Michael's Cucumber Yogurt

This is a delightful garnish for lamb, beef, burgers or other sandwiches... or just eat it right out of the bowl!

Michael's Cucumber Yogurt
nutrition facts

Ingredients:

1 large cucumber
1 cup plain yogurt
1 pinch dill
1 T white wine vinegar
Optional: 1/2 t sugar or packet of Splenda

Directions:

Rinse and slice a few pieces of cucumber to serve as the garnish. Then peel and slice the cucumber in half. Remove seeds with melon baller - or just use an English or seedless cucumber.

Dice the cucumber and mix with the plain yogurt. Add a pinch of dill, a bit of chives, and/or a splash or two of white wine vinegar and stir.

Crazypotato98’s Mild Pico De Gallo

Using a variety of peppers and the delicious mildly flavored nopales (flat cactus), Crazypotato98 created the perfect mild Pico de Gallo. Enjoy as much of this as you like – I suggest using it to top your scrambled eggs!

Nopales is eaten commonly and regularly forms
part of a variety of Mexican cuisine dishes 

The nutrition facts were made at Calorie Count!

Mild Pico De Gallo

Ingredients:

(Makes 6 servings)

2 green bell peppers

1 jalapeño pepper

2 poblano peppers

½ onion

1/2 clove garlic

4 Roma tomatoes

1 cup nopales, cooked* and cooled


*(directions are in this recipe)

Directions:

Seed, de-vein and dice all peppers.

Seed and dice tomatoes.

Chop garlic and onion.

Stir all together and serve or refrigerate overnight.

Hollie's Salsa Verde

When I go out for a delicious Tex-Mex dinner, I particularly enjoy the Salsa Verde. Now that I have Hollie's simple recipe, I don't have to wait for dinner out to enjoy this delightful sauce. Dip a few chips in some this weekend!

The nutrition facts can be found at Calorie Count.

tomatillos!

Salsa Verde

Ingredients:

3 tomatillos, pealed, cores removed, left whole to retain the juices
1 white onion, halved and skinned
2 serano peppers, halved
5 cloves garlic, skinned
1 avocado, peeled and diced
3 tbs lemon or lime juice
olive oil to drizzle
1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions:

Preheat broiler.

Place tomatillos, onion, seranos, and garlic in baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt.

Broil about 15-20 minutes until charred on top. Allow to cool about 10 minutes.

In a glass blender, puree roasted veggies until smooth.

Add avocado and lemon/lime juice and blend to desired consistency.

Place in airtight container and chill before serving.

Lasts about 2 weeks in fridge. If color begins to brown, add a splash of lemon juice and stir.

Musicmissionary's Grape Juice Dressing & Nutty Salad

The nutrition facts for this lovely fruity vinaigrette can be found at Calorie Count!

Grape Juice Dressing

Ingredients:

1 cup red grape juice
1/3 cup olive oil
½  tsp. Ground ginger
1 TBS Cinnamon sugar
½  tsp Nutmeg

Directions:

Combine ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.  Adjust seasonings to suit.

Serve with Nutty Salad!

Nutty Salad

Ingredients:

1 bag Spring Greens mix (minimal calories!)
2 handfuls Sliced or slivered almonds (24 whole almonds have 163 calories)
2 handfuls Craisins (1/3 cup has 130 calories)

Directions:

Toss ingredients together, cover with some of the dressing and re-toss so that each ingredient is well coated with dressing.

Janice's Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

The nutrition facts are at Calorie Count!

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Serves 2 on large salads (40 calories)
Serves 3 on medium salads (30 calories)

Ingredients:

2 T 0% fat Greek Yogurt
1 T light mayonnaise
1 T low fat buttermilk
1 t lemon juice
1/4 t Dijon mustard
1/8 t onion powder
1/8 t garlic powder
1/8 t dried parsley flakes
1/4 t minced shallot
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Measure and mix all ingredients together in a bowl shortly before serving - either on a salad or as a veggie dip. Taste and increase individual seasonings to your taste, this is a very fragrant, but mild starter dressing.

Notes:

Increase the proportions by doubling to match the number of guests.

Easily thinned with more buttermilk or use less buttermilk for a thicker consistency and dip veggie into it. 


Consider adding a little celery seed or chives or other fresh herb minced fine.

If you make it ahead of time and it gets too thick sitting in the fridge, just add a little buttermilk (1/2 teaspoon at a time) til it's just right.

For some of you, the shallot will be too intense of a flavor, so you may want to use a little less and taste to see if you like it.

Can be stored in a little sealed container for a few days, but dressing is best made fresh so don't make too big a batch.

Janice's Basic Vinaigrette

I don't use much bottled dressing because this is so easy - once I read the ingredient labels I found it very hard to use the bottled stuff on my salads. Warning: Only read those labels if you plan to start making your own dressing. Once nice thing is, I don't have to worry about storage as it makes just enough for the two of us. So I never have to play the "just how old IS this bottle" game. So easy to increase portions if you do want to make a few days worth or have a large family. Also easy to adjust in a million ways, so read the Notes section below!

The nutrition facts are at Calorie Count!

Basic Vinaigrette

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 garlic clove, minced - or equivalent dried garlic
1 t lemon juice, fresh squeezed
1 t balsamic vinegar
1 T olive oil
salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a small bowl such as a custard cup, mix well with a fork and put on the salads right before dinner.

Notes:

My favorite California olive oil comes from Sciabica! You can get a lot of good info on olive oil at their website to help you select the perfect oil for your salad.

For variety, use only lemon juice, only vinegar, swap the proportions of vinegar and oil, add a bit of Dijon mustard (my fave), or a bit of dried ground mustard. Also good is a bit of onion powder or shallot minced fine. Use this as a starter and then adjust it totally to your taste for each day.

Make sure you use freshly squeezed lemon juice and that your vinegar, if balsamic, is from Modena. You can easily change the vinegar to any type you prefer - wine, garlic infused, etc.

Janice's BBQ Sauce with Lemon

This is my go-to BBQ sauce for chicken, pork, and ribs. Adjust the cayenne (or Tabasco) sauce to your heat preferences.

The nutrition facts are at Calorie Count!

BBQ Sauce with Lemon

Ingredients:

2 T butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 sweet red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 C celery, finely chopped
2 T vinegar
4 T lemon juice, juice some fresh lemons instead of using it from a jar!
2 T brown sugar
1/2 t cayenne pepper - or Tabasco sauce
3 T Worcestershire sauce
1 C ketchup, read the labels - you can get no HFCS ketchup!
1/2 T ground mustard
1 T celery seed
2 T olive oil
up to 1/2 C water

Directions:

Combine butter, onion, pepper, and celery in a saucepan and simmer for a few minutes. Add everything but the water and simmer on low stirring every now and then for about 12-15 minutes. If the sauce looks too thick, thin it a bit with water - this sauce works wonderfully as a "glaze".

Taste and adjust seasonings to your preference.

Notes:

I do not cook with salt, you may want to add a little at the end, but try it this way first and be judicious with the salt.

Hollie's Pico De Gallo

There is no need to spend all that money buying a jar of salsa or Pico de gallo when it is so easy to make a fresh batch whenever you want it. This simple recipe is easily expanded or altered to taste. Enjoy some today.

The nutrition facts are at Calorie Count! 

Pico De Gallo on a taco!

Pico De Gallo

Ingredients:

2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/2 medium white onion, chopped
1 serano or jalapeno pepper, ribs and seeds removed, then finely chopped
1/8 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup lemon or lime juice
1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions:

Chop, measure, and combine all ingredients and serve chilled. 

 Notes:

serves about 6 as an appetizer to load onto taco chips or as a condiment for burritos and tacos. Adjust the amount of pepper to your taste. Just as great without the salt!

About 10 minutes to prep, 30 minutes+ to chill, about 10 minutes to totally consume.