Creamy Orzo Salad

I love to peruse the grocery store aisles looking for new products mainly for flavour combination ideas but from time to time I will buy a product that sounds interesting in the hopes of being able to clone it in the event we like it.  Two new flavours of Kraft dressing recently became available in our little corner of beautiful Ontario, Canada.  I seldom buy salad dressings as we prefer homemade but these flavours sounded interesting so I bought one of each.  The flavours were sweet onion and roasted red pepper with parmesan, both with no artificial flavours, cholesterol free, zero trans fat and low in saturated fat.

One of the salads served at our relative's annual pig roast was an orzo and watermelon salad.  It was a unique and unexpected combination.  Orzo is a delightful pasta to use as a salad base because it is naturally creamy.  I used orzo to make an easy, creamy orzo salad using the new Kraft sweet onion salad dressing.  The result was a light, creamy salad that was a sure winner!

Creamy Orzo Salad
recipe by:  Garden Gnome

2 cup cooked orzo
1 tomato, chopped
½ c broccoli, finely chopped
2 green onions, finely sliced
¾ c Kraft Sweet Onion dressing

Cook orzo to al dente.  Drain.  Measure out two cups of the cooked orzo and allow to cool.  Wash vegetables.  Chop the tomato.  Fine chop the broccoli.  Fine slice the green onions.  Mix vegetable into the cooled orzo.  Pour the salad dressing over the pasta mixture and mix well.  Serve.

Note:  Will keep well for 2 - 3 days in the refrigerator.

I really liked the flavour of the Kraft sweet onion salad dressing.  This should be a fairly easy salad dressing to clone which will give all the flavour without any preservatives.  Like many commercially made salad dressings, this salad dressing gets its texture from xanthan gum, something I will also use in the clone recipe.  Another ingredient of note is citric acid, often added to commercially made salad dressings to give a bit of tang.  Citric acid is something I always have on hand for home canning acidification of certain products.  The benefit of using citric acid over lemon juice in a salad dressing is not increasing the liquid volume as citric acid is a crystallized powder rather than a liquid.  I'll post the clone recipe I came up with shortly.

Raspberry Vinegar

We eat a lot of salads and by far prefer homemade salad dressing or vinaigrettes as a topping.  A basic vinaigrette consists of 1 part vinegar, 3 parts oil and binder (mustard, sugar or honey).  Seasonings of choice and/or finely chopped vegetables (eg. onions, sundried tomatoes, sweet or hot peppers) can be added to the basic vinaigrette.  You can even add cheese (eg. Parmesan or blue cheese).  Xanthan gum can be added to give a thicker texture if desired.  With this in mind you can create an endless number of vinaigrettes simply by using a little creativity.

Homemade fruit or herb vinegars are an excellent way to expand the flavours of vinaigrette you can make.  Several years ago we discovered a delicious restaurant house dressing that was a raspberry vinaigrette.  I've been hooked on making fruit vinegars ever since to use as a base in some of my homemade vinaigrettes.

Homemade vinegars are very easy to make.  I find berries work best but you could use crushed pears or apples or basically any fruit you desire.  We are particularly fond of raspberry vinaigrette made from homemade raspberry vinegar.

Homemade Fruit Vinegars
source:  Garden Gnome

Wash about 2 c of the desired fruit.  Peel and pit if necessary.  Lightly crush the fruit.  Pour into a 1 - L mason jar.  Pour 5% acetic acid vinegar over the fruit leaving a half inch headspace..  You can use any vinegar you want as long as it is 5% acetic acid.  Different vinegars will give different flavour results.  Cap and shake the jar well.  Place in a cool, dark area.  Shake at least a couple of times a week.  Let sit for at least 4 weeks.  Strain the vinegar.  Place in a saucepan.  Bring just to a boil.  Ladle into hot jars.  Adjust two piece metal snap lids (or Tattler reusable lids or glass inserts).  Screw bands on jars (adjust accordingly if not using metal snap lids).  Process for 250 ml for 10 minutes in BWB canner at altitudes up to 1,000 feet above sea level.  At higher altitudes refer to altitude adjustment chart on Canning FYI page.  Remove from canner.  Adjust bands if using Tattler or glass inserts.  Allow to cool 24 hours.  Remove bands and test for seal.  Wash and dry bands and jars.  Label and store.

Hidden Valley® Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix Clone

A couple of weeks ago, I was chosen to be a contestant in the Hidden Valley® Recipe Challenge.  I wanted the Hidden Valley® dry mix to use for one of my potential entries.  We live in a small urban area with two grocery stores (No Frills, Sobey's) and a Wal-mart.  I checked all three stores without any luck finding dried salad dressing mix.  I know at one time these were quite popular.  The salad decanters with markings as to how much oil and vinegar to add were sold right beside them.  None of the stores carry them any more.  In order to make this dish I really needed the dry mix so I sent out an SOS to my family and friends then set about finding a dry mix ranch mix online.  A friend came to the rescue with a packet of Hidden Valley® Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix but before using it I noticed a tear in the package so decided against it.  It definitely came from the US as there was no mandatory French labeling as required on Canadian products.  I compared the ingredients on that package to that of the recipe I had found then created my own recipe.  Clone recipes are born out of necessity either to save money or because the original is not available in your area.

The recipe I found online had paprika and  fresh ground pepper but closely inspecting the original packet showed no signs of either.  The recipe I found had no buttermilk in it even though the original packet listed buttermilk as a main ingredient.  Based on that, I set about getting creative.  MSG was listed on the original packet but I didn't use that in my clone recipe.  The dry clone version tastes (finger tip test) very much like the original packet mix.  The clone recipe makes a bit more than the original packet so adjust the dressing as required for consistency.

Hidden Valley® Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix Clone
source: Garden Gnome

2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp organic sugar
1½ tsp parsley flakes
2 tbsp buttermilk powder
½ tsp citric acid
¼ tsp xanthum gum

Dressing:  Combine 1 c milk and 1 cup mayonnaise in a blender.  With the blender running, slowly pour in ½ c of the clone mix.  This is necessary for the xanthum gum to thicken the dressing.  Blend on high until well mixed and thickened.  Keeps 3 to 4 weeks in refrigerator.

Dip:  Combine ½ c of the clone mix with 2 c of sour cream.  Mix well.  Refrigerate for one hour to allow flavours to blend.

Homemade Miracle Whip Clone Recipe

Our family is a Kraft Miracle Whip family or more specifically a Kraft Miracle Whip clone recipe family.  The debate as to whether Miracle Whip is or is not a mayonnaise is still on going.  Kraft Miracle Whip was introduced in 1933 but the FDA ruled it had a couple of ingredients (water, cornstarch)  in it that should not be to be classified as a mayonnaise so ruled it had to be classified as a salad dressing.  The bottom line is Miracle Whip really is a mayonnaise, made like a mayonnaise but using a cornstarch slurry extender and kicked up a notch with lemon juice for tanginess and seasonings for added flavour.

The ingredients for Kraft Miracle Whip are: water, soybean oil, sugar, vinegar, mustard, spices, modified cornstarch, potassium sorbate, colour, calcium disodium EDTA and dried garlic.  From a profit point of view, Kraft added the water which would result in more product without added cost then used the cornstarch (very inexpensive) to thicken the thinner version to the same consistency of mayo.  The water and cornstarch  do not change the flavour so really is not necessary in the homemade version.  When I was looking for a clone recipe I came across several that cooked the water, cornstarch, mustard and vinegar to a thin slurry then added the hot mixture to the egg mixture.  That was a horrible disaster that ended up with a curdled mess that I could not salvage.  It did however smell like Miracle Whip.  Encouraged  by that, I came up with my own recipe based on my basic homemade mayonnaise recipe.  If you want the homemade version to taste like Miracle Whip be sure to use fresh squeezed lemon juice and sunflower oil.  You will be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to make this clone recipe for Miracle Whip.  Store bought Miracle Whip current price is 84¢ per 250 ml (1 c).  The homemade version is about 44¢ per 250 ml (1 c).

Homemade Miracle Whip
recipe by:  Garden Gnome

1 egg
1 tsp dry mustard
2 tbsp organic sugar
½ tsp sea salt
2½ tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 c sunflower oil
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp paprika

Put all of the ingredients but half of the oil into a food processor bowl. Process for 15 seconds. While the food processor is running, slowly pour the remaining oil into the mixture in a thin stream. Use a spatula to transfer the Miracle Whip to a storage jar. Store in the refrigerator and use as you would store bought.

New Food Processor and Creamy French Dressing

Many of my small kitchen appliances are rather old.  For example, the percolator (circa 1950's), yogurt maker (circa 1970's), blender (circa 1980's) and food processor (circa 1980's).  My small kitchen appliances are well cared for but after a period of time any small kitchen appliance will fail.  Plastic parts become brittle rendering them easier to break or crack.  As they start to fail, I keep my eyes out for a replacement at a good price with comparable features.

My Moulinex food processor was bought in the late 1980's.  The appliance was made in France and featured 180 W with 3.2 c/.8 L maximum capacity.  The outer casing had began to yellow but the design of the blade attachments was the real problem.  The blade fit into a slot on the plate then the post twisted in to hold everything together on the stem of the food processor.  The centre portion where the post twisted on became brittle enough it simply broke off (red arrow).  Essentially, it was no longer possible to use the shredder or slicer blades at all, only the chopping blade (just above the arrow).

My food processor doesn't get a lot of use other than during bulk cooking and some canning sessions so I wasn't concerned about replacing it immediately.  Well, it actually has been broke for a couple of years but I reasoned that with the KitchenAid food slicer and shredder attachment, I didn't need to replace the food processor.  The reality is a knife is ideal for smaller jobs, the KitchenAid attachment is ideal for the large jobs where I don't want to have to keep stopping to empty the bowl, and a food processor is nice for the mid-sized jobs.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that Canadian Tire has been running some rather nice sales on kitchen items.  While I was waiting for the emissions test to be completed on one of our vehicles I did a bit of shopping.  Talk about being at the right place at the right time!  The Black & Decker wide mouth food processors were marked down to $34.93 from $99.  Well for that price, I decided it was time to put my old food processor out of it's misery.  Right beside the Black & Decker food processors, the were two other brands, one prices at $129.99 and the other at $349.99 with basically the same features.  My total purchases including the food processor was under $80 so I was rather pleased.

The Black & Decker was made in China.  I know some frugalistas warn not to buy anything made in China but when it comes to small kitchen appliances that is virtually impossible.  The food processor has an 11 c/2.6 L capacity bowl with 500W power.  What I really like is the wide mouth chute with pulse action food pusher.  I especially like the larger bowl capacity which will make this food processor a bit more useful to me.  The speed settings are high, low, pulse and off.  There is a reversible shredder/slicer blade, a chopping blade and a dough blade.   A nice added feature are suction cups on the base to prevent the food processor from moving when in use.  I used the food processor to make a creamy French dressing.  My only complaint is the noise level.  This appliance is loud enough to warrant wearing ear plugs!  Other than that it does a lovely job.

Most restaurants and professional chefs make their own house dressing.  Some of them actually make their way to the store shelves.  One local restaurant is in the process of getting their house dressing into the stores.  I seldom buy commercially made dressing because homemade salad dressings are very inexpensive and easy to make.  For example this creamy French dressing costs a third of the price of store bought and even that is on the high side because the sweetener used is honey which tends to be a more expensive ingredient.  Doesn't it just divine?

Creamy French Dressing
recipe by:  Garden Gnome

1 - 10 oz can condensed tomato soup*
1 lemon, juice only
⅓ c local honey
½ small onion, chopped
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp prepared mustard
¾ c sea salt
1 tsp paprika
¼ tsp garlic powder
½  tsp celery seed
¾ c vegetable oil
½  tsp xanthum gum

Set up the food processor to use the chopping blade.  Put all the ingredients except the celery seed, vegetable oil and xanthum gum into the food processor bowl.  Process on low until smooth.  Continue processing while slowly pouring in the vegetable oil in a thin stream.  Add the celery seed then the xanthum gum.  Pour the mixture into container and refrigerate 1 hour  before using.  Store left over salad dressing in the refrigerator.

Makes 750 ml/3 c

*Home canned tomato soup can be substituted for a more flavourable salad dressing.

We eat a lot of salads and we use salad dressings as sandwich sauces as well as meat or poultry marinades.  The vast majority of the salad dressings we use are homemade.  To me, stocking the raw ingredients that can be used to make several different products or dishes makes more sense than buying a product that really is used for one purpose.  At the same time it is an eco-friendly approach by eliminating disposable containers while being frugal in cost savings.  More importantly, homemade salad dressings taste so much better than store bought plus there are no artificial colours or flavours.  Homemade salad dressing will store in the refrigerator up to two weeks.

Thousand Island Dressing

Summertime is here meaning we are eating more salads.  That translates into more salad dressing and by far salad dressings are homemade.  Honestly we eat some type of salad daiy throughout the year but during the summer we eat more because salads are easy to make, low or no cook dishes.  Dressings range from simple lemon juice to homemade viniagrettes as well as a few creamy based dressings.  When it comes to salad dressings, I won't buy something I can easily make at home.  At the same time I like to get a bit creative with salada dressings.

I've been making Thousand Island Dressing from our newlywed days.  This rich and creamy salad dressing is so easy to make with three ingredients most home cooks keep on hand.  They are: MiracleWhip, ketchup and relish.  I honestly don't measure when I make this dressing.  There is about 2 cups of MiracleWhip and don't use mayonnaise as the MiracleWhip adds a bit of zest to the dressing.  Stir in about 3 tbsp of ketcup and 2 tbsp of sweet relish.  Adjust the ketchup and relish if needed to taste.  Don't worry about the initial consistency of the MiracleWhip as the other ingredients will thin it out to the right consistency.  This salad dressing will keep nicely in the refrigerator for several days. 

Bacon Potato Salad

I usually make most dips from scratch so the question always arises what to do with the leftover dip.  A little thinning down with milk or water easily turns leftover dip into a salad dressing.  Left as is the dip can be stirred into mashed potatoes for a nice flavour sensation.  I wanted to make a rather spruced up potato salad.  Here's what I came up with.

Potato salad is a summertime staple and most times I make it the same way I always do but sometimes adding a bit of sparkle is in order.  I decided to take advantage of a bit of leftovers to create a unique potato salad.  I used the leftover onion and garlic dip that I made using one of my basic dip base of sour cream, cottage cheese and MiracleWhip®.  The end result was a lovely, tasty potato salad with just that extra twist of flavour that  I will definitely be making again.

Method:  I cooked the bacon pieces until browning then drained and steamed the potatoes then let cool.  I combined the potatoes with the bacon then stirred in sliced green onions and fresh chopped chives then stirred in the leftover onion and garlic dip.  I garnished with more fresh chopped chives.

Basic Dip Base

½ c cottage cheese
½ c sour cream
⅓ c MiracleWhip® salad dressing
1 finely chopped green onion
1 - 2 tsp herb or seasoning blend of choice

Place the first three ingredients and herb or seasoning blend into a mason jar if using the mason jar blender method or into the blender if not using this method.  Blend until smooth.  Remove from blender.  Stir in green onion.  Refrigerate 1 hour to allow flavours to meld. 

Note: This basic dip base is easily modified for both flavour and texture.  Add 2 tbsp of milk when blending to make a creamy salad dressing.

Tuscan Tomato Salad

If you have been following this blog you will know that we eat salad almost daily and sometimes more often.  Salads do not have to be lettuce based although that is the image that comes to mind when talking of salads.  A wide range of vegetables can form the basis for a delectable salad perfect for any occasion.

My husband's ultimate favourite meal is grilled steak and potatoes.  That's it!  He would gladly eat this meal 7 days a week without complaining.  I make sure to add in vegetables and some type of side salad to balance out the meal.   I made a Tuscan Tomato Salad as a the side salad to compliment our Father's Day dinner.   The meal consisted of grilled sirloin steak, foil wrapped grilled seasoned potatoes, steamed asparagus and the Tuscan Tomato Salad.

When I think Tuscan I think of Tuscany and the rich Italian flavours.  I used a basic vinaigrette consisting of 1 part vinegar, 3 parts oil and binder then built from there using flavours from Italy.  Those flavours include olives, tomatoes, onions, basil, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, and sage as well as extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar.  The resulting salad was as tasty as it was colourful!  It will be ever so much better tasting with home grown tomatoes as soon as the garden starts producing.

Tuscan Tomato Salad

1 large tomato, diced
½ small onion, chopped
3 tbsp, diced green onion
8  pitted black olives, sliced
Tuscan vinaigrette (recipe follows)
2 sprigs boxwood basil**

Prepare the vegetables.  Stir tomatoes, onion, green pepper and olives together.  Divide into 2 - 4oz bowls.    Drizzle the prepared Tuscan Vinaigrette over the vegetables.  Place a sprig of boxwood basil into the centre of each bowl.

Tuscan Vinaigrette

1 tbsp Italian Red Wine Vinegar*
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
¼ tsp honey
½ tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp Italian seasoning
½ tsp chopped chives

Whisk the ingredients together.  Pour over salad as desired.

* I used Alessi Italian red wine vinegar from Tuscany.
** Boxwood basil is a strongly flavoured basil with tiny leaves.

Dip the Salad!

rWe eat some type of salad almost daily and quite often make a dinner salad in place of a hot meal during the hot, muggy summer months. As a result I am a salad dressing junkie! More specifically I love experimenting with homemade salad dressings. I'm not above occasionally buying a bottle of commercially prepared salad dressing. What I don't like about commercially prepared salad dressing is the added preservatives, artificial colourants and artificial flavours. Homemade salad dressings cost 30% to 50% the cost of store bought Using the blender mason jar method I can easily make up a couple of homemade salad dressings to last the week. Vinaigrettes will keep well for 5 days in the refrigerator while sour cream or mayonnaise based dressings should be used within 3 days. I like making them in the 250 ml (half-pint) mason jars.

New York Strip Steak

When you eat a lot of salads sometimes it is nice to change the presentation a little. Pictured is the dipped salad I paired with grilled New York Strip strip steak and steamed potatoes. I cannot take credit for the dipped salad idea as I came upon it watching oldest grandbaby who is a very accomplished dipper! It doesn't matter what the food is as long as there is some kind of dip. So that gave me the idea of serving salad fixings with the dip in a small dipping bowl basically an individual version of a vegetable tray. The salad dressing was a homemade Balsamic vinaigrette.

Vinaigrettes are very versatile yet extremely easy to make. The basic ingredients are 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil, a binder (eg. mustard, honey, sugar), optional fruits or vegetables and optional seasonings. So just look at how many possibilities you can change ranging from using home flavoured vinegars to varying the oils to the binder and that isn't even considering the optional ingredients! Any vegetables used should be chopped fine and added after the oil, vinegars and binder is mixed. Add either dried or fresh chopped herbs, salt and pepper if desired. If you want a thicker dressing, thicken with an eighth tsp xanthan gum per cup of liquid using a blender before adding vegetables and herbs.

Balsamic Vinaigrette
recipe by: Garden Gnome

½ tbsp finely chopped onion
½ clove garlic, finely chopped
½ tbsp Dijon mustard
¼ tsp sea salt
1 tsp dried parsley
½ tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
⅓ c extra virgin olive oil
pinch xanthan gum (optional)

Pour olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt and vinegar into a mason jar. Attach the blender base. Blend. Add xanthan gum if using to thicken. Blend until smooth. Remove from blender. Mix in vegetables and parsley. Shake before using. Pour into small salad pitcher for serving.

Festive Spring Salad

Despite serving salads almost daily as part of our lunch and dinner few seem to be featured on this blog. Sometimes the entire meal is a salad. This really is an oversight on my part mainly because most of our salads are of the tossed greens variety that really are so simple to make no further explanation is needed. That being said even tossed salads can be interesting and refreshing. I decided to use a spring theme for dinner when the kids and second grandbaby were home for Easter.

Festive Spring Salad

If you look at most salad bars the offerings tend to be iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, imitation bacon bits, croutons and a limited choice of dressings. Larger salad bars also offer a limited choice of prepared salads, cottage cheese, green peppers and sunflower seeds. Some even offer fruits like melon cubes, grapes and strawberries. If you order a garden salad chances are good it comes with tomato, cucumber and onion on a bed of lettuce with a choice of dressing. Salad greens do form the basis of many salads but think outside of the box!

I love playing with colour when it comes to food presentation. The colours in this beautiful spring salad makes your mouth water in expectation. I used an iceberg and leaf lettuce blend for this salad. The toppings included English cucumber slices, red onion slices, shredded carrots, shredded red cabbage, fresh raspberries and walnut pieces. I made a raspberry vinaigrette for the dressing. It was a wonderful taste of spring!

Raspberry Vinaigrette

1 tbsp green onion, chopped
¾ c fresh raspberries
¼ c frozen apple juice concentrate
¼ c raspberry vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
pinch sea salt
honey to taste

Place all ingredients except honey in blender and puree until smooth. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving. Shake well.

Ham Dinner

Putting a quick yet tasty meal together is always easy with quick starts in the freezer and fresh vegetables. I used a package of spiral ham leftovers from the freezer paired with baked potatoes, steamed asparagus, homemade bread & butter pickles and festive garden salad. The steamed asparagus was lightly buttered then garnished with sesame seeds. I like topping potatoes with sour cream or homemade yogurt but other than that the meal was rather low fat.

Ham is one of those meats that a lot of people don't think to freeze yet it is one I like keeping packets in the freezer for quick meals. Ham freezes nicely in a large piece or as slices and cubes. Since the ham is already cooked it can be used simply by thawing for sandwiches and salads or heated as the meat component for a meal. Ham pieces can also be added into soups, casseroles and egg dishes so do keep a few packages in the freezer.