Archive for the ‘Salads & Salad Dressings’ Category

April 24th, 2024 Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Condiments, How To & Tips, Salad Dressings, Salads & Salad Dressings, Snacks Comments Off on Quick & Zesty Homemade Ranch Dressing – All in Pictures

Quick & Zesty Homemade Ranch Dressing – All in Pictures

As you can see in the graph below, Ranch Dressing was the number 2 most sold condiment in the US between 2019 and 2021. I can’t imagine that position has changed in the meantime.

The Quick & Zesty Ranch Dressing you see here is what I call a “base recipe” from which you can improvise however you like – flavor rules! – and I’ll provide guides about how to do that soon. The ingredients, shown below, needed to make this Ranch Dressing are all commonly found, require no cutting or chopping and are a lot more wholesome…

…than the ingredients you typically see printed on labels of store-bought Ranch Dressings, like those shown below. (By the way, the mayonnaise I’m using, far left in the picture above, is homemade, which you can see how to make by clicking this link. The yellow comes from added turmeric powder.)

Once you have the ingredients good to go, all you have to do is put them together,…

…mix them well and then let the dressing rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to bring out the full flavors of herbs and spices you use.

Click this link or any picture on this page for picture book Quick and Zesty Ranch Dressing directions, and enjoy!

March 11th, 2024 Blog, Fitness Food, Salads & Salad Dressings Comments Off on Senior Kitchen Empowerment Progress and Fresh 5-Ingredient Nonfat Yogurt Salad Dressing

Senior Kitchen Empowerment Progress and Fresh 5-Ingredient Nonfat Yogurt Salad Dressing

Senior Empowerment Progress and Fresh 5-Ingredient Nonfat Yogurt Salad DressingI’ve mentioned before here that I’ve started working with AARP and Eastway Rec. in Charlotte, NC, to provide skills to senior citizens, like me, so that they can empower themselves in the kitchen and make quality of life/life-promoting foods on their own. We’ve only had 5 sessions together, but we’ve already max’d out attendence and gotten positive feedback from those participating that they’re actually using the demo recipes and techniques at home. That’s where the rubber hits the road!

Here’s one of the recipes we worked on last Thursday: Fresh 5-Ingredient Nonfat Yogurt Salad Dressing, which is an easy way to change the flavor and calorie content of the fresh 5-ingredient salad dressing shown in the previous article: Fresh 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing.

Fresh 5-Ingredient Nonfat Yogurt Salad Dressing All you have to do is replace oil with nonfat yogurt. See the nonfat plain Greek yogurt to oil nutrition fact label comparison below and note that a serving of nonfat plain Greek yogurt is 1 cup (8 ounces) while a serving of oil is 1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce). That means that 1 cup (8 ounces) of oil contains 1920 calories and 224 grams of fat as compared to the cup (8 ounces) of nonfat yogurt shown below containing 130 calories and 0 grams of fat.

Nonfat Yogurt to Oil Nutrition Comparison

Here are the ingredients needed to make this dressing. Though any nonfat plain yogurt will work to make this dressing, I like using nonfat plain Greek yogurt for this dressing for its high protein content, thick texture, and rich flavor.

Fresh 5-Ingredient Nonfat Yogurt Salad Dressing IngredientsClick any picture on this page for a complete, easy to follow step-by-step picture book recipe.

Fresh 5-Ingredient Nonfat Yogurt Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

March 6th, 2024 Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Hiking Food, How To & Tips, Running Food, Salads & Salad Dressings Comments Off on Easy Fresh 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

Easy Fresh 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

About a month ago, I posted this extremely easy-to-make Instant 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing that’s so versatile, it goes great, of course, on salads, but also on pasta, rice, sandwiches, cooked vegetables – imagination is your only limit.

This post is about how to make that dressing fresh-er just by substituting garlic powder with fresh garlic. 

I’m a big fan of fresh garlic for its rich, bold flavor – and its broad spectrum health benefits that include: improved immune system, lowered blood pressure and cholesterol, cancer prevention, improved athletic performance – and more (for more details in short, easy-to-read form, click this Spice World link).

Two quick practical tips about fresh garlic. First, choose fresh garlic bulbs, like the one shown below, that are firm to a hand squeeze, heavier in weight (more water content) and show no signs of dark grey mold under the skin or green shoots growing out of the bulb.

Second, to make peeling the garlic skin easy, which is the least fun part about dealing with fresh garlic, first crunch the individual garlic cloves with a forceful press and satisfying garlic skin pop using the side of a wide-bladed chef’s knife, as shown here.

Once you chop the fresh garlic, as shown briefly below, the rest is all down hill. Just add mustard, ground black pepper, vinegar and yogurt.

Peeling the skin off a fresh garlic clove, then slicing and chopping that fresh garlic clove

You can see all the above – and more – by clicking this link for the complete Fresh 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing picture book recipe.

January 29th, 2024 Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Cycling Food, Empowerment, Fitness Food, Hiking Food, How To & Tips, Salad Dressings, Salads, Salads & Salad Dressings Comments Off on Pear and Avocado Salad Picture Book Directions

Pear and Avocado Salad Picture Book Directions

Last post showed how to make a fully flavorful, exceptionally easy to make, highly versatile Instant 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing. I made that dressing most recently to start a “Gotta’ Eat Smartly” series of food demos with AARP at Eastway Recreation Center in Charlotte earlier this month. That series is designed to give senior citizens the hands-on kitchen skills and knowledge they need to empower themselves to make life-promoting/quality of life improving meals.

If you’re a regular to this site – or know me personally, you know flavor rules – always! Here’s an example. Sure, we could’ve used that Instant 5-Ingredient Salad dressing on a traditional lettuce and tomato salad, but where’s the flavor fun in that? So instead, I showed the group of a dozen very engaged women how to make a Pear and Avocado Salad – and then how to improvise on that very easy base recipe. First, here’s what you need to make the base recipe – and you’ll see that we replaced a store-bought salad dressing in the top picture with our Instant 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing.

I mentioned “improvising” above, and by improvising I mean adding or substituting ingredients based on either/both your taste and/or ingredients you have on hand – and remember, recipes are just guides. So, for example, I asked the women if they thought it would be ok to substitute or even supplement the pears with apples. Sure! And then I suggested adding adding flavors as they liked based on personal taste.

That last sentence fired up a lively discussion. “Can I add chicken or any other meat?” Yes! “What about fresh herbs?” Sure!

“What about adding potato salad?” Absolutely! And that potato salad question led to a talk about mayonnaise in potato salad and which mayonnaise brand I like. My comment: I don’t like using processed foods, like store-bought mayonnaise, with long paragraphs of ingredients, some of which are NOT found in nature. So, I improvise and substitute mayonnaise with Greek yogurt, mustard and spices.

“If you do that, then what about making homemade mayonnaise?” one of the women asked. “A friend of mine makes it all the time and says it’s easy.” Great idea! I’ve never made it before, but I’ll learn and we’ll make it together next time we’re together.

Next time is coming up fast: Thursday, February 8th – and I’ve already started practicing.

I first picked a top-rated homemade mayonnaise recipe from Inspired Taste. I then improvised a bit, as they suggested, and will need to do more of that. You know the flavor deal. I’m not rolling out my version until that flavor kicks it full-on.

In the meantime, back to the Pear and Avocado Salad featured here. Please click this link and pass it on for the easy to follow picture book recipe shown below. And remember: that recipe is just a guide. Play with it. Improvise. And, most of all, have fun!

More soon!

January 24th, 2024 Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Hiking Food, How To & Tips, Running Food, Salad Dressings, Salads & Salad Dressings Comments Off on Instant 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

Instant 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

Last post mentioned work I’ve just started with AARP (American Association of Retired People) and Eastway Rec. Center in Charlotte, NC, to help senior citizens empower themselves in the kitchen to make life-promoting foods.

The first recipe we made together was the Instant 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing shown below, which is just as incredibly versatile as it is easy to make.

First, a quick back story. The first time I ever made this recipe was with a group of fellow veterans who were turning their lives around through Veterans Incorporated (Vets Inc.) in Shrewsbury, MA. One of the guys in the group, a fellow Navy veteran – and terrific character, chimed in when I listed the seven ingredients I intended to use: garlic powder, salt, ground black pepper, mustard, honey, vinegar and oil.

“Why do we need the added salt and sugar? A lot of guys here have diabetes and/or high blood pressure. We don’t need that _____(4-letter word for “stuff”)!”

I get blunt beautifully and had to agree about the added salt and sugar. But this was the first recipe I was rolling out with these guys and first time I’d ever met them. My inner thought: “Fine, I’ll cut the salt and honey – but, boy, this dressing’s gonna’ taste like crap.”

I quickly made the dressing and asked the guys to taste a spoon of it full-on before I tasted it myself. The stunner? They loved it – and so did I.

Not only does this dressing taste great (most important), but it’s also incredibly versatile. As shown in the few sample pictures below, it goes great on any kind of warm or cold salad, over cooked vegetables, meat, chicken, fish, pasta, rice – imagination is your only limit.

Here are the ingredients needed to make this salad dressing. You’ll actually see six ingredients below because I often use two different types of vinegars for added flavor, which you certainly don’t have to do.

Click this link or any picture on this page for a complete step-by-step picture recipe that includes information about the sourness of different vinegars and why this recipe is considered low in both salt and sugar.

January 15th, 2024 Blog, Empowerment, Salads & Salad Dressings Comments Off on Helping Seniors Empower Themselves to Make Life-Promoting Foods with AARP and Eastway Rec.

Helping Seniors Empower Themselves to Make Life-Promoting Foods with AARP and Eastway Rec.

I’ve written this here before, and it’s entirely true; only you can empower yourself. Sure, others can help. But the best anyone else can do is provide you with the skills you need to empower yourself because empowerment comes from within. You have to feel it, own it. Once you do, ha!, you’re off to the races!

I’m now 65 1/2 years old, a legitimate senior citizen. And I’ve just started working with AARP to help fellow seniors learn the skills they need to empower themselves to make quality of life-promoting meals on their own though a program we call “Gotta’ Eat Smartly” at Eastway Rec. Center in Charlotte, NC.

To pull back a bit to the bigger picture, even though we’ve just begun, the program’s intent is to start locally, right at Eastway, to develop a proof of concept that connects directly with seniors and shows positive results. Those results include growing participation and seeing how seniors actually apply the skills they learn at our live in-person sessions and at home.

Once we do that, we can then replicate those same skill-providing techniques and use them more widely throughout central North Carolina and beyond. Like throwing a stone in a pond, it’s all about creating an enthusiastic splash that ripples out and connects with as many people as possible by providing seniors – and eventually others – with the skills they need to make life-promoting foods, foods that our bodies and mind need to function as effectively as possible, give us the foundation to live the best quality of life possible – and taste killer good!

Regarding flavor, the next two posts will show the two recipes we put together at Eastway last week: Instant 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing…

…and Pear Avocado Salad.

More very soon. Promise!

June 10th, 2022 Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Hiking Food, Running Food, Salads & Salad Dressings Comments Off on Improvising: Top Gun Maverick and Fresh Spinach & Berry Salad S2E

Improvising: Top Gun Maverick and Fresh Spinach & Berry Salad S2E

If you’ve seen the new, fantastically fun Top Gun Maverick movie, you know the “Mav” is all about improvising on the fly and living to fight another day.

If you’re a regular here, you also know I consider improvisation the spice of life, and that spice of life is all about fun.

Here’s an example. Last post showed how to make this very simple but fully flavorful fresh spinach and berries salad – great summertime stuff!

Now, here are some ingredients you can use to take that same salad from simple to exciting (S2E) all very easily.

Sure, these ingredients look like a lot. But don’t let that bother you. They just represent a range of choices you can pick from or substitute with anything you like to make your salad all your own regarding flavor and dietary needs.

Click this link or the picture below for picture book directions and,…

…back to Top Gun – and fun. The “Mav” might have the bad guys – and the Navy – but he’s got nothing on us roadies. Ha!

May 30th, 2022 Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Fitness/Health, Salads & Salad Dressings Comments Off on Fresh Spinach and Berry Salad Picture Book Recipe

Fresh Spinach and Berry Salad Picture Book Recipe

Last post showed how to make the (almost) instant 5-ingredient salad dressing below, which is just as fully flavorful and richly versatile as it is simple to make.

Here’s just one of the many salads, that is just as equally full-on flavorful and easy to make as the dressing: Fresh Spinach and Berry Salad.

Regarding the spinach, there’s nothing better than the farm-fresh spinach I used to get from my good bud, Michael Berberian, and his family Berberian’s Farm Stand in Northborough, MA.

Fresh spinach from Berberian’s Farm, Northborough, MA

Now that I’m in North Carolina (which I love!), I usually get my fresh spinach in a bag at Aldi – I’m a big Aldi fan for both their quality and prices, especially in these days with grocery prices skyrocketing.

Here’s what you need to make this Fresh Spinach and Berry Salad:

Just click this link or any picture on this page for a complete picture book recipe.

April 7th, 2020 Blog, Salads & Salad Dressings Comments Off on Enabling Empowerment Vs. Covid-19 and Enabling Kitchen Self-Sufficiency with an Instant 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing

Enabling Empowerment Vs. Covid-19 and Enabling Kitchen Self-Sufficiency with an Instant 5-Ingredient Salad Dressing

Covid-19 statistics and how to make an instant 5-ingredient salad dressing 

You are the only person who can empower yourself. You can, however, get and find the needed help to enable your empowerment.

Regarding Covid-19 and seasonal flu and their effect to date – and the numbers are sobering, first, the seasonal flu; Global Research reported on Feb. 22, 2020, that “The common flu causes up to 5 million cases of severe illness worldwide and kills up to 650,000 people every year, according to the World Health Organization .”

In the US alone, here’s an image from the CDC showing 2019-2020 US-only seasonal flu statistics through the end of March 2020.

CDC 2019-2020 US Seasonal Flu Impact

Staggering!

Now, Covid-19; As of yesterday, April 6, 2020, according to the WHO, there have been 1,210,956 reported cases and 67,594 deaths related to Covid-19 globally. According to the CDC, again as of yesterday, there have been 330,981 reported cases and 8,910 deaths related to Covid-19 just in the United States.

The big problem with Covid-19 is that it is new, hence the name Novel (new) Coronavirus 2019-nCoV, and that means that avoiding the disease can only be accomplished by following all but the first of the WHO-published five easy steps to avoid the flu:

  • getting vaccinated (Only about 4 in 10 US adults get vaccinated. I’ve not been vaccinated in years. I will start getting vaccinated next season – and document it here.)
  • frequent handwashing
  • avoiding touching eyes, nose and mouth
  • avoiding being around sick people
  • staying home if you are sick to prevent contamination to others

These are all common sense steps to take, and following each can help empower us to cope with all strains of the flu with less fear.

That said, let’s switch gears to help empower better eating, which always improves a brighter outlook, with a quick, easy, richly flavorful and incredibly versatile recipe that you can make no matter how little cooking experience you have. The instant 5-ingredient salad dressing you see here  goes great, of course, on warm or cold salads but is also a go-to for me on sandwiches, with cooked grains, over pasta, and much more. 

how to make a 5-ingredient instant salad dressing

As shown in the picture below (yes, I did use 2 vinegars for added flavor that count as only one ingredient), the only five ingredients you need are garlic powder, black pepper, mustard, vinegar and oil. For equipment, all you need is a 16-ounce jar with a snug fitting lid (if you don’t have a jar, you can use a measuring cup instead).

how to make an instant 5-ingredient salad dressingClick this link or any salad dressing related picture on this page for a complete, easy to follow step-by-step picture book recipe.

how to make an instant 5-ingredient salad dressing

November 12th, 2018 Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Anti-inflammatory Recipes, Blog, Cycling Food, Nutrition, Salads & Salad Dressings Comments Off on Anti-Inflammatory Fresh Ginger Cilantro Kefir Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

Anti-Inflammatory Fresh Ginger Cilantro Kefir Salad Dressing Picture Book Recipe

Fresh Ginger Cilantro Kefir Salad Dressing

If you’re an athlete or physically active at all, you know how inflammation exhibited in joint or muscle pain inhibits how you move your body. Inflammation is also a key contributor to diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and much more.
The very easy to make, fully-flavorful fresh low fat salad dressing you see here goes great on any salad as shown below – or anything savory – and contains kefir (a good bacteria, yogurt-like fermented milk drink), fresh garlic, fresh ginger, fresh cilantro, ground turmeric, mustard, apple cider vinegar, ground black pepper, and honey – all of which are rich with anti-inflammatory benefits.

Fresh Ginger Cilantro Kefir Salad Dressing on Vegetable Tortilla Read more »

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