Blue Cheese Dressing and BLT Salad

Husband approved "man salad"

Salad dressing is one of those things that I really hate to serve out of the bottle.  All the stabilizers, sweeteners and additives, ick!  Homemade dressings are so easy, and so quick, and made out of things you probably already have in your pantry - there's really no reason not to always have homemade.  Here's my version of blue cheese dressing - tangy, peppery, and creamy.

I never measure salad dressing, so I hope this approximations works. I used a large spoon out of my regular silverware for measuring these scoops.

Simple ingredients make for a super tasty dressing.

Ingredients

• 4 heaping scoops of regular mayonnaise 
• 3 heaping scoops of non-fat greek yogurt 
• 4 dashes* of white wine vinegar
• 4 dashes* hot sauce (Franks red hot, texas pete or tabasco work best)
• 2 dashes* Worcestershire sauce
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Generous amount of fresh ground pepper
• Kosher salt to taste
• A bunch of blue cheese, at least 1/2 cup - I used the already crumbled blue cheese

*By dash - I mean a shake through a controlled bottle top.  If your bottles have open tops, just put your thumb over the top to control the flow, and shake away.

Mix well, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to let flavors marry.

I used this dressing to make a Blue BLT salad for the the hubby and me for lunch. Just combine non-cured applewood smoked bacon, baby lettuces, and grape tomatoes with a bit of thinly sliced shallot, and some dollops of the blue cheese dressing with a little extra blue cheese on top.  Add a couple of slices of this homemade bread on the side, and you've got a super tasty and super fast lunch. The addition of grilled chicken would make this even better, or take it one step further and add chopped hard boiled egg and you've got a Cobb.

Molly's Homemade ZESTY ketchup/bbq sauce

Tonight I was following a recipe that called for ketchup, but I was out, so I made this.  You might want to try it too - a nice change from traditional ketchup - and full of zip & zing.

Ingredients:
1 large (29 oz) can of tomato sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 bottle of beer
7 cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, diced
3 bay leaves
1 tsp Rosemary
1 T paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp cayenne
Few dashes of Worcestershire sauce (I always use Lee & Perrins)
Few dashes of reduced sodium soy sauce
Few dashes hot sauce of your choice
S&P

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan, and mix well.  Bring to a rolling boil and cook for 10 minutes.  Remove and discard bay leaves, then purée the mixture with an immersion blender until smooth (NEVER BLEND A HOT LIQUID IN A TRADITIONAL BLENDER). Put back on the heat, and let simmer over medium low heat until it reduces to your desired consistency. Let cool, and serve as you would regular ketchup, or use to baste meat like a bbq sauce.

This won't ever ben the consistency of store bought ketchup, but it's still good!