Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing

We have been eating a lot more salad. Instead of potatoes or rice, we load our plates or bowls with leafy greens and veggies. Not being a huge fan of iceberg lettuce, which doesn’t have much nutritional value, we use a premade mix of greens from Farmboy. I am not too sure what’s in the mix but it tastes great. Eating a salad with your meal is a great way to feel full without adding too many extra calories. However it’s pretty easy to ruin a healthy salad, all you have to do is drown it in store bought dressing. One serving of store bought, 2 tablespoons, has between 100 and 200 calories. That’s a lot. One way I sometime try and get away from these extra calories is by making my own dressing. One of my favourite dressing recipes is for Caesar Salad. I tend to use this dressing on every salad I make and the recipe below makes enough for a few days. I found this recipe online at theblackpeppercorn.com. Give the recipe below a try and let me know what you think.

Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing 

Ingredients

• ½ cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• ¼ cup fresh grated parmigiano reggiano
• 1½ anchovy paste (I didn’t have this and it was still really good)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

 Directions

1. In a glass bowl whisk together all the ingredients except the olive oil, until smooth and creamy. I am too lazy/weak to whisk everything together, so I used my immersion blender in a tall plastic container.
2. Slowly drizzle the olive oil, while whisking or blending. Add the olive oil slowly to allow it to emulsify.
3. You can store the dressing in the fridge for up to a week.
4. Use on your favourite salad and enjoy!

Eating like a caveman

For my birthday I got a great new cookbook from Sarah’s parents, thanks if you’re reading this! Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo is an easy guide to following a paleo diet. Not only do you get some great recipes but you also get tons of information about how to eat paleo. Including stocking a paleo pantry, shopping for groceries, paleo at restaurants, 30 day meal plans and much more.

If you haven’t heard about the paleo diet before it is eating like our ancestors did about 10,00 years ago, before our diet changed to be grained-based because of the development of agriculture. If you’re eating on a paleo diet you’ll be consuming mainly fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, fungi, roots, and nuts. You won’t be eating things like potatoes, refined salt, refined sugar and refined oil. The theory for eating paleo is that genetically we haven’t evolved as fast as our diets have changed. If we eat more like our ancestors, we might be able to avoid some of today’s modern diseases. Whether you believe this or not, there are a lot of advantages to eating based on a paleo diet. Eating more vegetables and fruits is something that almost all of us could do more of. Reducing our intake of refined sugar and oils is probably a good idea too. I am not on a strict paleo diet but we’re using it as a base to healthier eating.

I’ve tried a couple of recipes from Practical Paleo already. A very nice friend lent it to me when I first started talking about trying a paleo diet. So far every recipe we’ve tried has been great. Two of my favourites so far are the stuffed peppers and the carrot gingerbread muffins. Tonight I made fiery jalapeno buffalo burgers with sweet potato pancakes as buns. Buffalo burgers are great because they have less cholesterol, less fat, and fewer calories than burgers made from beef or chicken. Sweet potatoes are a lot healthier than plain white buns. The sweet potato pancakes were super tasty and probably my favourite part of this recipe. While the bison burgers were really tasty, they weren’t fiery at all. Personally I would add a lot more spice and jalapeno or even chipotle peppers next time. After trying this recipe you’ll be convince that you should add Practical Paleo to your cookbook collection.

Sweet Potato Pancakes (pg. 298)

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons coconut flour
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 cups shredded sweet potato
• Coconut oil for pan frying

Directions

1. In a bowl, beat the eggs with the coconut flour, cinnamon, ground ginger and sea salt.
2. Mix in shredded sweet potatoes until will combined.
3. Add coconut oil to a large skillet over medium-low heat.
4. Spoon mixture into the skillet in cakes that are 4-6 inches in diameter.
5. Cook for about 2-3 minutes per side until they hold together, flipping once.

Fiery Jalapeno Buffalo Burgers (pg. 298)

Ingredients

• 1 jalapeno peper
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 lb ground bison
• sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Blacken skin of jalapeno pepper. Peel the skin off the pepper under cool running water. Chop, only including the white ribs and seeds if you like an extra spicy burger.
2. In a bowl, combine the meat, roasted pepper, and spices until will integrated. Form into four 4-ounce patties, adding a thumbprint dimple in the center to allow for even cooking.
3. Grill the burgers approximately 4-5 minutes per side or until they are done to your liking.

Let me know if you try this recipe. Did you like it? Did you do anything different?

Thai Style Meatballs

We recently moved from Beechwood (downtown Ottawa) to Orleans (the suburbs). On top of having a much bigger place with a backyard, which Nanook loves. Nanook and I also love having Lavergne Western Beef Inc. just up the road. Lavergne Western Beef Inc. is an old fashioned local meat shop supporting local farmers. It has some of the best meat in the city. Nanook loves the marrow bones and I love the steak and sausages. The last time I visited Lavergnes they had ground pork on special. Looking online I found this great recipe for Thai Style Meatballs.

I want my bone!

I love Thai food. The balance of sweet, sour, salty and bitter and the simplicity of the food is delicious. Thai cuisine also uses some of my favourite ingredients, ginger and coriander.  I found this recipe on the great recipe website food.com, you can find the original recipe HERE.

Thai Style Meatballs

Ingredients:

Dipping Sauce

• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh coriander
• 3 spring onions, chopped fine
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 garlic clove, chopped fine
• 1 mild chili, deseeded and finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon honey

Meatballs

• 50 g caster sugar (I just used white sugar)
• 3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
• 450 g ground lean pork
• 4 spring onions, chopped fine
• 1 garlic clove, chopped fine
• 2 teaspoons lemongrass, chopped fine
• 1 teaspoon cornflour
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh coriander
• salt and black pepper
• 1 tablespoon oil

Directions:

1. For the dipping sauce, whisk all the ingredients together and set aside. Start to prepare the meatballs.
2. Gently heat the sugar and fish sauce in a non-stick saucepan until the sugar has melted and mixture starts to thicken. Cool, then stir into the pork mince with the remaining ingredients mixing thoroughtly.
3. With damp hands, roll into 15-20 small balls, place on a plate and chill until ready to cook.
4. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan and fry the meatballs for 15-20 minutes, until brown and cooked through.
5. As an appetizer, serve the meatballs hot accompanied by the dipping sauce. For a main meal, serve with rice/noodles and a vegetable stir fry.