Strawberry Salad

I always love a good salad. I will be honest though, this salad with the dressing is more like a dessert. The combination of strawberries, Craisins, and the fabulousness of the dressing is just heavenly.  Its probably not the most healthy salad, but is absolutely to die for! If you are looking for a crowd pleaser of a salad this is it! This is another delicious recipe courtesy of my wonderful mother.

Strawberry Salad

 

1 head of romaine lettuce

10 Strawberries sliced

1/2 cup Craisins

8 oz Feta Cheese

Candied Almonds or plain pine nuts

 

Wash and cut lettuce. Place in a large salad bowl. Top with remaining ingredients and toss lightly to combine.

*To candy the almonds, place almonds in frying pan.  Pour a lot of sugar to cover over the top.  Stir over medium heat until the sugar melts and coat the almonds.  It seems like it takes forever for the sugar to melt but it does!

 

Strawberry Poppy Seed Dressing

 

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp. dry mustard

1 tsp. salt

2/3 cup rice vinegar (I have also used apple cider vinegar with good results)

4 tbl. red onion

4 fresh strawberries

1 tbl. water

1 1/2 cups canola oil

4 tsp. poppy seed

  

Throw all ingredients in the blender and puree.

Chick Fil-A Sauce

I am not a huge fast food person. Even as a kid I have very few fast food places that I actually would eat at. My husband and I still rarely go out to a fast food place to eat. Chick Fil-A is one of those places that we actually go to. We always get the same thing every time we go. I always get their chicken nuggets with their Chick Fil-A sauce and he always gets their chicken sandwich on wheat (yes you can get a wheat bun) with fries and their Chick Fil-A sauce. The first time I tried the sauce I was quite skeptical. It is a mix between a barbecue sauce and a honey mustard sauce. I actually really don't like mustard, but I decided to try it anyways and boy am I glad I did. I haven't gotten another sauce from them since! Well in all my foodie ways of course I have been dying to try and figure out how to make it. Well the other night I did and I think we got pretty close!

Chick Fil-A Sauce

1/2 cup Mayo
2 tsp prepared mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbs honey
1 tbs smokey BBQ sauce

Directions
Whisk all ingredients together. Serve as a sauce for chicken nuggets, fries, chicken sandwiches, hamburgers, or anything else you might want it on. I also think it could be quite yummy as a salad dressing, but I will have to try that one out later.

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

We needed some ranch the other day so of course like the typical person we went to the store and bought some. We even  bought one that was from a good brand thinking that it would be good. What we realized is that store bought ranch is nothing like restaurant ranch. All I wanted was a simple creamy flavor. I have made the packets at home before and those are pretty good (better than store bought) and then I started searching for recipes online. I didn't really use any one recipe and kinda just made it all up, but the results were pretty good and it was so simple to make.

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch

1 cup mayo
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp parsley flakes
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp season salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Enjoy with salad, veggies, sweet potato fries, or really anything you would enjoy ranch on.