Ginger Miso Carrot Salad Dressing

After boozing and indulging over the weekend on Gili Air, Tim and I were craving a big healthy salad...  we remembered loving the crispy sesame and panko crusted chicken from this recipe, but I wanted to switch up the dressing a bit.  I decided to go with a ginger, miso and carrot dressing like the ones they sometimes put on those little crunchy salads at Japanese restaurants.

Good choice.  This dressing is fresh, zingy and pretty.  It's also easy; everything is just thrown into the food processor or blender and whizzed up.  We served it on a salad of mixed lettuce, cucumber, tomato, cilantro and sprouts.  I had wanted to add avocado, too, but mine wasn't quite ready for prime time.  Next time... would be good with edamame, too.  Tim requested some pickled veggies for the next salad.  Perhaps radishes?

Pretzel-Crusted Chicken and Spinach Salad with Strawberry Balsamic

I saw this recipe for pretzel-crusted chicken in the Washington Post's "All We Can Eat" blog this week and had to make it... it was so good! Super crunchy, slightly salty crust. Mmm. I made the sauce a little bit differently from the recipe, mostly because I was preoccupied while cooking, but it was still good- mayo, minced dill, a hint of honey and a hint of lemon juice.
Very loosely based on this recipe, we turned a little more of our abundant strawberry harvest into some sweet (but not overly so) strawberry salad dressing. Pureed strawberries with minced shallots, a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper... healthy and delicious on a salad with some tangy cheese (goat cheese or feta worked for us).

Steamed Lobsters and Green Salad with Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing

Martha brought some New England lobstahs (Massachusetts for "lobster") with her on the Amtrak from Massachusetts to DC, so we steamed 'em and served 'em up with garlic butter. Delicious!

We also had romaine salad with a homemade buttermilk blue cheese dressing... the flavor of the dressing was good, but the consistency was a little funky and chunky. Too thick for pouring onto a salad. Also, the color was a little disconcerting... please observe above in the square plastic container. Hmmm.

Honey Goat Cheese Salad Dressing

This is a fun new (for us) salad dressing that's super tasty... basically, rather than sprinkling your salad with bits of goat cheese, this dressing has the goat cheese whizzed in. Really tasty and creamy.

This dressing is sweet because of the honey, but I bet you could make a savory version with tarragon and shallots.

We served it on Bibb lettuce, shredded apples and carrots, chopped walnuts and dried cranberries.

P.S.: Chuck made the salad and dressing. Good work!

Beet, Walnut, Goat Cheese, Arugula Salad

As a starter for our tortellini-stuffed squash, I made this other fall favorite: a roasted beet salad with toasted walnuts, crumbled goat cheese and arugula. Lots of different textures and complimentary flavors!

Served with a shallot/red wine vinegar dressing (to which I added a little bit of dijon mustard, to help keep it emulsified).