A Barefoot Wedge Salad

I made this salad dressing from my new cookbook, a fantastic gift from my awesome mother, How Easy is That?, a new Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten) cookbook. This salad dressing calls for chopped scallions, fresh basil, greek yogurt, buttermilk, a bit of mayo, fresh ground pepper, all thrown into the food processor. I made a wedge salad with it one night but Adam also enjoyed it for a few days as a dip for crudités. I highly recommend this cookbook. Look for more Barefoot Contessa How Easy is That? recipes coming soon!

buffalo chicken <3

buffalo chicken tenders with salad and blue cheese dressing (ranch for ADG). One of my all time favorite things to order ou-- my first time making for myself. Next time I need to shake up the salad a little--this was just romaine, boring!! But the tenders were delicious. I bread them in panko with egg whites and flour and fried them up over the stove. As my brother pointed out: not something I learned from my mom, that's for sure!

chile cheese tart

Tonight I made this recipe my mom gave me a doctored version of from Bon Apetit mag:

Chile Cheese Tart

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 7- to 8-ounce package shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 7-ounce can diced mild green chiles
• 1 purchased frozen 9-inch-diameter deep-dish pie crust (do not thaw)

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Heat oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion. Cover and cook until just tender, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Cool briefly.
• Whisk cream and next 4 ingredients in bowl to blend. Mix in cheese, chiles, and onion mixture. Pour filling into frozen crust.
• Bake tart until golden brown and set in center, about 40 minutes.

You can see the delicious results pictured, along with another homemade caesar salad salad (this time with shrimp for adam, oy vey!)

chicken caesar salad

So for dinner tonight I made homemade chicken caesar salad. For the chicken, I used a barefoot contessa chicken recipe my mom showed me--its a great recipe for basic chicken to top any salad or to even make into chicken salad. I started by roasting 2 chicken breasts. Then I whipped together the ingredients for a homemade low fat dressing (low fat mayo, parmesan cheese, lemon juice, anchovy paste, s&p), washed some lettuce and stuck both into the fridge for later. After roasting the chicken, I waited for it to cool and them removed all the chicken from the bones/skin, and cut the poultry up into pieces. I placed the chicken in the fridge to cool down. After my roomie returned from the gym, he set the table while I prepared the salad and we were ready to go! The meal turned out really well--we both enjoyed.

Oh, I also made banana muffins tonight--pics to come!