Herb Dip

Yesterday was Easter.  For the past 7 years, we've spent Easter with the inlaw family in Iowa.  They are just 4 hours away, so it's easy to spend holidays with them.  Even when Jeff was deployed, JP and I traveled to Iowa for Easter.  We've enjoyed visiting with family and Jacob has enjoyed the small town Easter Egg hunt that's held on Saturday morning before Easter.  This year was a little different. JP had his league bowling awards and a bowling tournament on Saturday morning.  On Saturday afternoon, JP and I drove to Kansas City to pick up Jeff.  He's been in Seattle for the past 3 weeks.  On the way home, we met up with some geocaching friends in Topeka.  It was a normal busy Saturday before Easter!  So needless to say, we stayed in Kansas instead of traveling to Iowa.  No family this time, just friends.  A lot of military families depend on friends during the holidays...and this year we had a great Easter with friends!

We had Easter supper (remember, dinner is at noon!) at our friend Amy's house.  The menu was not the typical Easter meal...no ham, no leg of lamb.  Instead, we had turkey.  Amy's son went hunting on Saturday morning and brought home fresh turkey!  Fresh, wild turkey tastes very different than the turkey you usually eat on Thanksgiving.  We had a great time with some great friends.

One of the things that I brought for our Easter meal was Herb Dip and veggies.  Everyone liked the dip and gobbled (haha) up the veggies.  You can substitute dried herbs, but the fresh herbs really make the dip shine.  You can also change up the herbs you use...I think some fresh tarragon would be great!

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Herb Dip
1/2 c. fat free Greek yogurt (or fat free plain yogurt)
1/2 c. sour cream (I used reduced fat)
1/2 c. mayo
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. red wine vinegar
1/2 t. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. onion powder

2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped (or 2 T. dried parsley)
Fresh dill (I used about 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill)  (or 1-1/2 T. dried dill)
4 green onions, sliced...use the white and green part (or 1 T. dried chives)

Mix the yogurt, sour cream and mayo together.  Add the Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, sugar, salt and onion powder.  Chop the herbs and add to the dip base.  Mix well. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours and serve with veggies.

Salad Dressings

We love salad! Usually, we have salad for supper as the main dish once a week, sometimes more often...especially in the summer! If salad isn't the main dish, we often have a small salad with our supper. With a little planning, salads are quick and easy...and GOOD!

My downfall with salads is the dressing. I love salad dressings! They can make or break the salad. Jacob often eats his salads without the dressing, while Jeff likes Dorthy Lynch or French dressing. I like to be adventurous and try different salad dressings...which leads to the main purpose of this post. Salad dressings! I made 2 different salad dressings today, both new recipes (House Salad Dressing and Grandma's Salad Dressing.) I'm not sure where I got the recipes, they've been kicking around in my recipe box, scribbled on a sticky note. I made a few minor changes (used Splenda instead of sugar, 1/2 an onion instead of a whole and decreased the oil in both.) I also used Light Olive Oil instead of Canola, which the recipes called for. I'm also posting a tried and true salad dressing recipe, Mixed Herb Salad Dressing, which I love. I think these dressings would be awesome with fresh herbs! Feel free to use real sugar instead of Splenda, the full 1 cup of Canola oil, decrease or increase the onion/garlic or anything else to make them according to your tastes!

Enjoy~


House Salad Dressing
1/2 c. white vinegar
2 T. red wine vinegar
2 T. honey
1 T. sesame oil
1 t. dried rosemary
1 t. dried basil
1 t. dried marjoram
1 t. dry mustard powder
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 c. light olive oil

In a food processor, whirl all ingredients together except olive oil. Pulse 3-4 times. Turn on the food processor, and in a slow and steady stream, pour in the oil. Pour into an empty jar, or vinaigrette shaker. Refrigerate overnight. If you don't have a food processor, you can use a blender. Or you also could whisk the ingredients together, and whisk before serving.

This salad dressing was pretty good. Next time I would decrease the garlic to 1 clove...it was a little too garlicy for my taste. This would make an awesome marinade for chicken! I will keep this in my recipe file! Hope you do, too!


Grandma's Salad Dressing
1/2 c. light olive oil
3/4 c. white vinegar
1 c. Splenda
1/2 c. ketchup
1 T. honey
2 t. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 onion chopped

In a food processor, whirl the onion until finely chopped. Add the other ingredients except the oil. Pulse 3-4 times. Turn on the food processor and in a slow and steady stream, pour in the oil. Pour into an empty jar or vinaigrette shaker. Refrigerate overnight. If you don't have a food processor, you can use a blender. Or you also could whisk the ingredients together, and whisk before serving.

This salad dressing is similar to Catalina. It was good, but a little too sweet. Next time I will decrease the Splenda/sugar to 2/3 c. instead of 1 cup. I was a little strong in the onion department and I was worried it would overpower the salad. However, the flavor worked well once it was on the salad. I will keep this recipe in my file! Enjoy~


Mixed Herb Salad Dressing
6 T. white vinegar
6 T. light olive oil
1 finely chopped shallot
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. dried chives
1/2 t. dried chervil
1/2 t. dried tarragon
1/2 t. dried dill weed

In a small bowl, whisk the vinegar, oil, shallot and seasonings until blended. Refrigerate.

LOVE THIS ONE! It reminds me of the house dressings in Germany.




Left: Mixed Herb Salad Dressing
Middle: Grandma's Salad Dressing
Right: House Salad Dressing