Easy Caesar Dressing
It might be Fall, but it's still salad weather where I live. Plus, Five Dinners in Real Life.
Hello!
It’s hot, it’s dry, it’s dusty. It’s my least favorite time of year. Welcome to Autumn in Southern California.
This time of year I have to release the valve on my irritability with a little complaining before I’m able to take a deep breath and see that a few good things are happening too. Christine Koh of the Edit Your Life podcast calls them “Micro Delights” and I’ve decided that I’m going to try to seek out my own Micro Delights each week to counter-balance my Autumn crankiness.
Micro Delight #1 - My neighborhood is blazing hot, but we’re only about 25 minutes from the ocean and making that drive not only brings the Pacific into view, it also drops the temperature by at least ten degrees.
Micro Delight #2 - Trader Joe’s quick cooking farro mixed with any combination of dinner leftovers usually makes a really easy and tasty lunch that I can bring to work. Farro plus grilled vegetables, chicken and olives is a current favorite.
Micro Delight #3 - We’ve finally discovered the TV series Modern Family and it’s the perfect way to end each day. It’s really hard to find a show that makes our whole family laugh out loud and it feels really good to have something to laugh about right now.
Recipe: Easy Caesar
It’s September, which means food bloggers are bringing out their cozy Autumn recipes, but where I live it’s still salad weather. I know that a lot of you are still enduring hot weather too and cozy bowls of soup and stew do not sound appetizing yet.
Right now, I’m addicted to Julia Turshen’s Caesar dressing. Here’s the original recipe (also found in her cookbook Small Victories). Below is the version I make:
Easy Caesar
You can whisk this recipe by hand, but it’s easier to blend in a small blender.
1 very small garlic clove (if not using a blender, finely chop the garlic)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup mayonnaise*
1/3 to 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan
Salt and pepper
Blend the first 5 ingredients (garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, mayo) until very smooth. Then add the parmesan cheese and blend just briefly to combine. Add salt and pepper to perk up the flavor. If the dressing is too tangy, add more mayo. If the dressing is too bland, add more lemon juice.
*I’ve been meaning to try Greek yogurt instead of mayo, which I think would also be good. Because yogurt is tangy, you might not need to add the vinegar.
Dinner in Real Life + Recipes 🥣
I’m always curious about what other families are eating, aren’t you? I hope that my real life dinners will provide helpful recipes & cooking ideas for your family.
**The 🥣 emoji lets you know a loose recipe is included
Monday: Josie’s Pasta with Sautéed Zucchini
This summer I mentioned that I wanted each of my kids to choose a recipe and cook one meal. It worked! One week Ophelia made a delicious mushroom stir fry from Bon Appetite magazine and on this particular Monday night Josie made her recipe for “Josie’s Pasta” which is a riff on Simply Recipe’s Fettucine Alfredo. 🥣 Josie sautes half an onion in butter first, which is key to her recipe. The combination of onion and browned butter really is good. Then she adds cream and grated parmesan to make a sauce, tosses in the cooked pasta and garnishes the dish with feta. It’s delish.
Tuesday: Instant Pot White Bean & Potato Soup
Ophelia finally got braces (ouch) so this week she was mainly living off smoothies, shakes and soup. I wanted to make something flavorful and easy to eat for dinner, so I followed my recipe for 🥣 Instant Pot white bean soup and also added russet potato cut into small cubes (any type of potato would work). After it’s cooked I puree half of the soup in the blender so the consistency is rich and creamy.
Wednesday: Broiled Tofu + Ramen Noodles + Broccoli
I thought tofu might also be soft enough for Ophelia to eat (turns out it wasn’t) so I made 🥣 broiled tofu, ramen noodles and roasted broccoli. Sometimes we eat the instant ramen noodles in bowls with broth, but just as often I throw the seasoning packs away and we eat the noodles on our plates with soy sauce.
Thursday: Pasta with Red Sauce
A jar of red sauce, boiled pasta, done. Did I serve a vegetable? Maybe? I honestly don’t remember. Thursdays are really long and busy and sports practice doesn’t end until 7:30pm, so it’s a miracle if dinner happens at all.
Friday: Grilled Shawarma Chicken Thighs + Grilled Veggies + all the fixings
Trader Joe’s marinated shawarma chicken thighs are terrific on the grill with veggies, especially if you add hummus, olives, pita bread, sliced cucumbers and yogurt sauce (yogurt + lemon zest + garlic).
Cookbooks & Reading
I’m behind on my cookbook reading, which is unusual for me. Even if I’m not cooking any recipes I still love flipping through cookbooks to relax. This past month has been way too busy even for that. I’m hoping to have more time this fall because there are tons of cookbooks coming out over the next few months. You can check out this epic list of Fall Cookbooks for a sneak peek.
The book I’m looking forward to most this fall isn’t a cookbook, it’s a memoir by Chef Gabrielle Hamilton called Next of Kin. I have always loved her writing and have always been fascinated by her complicated life. Her brutal honesty is my favorite part of her writing, which is why I can’t wait to read this “careful psychological autopsy of her family.”
That’s it for this week! It’s Sunday, and although we aren’t going to the beach we are headed to the West side of LA for cooler weather and a picnic at a shady park. Enjoy your weekend!
xo
Jenny