A Life in Food by real-life Chef Cheryl Bennett
Sherry lime vinaigrette is a delicious dressing for your salad or vegetables. It is also great for meal prep recipes!
The combination of sherry vinegar and tart lime juice not only makes this vinaigrette super tasty, it is very versatile.
…It’s finally summer and you know what that means – picnics, barbecues and long days at the beach. This Mediterranean orzo salad is perfect for taking on the go. It is light, yet substantial and dressed in a light vinaigrette. It is one of our favorite Mediterranean lunch recipes for the work week.
I love this particular pasta salad because of all of the fresh vegetables it has. If you really wanted to load it up – broccoli, julienned zucchini, summer squash, cauliflower, red bell pepper or even summer beans would all be great in this salad.
Making salads of all kinds is my go-to during the warmer months. Check out my favorite summer salads post, you might find a new favorite!
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Spinach salad is my favorite way to eat this leafy green. Topped with fresh and dried fruit, a zingy dressing and a few crunchy, toasted almonds. We’ve all seen or eaten the salad with strawberries, but this spinach salad uses perfectly ripe stone fruit and tangy blue cheese. It is by far one of my all-time favorite salads and you know how much I love a good bowl of greens.
Summer time is when I really enjoy salads. The anemic tomatoes of winter are happily forgotten and replaced with gleaming, juicy, bright red beauties. The delicious, but boring cucumbers can go on hiatus along with their carrot friends.
The same ol’ stuff that routinely finds its way into your salad can go by the wayside to make room for things like stone fruit. Sometimes we are on auto-pilot and occasionally get stuck in a bit of a rut. Considering all of the amazing things available to us in the summer, this is the time to branch out and mix it up.
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Sauteed broccolini is one of my favorite vegetables. This version, tossed in a warm citrus vinaigrette and dusted with red pepper flakes is my vegetable side of choice these days. I can’t get enough of it.
Small florets sit atop long, thin stems, that’s how you know you’ve gotten your hands on some broccolini. Ready in less than 15 minutes, this easy and healthy side is packed with flavor and it even got a thumbs up from picky eaters. I deserve a trophy.
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This grain salad is full of summer vegetables. Whole grains provide a satisfying, chewy texture to this salad, while the vegetables give it great crunch. Herbs and red wine vinaigrette make this salad super flavorful.
It’s the unofficial start to summer and you know what that means: dining alfresco! Whether it be picnics, backyard BBQ’s or lunch hours outside on a bench while soaking up a little sunshine, this grain salad with it’s rainbow of colors has you covered.
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I’ll be honest with you, I was in the grocery store with a big loaf of crusty bread in my hand thinking “What’s the big deal… I’ll just buy it instead of making it”, but I JUST. COULDN’T. DO. IT.
So, I put that gorgeous loaf of bread back amongst it’s friends and headed home to start the focaccia.
I pulled out the stand mixer, made my dough, let it rise… Placed it ever so lovingly on my sheet pan to puff up again before sliding it in the oven… And yet, something was amiss. It just didn’t look quite right, but I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Once it was time for the bread to come out of the sauna, I realized I had a bit of a problem.
Not really sure how I screwed it up, but it was more of a focaccia pancake. It didn’t rise properly and looked rather pathetic. So I salvaged what I could, not wanting to waste everything and started over.
Truth be told, the Ohio State game was on and I was a tad distracted… There, I’ve said it. I wasn’t paying attention to my work, I was watching football.
That’s what happened.
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A very good childhood friend of mine sent me some salted caramels over the holidays and I have been rationing them out on a daily basis. Needless to say, when I see commercials for all of the various weight-loss companies it makes me cringe a bit knowing I’m a few bites away from needing an intervention.
Therefore, I’ve taken it upon myself to get back into the swing of things. Like everyone else, I get a bit out of control during the holidays and then, when all of the over-eating makes me feel like Jabba the Hutt, the pendulum swings back the other way and I get myself back in line.
As you well know from previous posts, I have no shortage of mason jars in various shapes & sizes cluttering my cabinets and there is a reason for this, besides canning. They are useful for many different things, quick salad dressing being one of them.
It honestly couldn’t be easier… pour everything in & shake it up. The best part of making your own salad dressing aside from it being much less expensive, is that you know exactly what’s in it. There are no dyes, no high-fructose corn syrup, no ingredients that require a Ph.D. in Chemistry to pronounce.
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