Wedge Salad

     I know I have taken another few weeks off for a vacation and to work on my first cookbook.  I'm back now and hope to write in my blog more regularly.
     I have chosen a wedge salad because they are so popular in restaurants and usually have one or more ingredients I can't have.  If I ask for too many changes, the salad no more resembles what it set out to be so I decided to make it for myself at home.  Here is my version which I hope you enjoy.

                                                           Wedge Salad

Dressing
2/3 cup mayonnaise
3 tblsp. lactose free milk
1/4 tsp. each herbes de Provence, dill weed, onion powder and garlic salt

     Mix together and set aside

     Cook 4 slices of regular or turkey bacon until crisp and drain on a paper towel.
   
     Chop 1/4 cup of pecans.

     Measure out 4 tsp. goat cheese crumbles or cut 4 tsp. off a roll of goat cheese and crumble.

     To assemble 2 wedge salads cut a head of lettuce in half and cut one half in half again.  Those halves will go on the serving plates.  The remaining half head of lettuce can be wrapped and returned to the refrigerator.

     On each wedge on the plate pour 3 tblsp. salad dressing, crumble 2 slices of the bacon, 2 tblsp. of the pecans and 2 tsp. of the goat cheese crumbles.

   

   

Mixed Berry Milk Shake

     With the summer heat upon us a nice cool milk shake is a great way to cool down.  While I watch everyone else enjoy theirs in a restaurant I'm having water or juice but I know as soon as I get home I'm having a milk shake too.  This is one of my favorites with the berries and sorbet to intensify the flavor.

                                                                       Mixed Berry Milk Shake
1/2 cup mixed berries, defrosted if frozen
1 scoop of lactose free ice cream
1 scoop of raspberry sorbet
1/4 cup of lactose milk

     Put all ingredients in a blender or a bowl with high sides so you can use a stick blender.  Pulse until the ingredients are blended but not mushy.  You want the malt to retain a thick consistency.  Makes a milk shake for one.

Mango Peach Milk Shake for Two

     I'm working on remaking my milk shake recipes since we are beginning to get warm weather and my previous recipes using Silk Fruit & Protein Mixed Berry drink is no longer available.  Following is the beginning of my series of new milk shake recipes.  I hope they keep you cool.

                                                  Mango Peach Milk Shake for Two

6 peach slices, peel removed
2 scoops lactose free vanilla ice cream
3 scoops mango sorbet scoops

     Put the peaches, scoops of lactose free vanilla ice cream and two scoops of mango sorbet in a blender.  Blend until smooth.   Pour into two glasses.  Put a scoop of mango sorbet on the top of each milk shake and a straw and serve.

Honey Mustard Dressing and Salmon Salad

     I recently took an adventurous cross country train trip.  Train travel is very different from plane or car travel, to say the least.  It is life at a slow pace.  You can see the country very close up and meet other people because in the dining car you sit four to a table so there were always two other people at our table that my husband and I didn't know.  Usually that was good, sometimes we hurried through our meal.  My suggestion if you are spending any nights on the train is to get at least a roomette.  My husband and I were comfortable in that space although if you don't like to be in small spaces you might want to consider something larger.  Sleeping in a real bed makes all the difference in how you feel about travel.  Also there are bumps along the way sometimes.  Remember these are the same tracks used by freight trains and they have priority over passenger trains.
     The food on the train was surprisingly good.  I, of course, was limited in what I could eat.  However, they provided soy milk for cereal, no dairy in the scrambled eggs, and made other exceptions such as leaving off sauces.  All in all it way as successful vacation.

                                                Honey Mustard Dressing and Salmon Salad

Honey mustard dressing
2 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup dijon style mustard
1/4 cup honey
     Mix all ingredients together until smooth.  Refrigerate.  Makes 2 1/2 cups

Salmon Salad
7 1/2 oz. canned salmon, pink or red
3 tblsp. mayonnaise
1 tblsp. sweet pickle relish
1 head of butter lettuce
1/4 cup shredded carrots

     Drain the canned salmon and pick out the bones and brown part of the salmon.  Mix the remaining salmon with the mayonnaise and pickle relish.
     On two luncheon plates arrange the cleaned butter lettuce.  Put a large scoop of the salmon salad in the middle.  Sprinkle the shredded carrots around the lettuce.  Drizzle 1 to 2 tblsp. of the honey mustard dressing on the lettuce carrots.  Serves 2.

Macaroni Salad

     Mother's Day will soon be here and it will be a chance to honor those women in our lives who do so much for us.  However, it doesn't mean you have to slave over a hot stove all day.  You can make a nice lunch without all the fuss.  

                                                        Macaroni Salad

1 1/2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
2 tsp. margarine
1/4 cup mayonaisse
1/4 cup soy sour cream
2 tblsp. sweet pickle relish
2 tblsp. grated carrots
1 tblsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. garlic salt

     Cook the macaroni according to package directions in water with the margarine.  After it is cooked and drained, set aside and let it cool to room temperature.
     Mix the remaining ingredients together and when the macaroni is at room temperature mix with the macaroni and refrigerate until ready to serve.  This salad can be made a day or two ahead of when you want to serve it.  The flavor will only improve.

 

Elegant Tuna Sandwich

     Mother's Day will soon be here and it will be a chance to honor those women in our lives who do so much for us.  While my own mother and mother-in-law are now gone I have two daughters, one who is celebrating her first Mother's Day and I want it to be special for both of them.

                                                    Elegant Tuna Sandwich

Sandwich mixture:
1 5 oz. can tuna, drained
2 tblsp. mayonnaise
1 tblsp. sweet pickle relish

Per sandwich:
2 slices of preferred bread
2 tblsp. tuna mixture
6 red grapes sliced in half
1 tblsp. chopped pecans

     The sandwich mixture may hold together better for you if you mix it together then spread it on the bread.
     You can make substitutions to suit your own tastes: canned chicken or salmon for the tuna, apples for the grapes, walnuts or almonds for the pecans.
     My favorite bread to make this sandwich with is rosemary olive oil sourdough, but you are free to use your favorite.  The sandwich will hold together with a heavier bread.

Hazelnut Hot Chocolate

     I know spring is trying to display itself in all its many colors and the temperatures are trying to warm up, but a cup of hot chocolate in the morning or evening still tastes good and is comforting.  In a month or two it will be too warm for this, but meanwhile, I'm going to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate.

                                                                Hazelnut Hot Chocolate


1 stick Splenda Flavor for coffee, Hazelnut flavor
3/4 cup lactose free milk
1 tblsp. dairy free chocolate chips

     Put all ingredients in a small sauce pan.  Over a low flame stir constantly until the chocolate chips melt.  Pour into serving cup.  Makes one serving.