Thousand Island Dressing

One of my favorite junk foods growing up was the Big Mac. It was the special sauce that sold me on it. It's creamy, sweet, salty, and crunchy. However, as an adult, I find this iconic sandwich somewhat lacking--to get the sauce, I have to have the dehydrated onions and the thin, beef-ish patties, too? No thanks. Instead, I learned to make the sauce at home so I could add it to any burger I pleased. And you can use for many different things! Top a salad with it, or pour it into a small bowl and use it to dip your fries. Let's see just how easy it is, shall we?

This is how easy it is! Six ingredients easy.

Plop some mayo in a bowl.

Add a few squirts of ketchup.

 Add a splash of vinegar. I was going to use white vinegar, but all our white vineger is for cleaning and in huge gallon jugs. I didn't feel like trying to pour a tablespoon of vinegar out of a huge gallon-sized jug. Plus, I like cider vinegar better anyway.

A sprinkling of sugar makes it sweet.

On to the cutting stuff. I cut myself a ring of onion.

Then I chopped it up fine.

Yeah, I did the "lazy" cut. But uniform dices weren't really the goal here (or, so I tell myself to justify cutting it this way.) I just needed little bits of onion.

Check out these great pickles. I was talked into buying these little baby cucumbers at the market last month. I love the sweet pickles called cornichons, and a friend in culinary school happened to have a great recipe for them. They're so crunchy and sweet, I love them! Of course, my favorite way to eat them is on top of a piece of crusty bread smothered with pate.

Pick out a few pickles. If you don't have cornichons, sweet pickles or even relish is fine here. And if you use relish, you don't even have to mince them.

Since I used whole pickles, I did have to mince.

The pickles and onions went into the bowl of mayonnaise. And I remembered to use salt and pepper.

Ah, there it is. That familiar pink-ish dressing that adorns the most famous burger in the world.

Only this is a hundred times better.

I slathered some sauce onto my burger bun.

Mmmm.
















Use this dressing as a salad dressing, on a burger, or even as a french fry dip. Change it up to suit your personality--use sour pickles instead of sweet, or add some heat with a jalapeno pepper. Use sriracha or cocktail sauce instead of ketchup. For a slightly healthier idea, try Greek yogurt instead of mayo, and use fresh cucumbers instead of pickles.

Recipe: Thousand Island Dressing

1/2 c. mayonnaise
3 tbsp. ketchup
1 tbsp. vinegar
2 tsp. sugar
3 tbsp. relish or chopped sweet pickle
1 tsp. minced onion
salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl; stir to combine. Let sit at least an hour for flavors to blend.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus With Pita Chips

I've been wanting to make hummus for a while but never remembered to look for tahini (one of the main components) at the grocery store. I was able to pick some up the other week and decided it was time to treat myself to some homemade hummus.

Apart from the difficulty of tracking down tahini, hummus is really easy to make. It takes about 5 minutes, and you can easily customize it to suit your personal tastes.

The first thing I did was open the can of garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas). I drained off the liquid but kept it nearby. It's nice to save in case you need to thin the hummus later.

Dump the chickpeas into your handy-dandy food processor.

Add a big spoonful of tahini to the chickpeas.

Tahini is a paste made of sesame seeds and olive oil. You can keep tahini in the fridge for several months after opening. I bought mine from a co-op, but I think you can find it in some grocery stores, online, or you could make your own (which, given the amount of seeds, wouldn't be cheap, but I bet it would taste good.)

I'd start with a small spoonful and then add more as needed.

I gave the processor a quick whirr, just to make a little room for the rest of the ingredients. I added some lemon juice--you could add as little as a couple tablespoons, but after tasting and re-tasting, I ended up adding the juice of a whole lemon, which is about 1/4 a cup. Again, like the tahini, start with the smallest amount and then add more if your taste buds desire.

Roasted red peppers gave my hummus a nice red color and a gentle peppery flavor.

I initially added two large pieces of pepper, and then added another one later on. My small jar was 4 oz.; I think I added around 3/4 of the jar.

A couple cloves of garlic were next--I love garlic so I added three cloves. You could leave it out if you don't like garlic, or you could add as many cloves as you like.

I seasoned everything with just a tiny bit of salt, and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper. I wanted a fair amount of heat, so I added about half a teaspoon of cayenne.

A drizzle of olive oil will smooth out the hummus and add a little richness.

Give the food processor a quick grind. If your mixture is too thick, add the liquid from the beans a bit at a time.

And, with just a few spins of your food processor, you'll have yourself some hummus!

I love hummus with pita bread.

To make pita chips, I use a scissors to cut the pitas into wedges.

I lay them out in a single layer on a baking sheet and give them a light drizzle of olive oil.

If you wanted, now would be a good time to add some coarse salt or a light coating of spice (maybe Ras el Hanout or some five spice) to add an additional depth of flavor.

The chips went into a 350F oven; 15 minutes for warmed pitas, 25-30 for crisp chips.




I love to eat hummus drizzled with some olive oil with pita chips and cold slices of cucumber. Heaven!

Of course, this is an easy recipe to customize. Leave the red pepper out and you've got ordinary hummus. Roast your garlic over the stove or in the oven and you've got roasted garlic hummus. Make it more Mediterranean by using sundried or roasted tomatoes, and top with shredded basil or hummus, and some pine nuts. Use black beans and chipotles for a southwestern app. There are even recipes out there for fruit hummuses!

Recipe: Roasted Red Pepper Hummus With Pita Chips

1 can garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas); reserve liquid
1 spoonful (about 1/4-1/3 c.) tahini
3 tbsp. lemon juice (start with that and add more as desired)
3 oz. roasted red peppers
2-3 garlic cloves
salt
pinch (or more, if desired) cayenne pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil

pita bread
olive oil

In a food processor, combine chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, red peppers, garlic, salt, cayenne pepper, and olive oil. Add canned liquid from beans if mixture is too thick. Pulse until mixture is smooth and all ingredients have been pureed and well-combined. Adjust flavors for personal taste.

Cut pita bread into wedges. Spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet; drizzle lightly with olive oil. Bake at 350F for 15-30 minutes (depending on crunch preference.)

Serve!

Guacamole

One of my favorite chip dips is guacamole! I love avocados, with their creamy interior and mild flavor. And they're just so pretty!

Some people are afraid of avocados because they don't know how to approach them. But they're really very easy to pick out, and very easy to work with.

Select avocados that are firm but have a slight give. The skin should look shiny and healthy, and the place where the stem was should still be green and fresh looking.

If you're good at planning ahead, buy a couple of avocados ahead of time and let them ripen on your kitchen counter. Speed the process up by keeping the avocados in a paper bag.

Just run your knife around the outside of the avocado, so it's cut in half.

Twist the halves apart to reveal the inside of the avocado.

To remove the seed, make sure the avocado is on a stable surface (or hold the avocado in a towel, to protect your hand) and tap the seed gently with the blade of your knife.

The towel is there to protect your hand in case your avocado is on the slippery side. Your knife might slip and you could cut yourself. Be careful!

Twist the knife a little and the seed should pop right out.

Spoon the avocado flesh out of the skin and give it a good mash with a fork or potato masher.

Now it's time for some chopping. I used one avocado. I used a clove of garlic and some jalapeno for flavor--an equal amount of each. You can adjust both of these to suit your taste.

Also, I cut the bottom part off the jalapeno, rather than split the pepper in half. This way, I minimize contact with the inside of the pepper, and I don't have to scrape out the seeds and membrane.

Give the garlic and jalapeno a good, thorough dice.

Dice some red onion, too. It's so pretty with the green avocado.

Cilantro is next on the chopping block. I love fresh cilantro. But I know some people are not fans. If you're not a cilantro lover, parsley would be an okay substitute.

Dice a pretty red tomato to bring out the green in the guacamole.

Zest half a lime. Make sure to get the green part of the lime only--the white part will be bitter.

Cut your lime in half and squeeze the juice out of one of those halves. This not only adds some citrus-y zing, but will also help your avocados stay green.

Stir everything together (and don't forget to salt and pepper everything!)















Serve with tortilla chips and go a little south of the border! If you're making this ahead of time, scrape everything together in a nice pile and cover with plastic wrap. Make sure the plastic wrap is touching the guacamole. That will help ensure that your gauc doesn't turn brown.

 

Recipe: Guacamole

1 ripe avocado

1 large garlic clove, finely minced

about 1/4 of a jalapeno pepper, finely minced

1/3 of a red onion, diced

handful of cilantro, minced

1 tomato, diced

zest and juice from half a lime

salt and pepper, to taste

Cut avocado in half. Remove seed, and scoop flesh from skin. Mash the avocado flesh thoroughly.

Add remaining ingredients. Mix well. Serve!

Creamy, Cheesy Chip Dip

Sorry for the lack of postings! I've been under the weather. But now I'm feeling fine and am back to blogging!

This is one of my favorite dips to make for friends and family. It's so easy and tastes like something you'd order in a restaurant. It's not healthy for you--but come on, it's got to be better than that fake cheese microwaved with salsa, right?

Begin by opening a package of softened cream cheese.

It's really important that the cream cheese is room temperature. Otherwise you're going to have a heck of a time blending everything together! If you're strapped for time, a mixer and some beaters or a few seconds in the microwave will help you out.

Empty a small container of sour cream into the bowl. Don't throw away the container!

Use the container to measure out your salsa. I add an equal amount, so just fill the sour cream container to the top with the salsa of your choice.

Top everything off with a cup and a half of shredded cheese. I used a Mexican cheese blend but whatever you like (or have on hand) is fine.

I like to add some fire-roasted chiles, too, for some depth of flavor.

I accidentally bought whole chiles, rather than the already-diced kind, so I had to do my own dicing.

There were three chiles in my can--I used a chile and a half. I tossed the other chile and a half into a plastic bag and into the freezer, to use another time.

Don't forget to add salt and pepper! I used a little smoked salt, but regular salt is just fine.

Stir everything together (which should be an easy task, if your cream cheese was soft enough!)

The first few times I made this, I spooned it into a big, oven-safe bowl. But then I realized that we're just two adults here, and that's a heck of a lot of dip. So now I use small, oven-safe ramekins so we can heat them up in individual portions. I get about six ramekins full of dip.













Cover your oven-safe dish with foil and pop in the oven. If you're using a ramekin, it'll take about 30 minutes to heat through. If you're heating everything up at once, it'll be more like 50-55 minutes. You could even heat this up in a bread bowl or a crock pot (set on low!) if you were having, say, a Superbowl party ;) Serve with toast points, pieces of sourdough bread, crackers, or chips.

Recipe: Creamy, Cheesy Chip Dip

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
8 oz. sour cream
8 oz. salsa
1 1 /2 c. shredded cheese
2 oz. (half a can) diced fire-roasted chiles
salt and pepper, to taste


Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine all ingredients. Pour into oven-safe dish. Cover with tinfoil. Bake 50-55 minutes until completely heated through. Serve.