could there be anything more humiliating than being a "casual-foodie cook" in a family of McNuggets? Want to try out your New Resolution to be a peaceable and kind, mother and wife? Here's an exercise for you…make supper for my family. You will have tested that resolution by Jan 5th. I like to cook and I will say that I'm a fairly adventurous eater. I don't like it extremely hot but I will give just about anything a fair sample as you can see by my middle age innertube around the middle. :) But my family is BORING! Eaters that is….MEAT AND POTATOES! To be fair, they aren't so picky that you throw up your hands and howl, more like just grit your teeth and bare it and wish they would step out of their box just a bit.
I remember an adorable little supper club up north that I went to, on vacation while in college. (Remember small town girl…and while I waitress-ed in a Supper Club in highschool, I think I was still pretty food naive. Maybe it was the company of two of my good friends, Ethan and Mia, but I remember this salad being phenomenal. It was a simple Wedge Lettuce Salad. The simplicity made it so exotic, so foreign, so dangerous. Mmmm.
Ok, I think the usual dressing for a Wedge Salad is a creamy bleu cheese. I'm wise enough to know the limits of my family and ruled that out immediately. With Ella's food allergies, I'm trying to use less processed foods, so I found a lovely recipe for Buttermilk Ranch. Ella LOVES Ranch so we whipped up the recipe and added Parmesan and a little more Peppercorn to serve a Parmesan Peppercorn Dressing Wedge Salad. Score was 1:4. Even my more daring one said it was "too spicy". One said, "salad-eww, not me" and one dipped a finger in the dressing and wrinkled her nose in absolute disgust. With that attitude, the boys won't be back for a second date! I guess I'm golden for old age and she'll be around to push my wheel chair. So I had 3 untouched wedges, one slightly rumpled wedge and an empty plate. The dressing was FABULOUS. You should try it. Maybe your family will be a little more daring! Ha, I got the last laugh. I simply washed off the dressing and will serve it back to them tonight with the same old boring FRENCH Processed dressing laden with calories, fats and preservatives! Go figure.
So here it is from a lovely foodie blog:
Annies Eats: Ranch Dressing
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Ingredients:
¾ cup mayonnaise (I use light)
¾ cup sour cream (I use light)
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. lemon juice
¼-1 cup buttermilk (I use the full cup)
1 small bunch chives
Small handful parsley
1 clove garlic, chopped
½ tsp. kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor starting with ¼ cup of the buttermilk and blend for 10 seconds. Check the consistency and taste and blend in additional buttermilk as desired. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Note: For all those asking how long this keeps, I don’t know exactly since I’m not a food scientist. I would imagine as long as any of the separate components might keep in the refrigerator. Mine kept at least two weeks before we had used it all.
Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride, originally from The Gourmet Cookbook, 2004
