For years, I have always used my favorite bottled dressings. Well until yesterday that is. I pretty much always used a duo of 1/2 Balsamic Vinaigrette and 1/2 Ranch dressing on my salads. I merely buy a bottle of each at the grocery store and then use a bit of each every night when I eat dinner at home. I just make myself a HUGE bowl of salad for dinner. And I don't mean soup bowl size, either. And then bingo. On go my dressings. In fact when I DO order salad out, I always ask for these same two dressings on the side, as well.
Into my salad bowl always goes diced onions, cherry tomatoes, major amount of garbanzo beans, some feta cheese if I feel like it and lastly... a huge amount of berries. It used to be blueberries, but after years of that, I switched it up a couple of months ago to strawberries, instead. Major delicious.
Then... about three weeks ago... I decided enough of the Ranch already. Which left the vinaigrette which meant: Wait. Forget the bottled guys. Maybe I can make the dressing mySELF since what I REALLY REALLY wanted was a very light Spring like vinaigrette but with LOTS OF LEMON FLAVOR. I don't know what happened to me. One day, out of the blue, I just developed this major hankering for light lemon being splashed all over my salad. And plenty of it, too.
So... the other day I sent Bonnie to the grocery store with a list that included all the things I imagined I'd need for such a home recipe. I sorta made it up in my head and figured I'd give it a whirl. OMG. Don't ask. SO DELICIOUS I can't even stand it.
So... I took out a gigantic mixing bowl and poured in some Garlic Roasted Rice Vinegar and added to that Extra Light Virgin Olive Oil. I wound up using the entire bottle of the Garlic Vinegar, btw. I played around with the ratio until I got just the mix I was after. THEN... I took a bottle of Real Lemon lemon juice ( didn't have fresh lemons given of all things... I FORGOT TO PUT IT ON THE LIST. Duh) and started pouring it into my vinegar and oil mix until the taste became lighter and lighter which meant it became more and more lemon-y. Oh man... I was on cloud nine, alright.
Then... I went to my spice rack and started adding any spices I thought I would like. I guess Oregano would have been good but instead I used Lemon Pepper and some Garlic Herb Seasoning and bingo. I stirred that right smack into the new fangled experimental dressing bowl. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Turned out it was THE MOST DELICIOUS DRESSING I EVER TASTED. I was nothing short of thrilled!
Add that to my other switch up from a couple months ago... mixed bag of Spinach and Arugula salad... and I am so telling you... I AM IN HEAVEN. Oh yeah... I almost forgot. I even chopped up a nice bit of fresh basil leaves to add to the salad. Seriously... this is just the best combo of everything that I've ever wanted.
On the other hand... can you imagine dried cranberries, pie nuts, avocado or red grapefruit pieces to add to all this? Yikes. My mouth is watering as we speak. I'm also thinking: adding some Dijon mustard to the dressing can't be bad either. But whatever. It's like salad and dressing fit for a King. Oops. I mean... Queen. I'm totally psyched is all I can say.
So all in all.. I pretty much smell success out there in the world of sales were I to actually bottle this deal for retail. Not to mention the fantastic smell/taste of lemon. Which btw way reminds me... my alltime favorite scent just happens to BE lemon. Well, that and gardenias. Totally beautiful. Totally delicious. Totally Spring like.
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