Dr. Fuhrman's Walnut Vinaigrette

This is for YOU, my vegan friends!  No animal products dressing!  It's also gluten-free, oil-free, and salt-free.  I'm sorry if you have nut allergies--it's not nut-free, alas.  (***Sidenote: you can substitute almonds or cashews to taste, or if you have allergies to walnuts only***)

But let's say you are not a vegan, and you love creamy, zesty dressings on your salads and other foods . . . this dressing also happens to be utterly DELICIOUS.  And delicious is the number one requirement for a recipe to make it to this site.  The fact that it's totally healthy is just a really great bonus.

Raisins make it sweet, the walnuts make it--well, nutty, the balsamic vinegar gives it some bite, and the mustard and garlic smooth out the entire dressing and add a warm, mellow flavor.  An Italian seasoning blend works just fine in place of thyme.  

I store the dressing in an Adam's Peanut Butter
jar and keep it in the fridge.  It'll stay fresh for
a month in an airtight container.

It's January!  Back in the saddle!

Becca's Red Potato Salad With Bacon

Potato salad + bacon = no duh.

I followed my husband's recipe protocol when coming up with this one: read all you can about one food, then cobble together your favorite ideas. I knew I wanted to use sliced (instead of chopped) red potatoes, and knew I wanted big chunks of bacon . . . the rest followed.

Sometimes I use horseradish mustard instead of Dijon--it is delectable.  The best thing about potato salad is that you can add lots of different seasonings in different amounts and it'll still be yummy.  Sometimes I sprinkle it with paprika, sometimes I add 12 hard-boiled eggs instead of six, and I usually use less mayo and sour cream than I wrote on the recipe card.  You can really experiment and not go wrong.

Caesar Salad + Authentic Dressing + Homemade Croutons

Whenever I bring this salad to a party/potluck/function, I always get recipe requests.  It makes me feel extra good, because the dressing is my very own concoction!  I came up with it after sampling lots of Caesar dressings and poring over cooking websites, comparing different Caesar ingredients and adapting it to my taste.

If it grosses you out to use anchovy paste, then you have no business trying to make homemade Caesar dressing, because that's what makes it completely divine (sorry to my vegetarian friends).  I have made this once without anchovy paste, and it was still delicious, but lacking that totally over-the-top flavor.  You can usually find anchovy paste with the Asian foods or near the canned tuna, depending on your grocery store.  It comes in a tube, which comes in a box.  Like this:

You can whip up the dressing and store it in an airtight container the fridge for a while--I'd say about a week (and mind the lemon seeds when squeezing the juice!).


'Un croûton' is one of the ends of a loaf of bread in French. It probably didn't take people long to figure out that the crusty ends were good to use to dip in soups or as a garnish for other foods.  Homemade croutons are SO EASY that you'll never go back to those stale crusties that you get in a box.  They are also much easier on your teeth, and they don't explode in half when you try to stab one onto the end of your fork.  But, I digress . . .  

It doesn't matter if your French bread is fresh or older for croutons

I usually use the traditional Garlic & Herb
Mrs Dash blend for my herb-butter

Remove from the oven when the edges get brown.

I just use my butcher knife to cut each
slice into about 12 bite-size pieces

Mmmmm . . . so much better than crunchy, store-bought croutons.
Tip: save leftover croutons in a Ziploc bag, then toss 'em for a few
minutes over medium heat in a nonstick skillet to "re-crisp" them
before you serve them a second time.

Add some grilled chicken and make it even better

This salad is great as a side, but I've served it to my family as the main course with grilled chicken breasts and it's a great dinner.  My kids love having "tiny garlic bread" on their salad.  It's so delicious.

Wonton Salad

It's fun to eat wonton croutons instead of boring old bread croutons.  And I love any salad with a spinach/strawberry combo.

Chinese Chicken Salad