breast, turn only once.  The above picture is what your chicken should look like shortly before it's ready to be flipped over.  See how it's turned white on the bottom, but still pink on the top half?  

This is a finished chicken.  The skin is slightly crispy, but the inside is soft and juicy.  I honestly don't like chicken all that much, but this is one way I enjoy it being cooked.  So simple to do, and the results are fantastic. 

When I finished cooking the chicken I cooked this lovely mustard-cream sauce in the same skillet.  Another simple recipe using  Dijon mustard, dry white wine, heavy cream, and dried tarragon.   This sauce cooks up quick, and it even tastes great on pasta!  

That's all for today! Hope ya'll had a great start to your week, and happy DIYing, chris.