Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette (with a crunchy salad)

I remember buy this bottle of sesame dressing from some Asian market.  It was pretty tasty. i would drizzle it all over coating everything with that sesame goodness. I went to a crunchy salad. Chopped carrots, bell pepper, almond slices. and to add an extra crunch, instead of croutons I put in ramen noodle. straight from the pack that i crunched up into pieces. In reality those ramen noodles are precooked to help dehydtrate them for packaging. So they're really ready to eat.

Makes 1/3 cup - Serves 2-3

Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette (with a crunchy salad)

3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp fresh ginger - grated or fine chopped
1/2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Combine all ingredients together.and drizzle of your salad

Salad
1 small head of lettuce - chopped
1 carrot - chopped
1 bell pepper - chopped
1/2 c almond slices
1 pack ramen noodles - minus seasoning and crumbled

Toss all the ingredients together and drizzle the vinaigrette over.

Sweet and Sour Crunchy Salad

This is one salad that's full of crunch. There's really not much I can say about this one is that it was crunchy. I'm trying to find more ways to jazz up the old conventional salad. By making different vinaigrettes and dressing or by adding different ingredients I didn't put it in before. I was always a caesar salad kind of girl, so I never really ventured out into trying other varieties. So I mixed up a little sweet and sour vinaigrette to "sort of" give it this salad a nice little Asian taste as well as adding some crumbled tortilla chips for an added crunch. It was also a great way for me to use up some leftover celery and carrots. Even more crunch! Crrrruuuuuunch!!! Can you hear that?

Serves 2

Sweet and Sour Crunchy Salad

1/2 head of medium lettuce
1 small carrot - chopped
1 celery stalk - chopped
1/4 c sliced almonds
1 c grape tomatoes - halved
1 c crumbled tortilla chips

Toss all ingredients together.

Sweet and Sour Vinaigrette

2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp sugar
pepper

combine all ingredients together and toss into your mix of salad.

POM Ginger Vinaigrette

Salad-licious. I'm not afraid to say it. I love salads. I used to fall under the category "I loathe salads," but over the years, it has won me over.


Makes roughly 1 cup

POM Ginger Vinaigrette

1/3 c POM juice
2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 Tbsp Lemon juice
1 tsp fresh ginger - minced
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp Olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Combine All ingredients together and season lightly with some salt and pepper. It should be a deep red-ish in color.

B.A.T.L. Salad with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

A bacon, avocado, tomato and lettuce. B.A.T.L.  Another way of saying it is a BLT sandwich in a bowl with avocado. I was in the mood for something relatively light. It's been a while since I've made myself a good salad and I didn't want to cook anything heavy either. Besides I love salads especially when they have a good vinaigrette to go into it.

I made a roasted garlic vinaigrette with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, some dry herbs, and a few cloves of roasted garlic that I minced up and mixed all of is together. Crumbled the bacon over the salad like those Bacos bacon bits. Remember those? They tasted like bacon, but I'm sure they were made of something else. I also made some croutons by cutting up some bread, tossing it a tiny bit of olive oil and toasting it in the oven.

A sandwich in a bowl. I like the sound of that. This is great for those watching carbs, too. Though, i'm not one of them.

Serves 2

B.A.T.L. Salad

1 ripe avocado
1 large ripe tomato - diced or 1 lb cherry or grape tomato
1 medium head lettuce (red leaf, romaine, or iceberg)
4 bacon strips
roasted garlic vinaigrette (recipe below)
croutons (optional)
shredded cheese (optional)

In a skillet, cook the bacon strips until it is brown and crisp. Place on a paper towel to remove any excess fat.

Assemble the salad together and crumble the bacon over the top along the croutons. Drizzle the garlic vinaigrette over. Sprinkle a little bit of cheese.

Note: To make homemade croutons, cut a couple slices of bread into squares. Toss it in a little olive oil and toast in a 350˚F preheated oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until lightly brown and toasted.

Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette


4 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dry oregano
1 tsp dry thyme
salt and pepper


Roast the garlic cloves in a 375˚F oven until they are soft and lightly browned.

Let the garlic cool a little bit before handling them.

Combin the balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, olive oil, dry basil and thyme. Mince the garlic and add to the vinagrette. Whisk together and season with a little salt and pepper to taste.

Note: You can also us a blender or food processor.

Cucumber Salad

Today is just a little simple easy salad. Perfect as a side dish or an appetizer. I had bought some Persian cucumbers from the farmer's market. I had almost forgotten that I had them, too. Eek!!

Anyway, this salad is perfect for those who don't want to eat those leafy greens. Just the word "salad" brings fear into people's eyes. Add the word "cucumber" and maybe it will ease their minds a bit.  It's not as bad as some of you may think. Salads are good and healthy. I like to eat at least 2-3 times a week depending on the menu I have planned.  Besides, salads don't always have to be made from lettuce.

I scooped out the seeds from the cucumbers and sliced them into half moons. I let it marinate in a dill vinaigrette for 5-10 minutes to let the flavors soak into the cucumber. This is one salad that can be made in advance.

Serves 2



Cucumber Salad

5 small persian cucumbers or 2 long cucumbers

Dill Vinaigrette
3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
salt


In a bowl, whisk together the rice wine vinegar, olive oil, sugar and dill. Season with a pinch of salt.

Take the cucumbers and cut them in half length wise. Quarter them, if needed.  Scoop out the seeds and discard. Slice the halves into 1/8-inch half moon slices.

Place in a large bowl and drizzle over the vinaigrette mixture. Let the salad stand for roughly 5-10 min to let the vinaigrette marinate the cucumber slices.

Chinese Chicken Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette

One of my favorite salads is the Chinese Chicken Salad from Joan's on Third here in LA. I remember when I worked at a production company in Hollywood, every time we ordered from there, I would always get the Chinese Chicken Salad and one of their delicious cupcakes. It was so good. It's been a while since I had it. Plus now-a-days, I try to avoid eating out as much.

To appease my Chinese chicken salad craving, I made my own for dinner several night ago. Let's see this salad consists of a mix of shredded lettuce, carrot, cucumber and parsley. I baked a chicken breast with some seasoning and I pan-fried some wonton strips. You know...those delicious crispy things that Chinese restaurants sometimes serve as an appetizer with their sweet and/or mustard sauce. To bring it all together I made a ginger vinaigrette using fresh grated ginger.

About the seasoning for the chicken, I had gotten a sample of some of Emeril's seasonings. Yes, the guy who yells "BAM!" I received the original and chicken rub seasonings along with some of his brand of chicken stock and horseradish mustard. One of the perks of being a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher is trying out products. I figured I'd try the chicken rub for this. It had my usual chicken seasoning of salt, pepper, and paprika plus some extra spices. But you can make the chicken any way you want. I was really please with the taste. I just rubbed a little olive oil some of the chicken rub and baked for roughly 25min. The result was a nice tender juicy chicken. Yum! I remember I had also gotten a coupon for a free bottle of Nakano rice wine vinegar. I've used them before and I like the taste of it. It just so happened that I was running low on that, so it was perfect timing that I got to use the coupon.

From the picture it seems a lot, but trust me, it's not. The lettuce that makes it look so big. So don't be afraid by this. I'm a small person and this was just the right amount for me. Not too filling and not too light. It was just right.

Serves 2.




Chinese Chicken Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette

1 large chicken breast
salt
pepper
paprika
Olive oil
additional spices (optional)
1/2 head iceberg or romaine lettuce (shredded)
1 carrot (shredded)
1/2 chopped fresh parsley (chopped)
1 medium cucumber (chopped or sliced)

Ginger Vinaigrette:
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp sesame seeds
salt to season

Wonton Strips:
8 wonton sheets (cut into slices)
canola or peanut oil, if pan-frying
Olive oil, if baking
salt

Note: you can use prepackage salad mix and ready made wonton strips, if you're limited on time.


Preheat your oven to 400˚F

Lightly rub the chicken with a little olive oil and season the with salt, pepper and paprika. you may use your own rub or seasonings.

Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for roughly 25min until chicken is cooked through.

When cooked remove from the oven and cover with foil. Let it sit for 5 min to let the juices redistribute. Cut or shred into pieces before mixing salad together.

At the same time while the chicken in baking, you can make the wonton strips. Cut them into 1/2-inch strips.

If pan-frying, coat the bottom of skillet with a good drizzle of oil (1/4-inch deep) on a med to high heat. When the oil is really hot drop in strip for 5-10 sec, flip if needed then place on a paper towel to drain off excess oil. Season with a little salt

If baking, lightly grease a baking sheet, layout the strip and brush or drizzle some olive oil and sprinkle a little salt over the strips. Bake for 3-5 min on a 400˚F oven. Or 2-3 in the broiler.

For the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.


Putting it all together:

Mix the lettuce, carrot, parsley and cucumber. Top or mix in the chicken and wonton strips.
The vinaigrette MUST be added right before serving.

Watermelon Vinaigrette

What else can you make a vinaigrette out of? So far, I've done pineapple and honey-mustard. Now I've move on to watermelon. Since summer is right around the corner, it's the perfect time to start eating some summer foods. Fruity and deliciously good. A nice little tang from the vinegar melding with the mellow flavor of the watermelon.

I served it with some of the Grilled Yogurt Marinated Chicken Tenders over a bed of butter lettuce salad. Showing the butter alone looked a little boring and too green. Plus the vinaigrette tasted really good with the chicken.

I'm submitting this to this week's BSI: Watermelon hosted by Kim at The Ungourmet.

Makes 1 cup.



Watermelon Vinaigrette

1 c watermelon pieces (deseeded)
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar or red wine vinegar
2-3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp sugar
pepper
Salt

Pureé the watermelon pieces in a blender, food processor, with an emulsifier or you can mash it by hand. (Feel free to strain the blend after to remove the watermelon bits, but I like the bits in there.)

Combine the watermelon with the vinegar, oil and sugar. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Adjust ingredients according to taste.


The pic below is the color of the finished vinaigrette since it's not as noticeable on the salad. It's like the color of the sun. Perfect for summer!!

Pineapple Vinaigrette

Something a super simple today. It's the weekend. Weekends have to be easy and simple. When I opened the can of pineapple bits, I had all this lovely juice that came along with it. I didn't want to waste the tasty liquid. I usually drink it straight up, but I wasn't in the mood. So my other alternative was to make a dressing.

You can't tell too much from the pictures but the vinaigrette is on there over the avocado, tomato, romaine heart, baby cucumber and cheese.

It's a nice change from the usual the balsamic and honey-mustard vinaigrette.


Pineapple Vinaigrette

5 Tbsp Pineapple Juice
4 Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
4 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
pinch of Salt & Pepper to season

Combine all ingredients and drizzle over you mix of greens. You can adjust the amount according to your taste. Enjoy!

Greens with a drizzle of Honey-Mustard Vinaigrette

It's a lot of green and a little bit of whatever color canned tuna is. Doesn't matter. The vinaigrette makes up for all the green-ness in this dish. Maybe it's my way of being a little earth conscious on this Earth Day. See the connection there? Earth...green...vegetation...salad.

With the weather being summer hot early this week, I wasn't really in the mood to spend a whole lot of time in the kitchen, where the heat can definitely add up.

Sliced up some romaine hearts that I had gotten from the farmers market, cucumber (peeled), half an avocado, and added some the leftover tuna salad from the T.M.T. Drizzled over some of the sweet and tangy Honey-Mustard Vinaigrette and...viola! Dinner without the hassle. Give me a small bottle of Perrier and a couple of Samoas cookies for dessert to go along with this and I'm satisfied.

It's delicious, healthy and just right.


Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
1/3 c Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 1/2 Tbsp Honey
Juice of one small lemon (roughly 2 Tbsp)
salt and pepper to season

Blend well and pour over on your favorite salad mix.