Green Life
In an effort to live green, eco-conscious and more healthy, I have been obsessively attempting to go beyond my comfort level. I am so not a cook. J did all the cooking when we were students and later when I graduated and started working. This worked out perfectly as far as I was concerned, however once I started staying home with the kids, it felt wrong to expect him to cook when I was here, like all day. So I find myself attempting all sorts of recipes to keep us healthy and to reduce our consumption of packaging. I actually enjoy cooking, if I have the time and space to do so. It is another form of creative self expression, something I never appreciated before.
Even though we are making an effort, our garbage seems to be a lot. Our city has a great recycling program, but I still find certain plastics that I cannot recycle. The cashiers at the grocery store eye my Green Bags and the fact that I do not place my produce in a plastic bag with disdain. I am not sure why they seem to be bothered by it all. I have witnessed a huge shift in the way people are approaching shopping since we arrived. One sees many more reusable bags than ever before (in fact one grocery store no longer offers plastic bags).
Yesterday I made caesar salad from scratch. We even toasted the croutons (from stale whole wheat hot dog buns!). One excellent bonus of making dinner from scratch is Becca participates in the process. She loves cooking and although it is rather challenging at times to include her in every step, the outcome is worth it. She takes such pride in the dinners (and baking) that we do together. It forces me to be creative so that she is capable of helping. She tore the bread for our croutons and help stir in ingredients for the dressing. To top it off she adores salad and ate tons last night at dinner!
It was an interesting version of the dressing, but mighty tasty! My In-laws gave me the book, Main Dish Salads for Christmas, and the recipe is from that. I *think* I can share just this one with you, and once you try it you will rush out to your library or bookstore to buy the book (aka I am not trying to breech copyright here).
Light Caesar Salad Dressing
3 garlic cloves, peeled
4 oil-packed anchovy fillets, well drained
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
3 tablespoons yogurt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Press the garlic (I chopped since I do not have a press) and place them in a large salad bowl (I placed them in my hand blender to whip it all up fast). Add the 4 anchovy fillets & with the tines of a fork, mash them together with the garlic until the form a smooth paste (I have no idea what that means so like I said, I used the hand blender). Stirring briskly with a whisk, add lemon juice & Worcestershire sauce. Add the mustard powder and stir until dissolved. Whisk in the yogurt until blended, then pour the olive oil in a slow and steady stream (I used slightly less than 1/2 a cup of oil just to reduce a little of the fattiness)
There you have it a yummy and healthier version of Caesar salad! The salad would be so yummy with chicken or shrimp (we had left over fried rice so i did not add anything else). It was so satisfying doing it from scratch, only byproducts where compost-able & my family ate healthy! I think I need to sew Becca and myself matching fabulous aprons in the near future!
April 29th, 2008 at 9:52 am
That is very impressive!! I am not a cook either and tried my best in Japan but these days there just aren’t enough hours in the day so I have gotten really lazy. I need to start doing more cooking at the weekends though as Joey really likes helping as well.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I also meant to add that people in the UK are becoming much more conscious of the over-use of plastic bags etc. I try hard to remember my re-useable bags but sometimes I forget and end up buying another one so I have quite a stock of them at the moment! LOL! They came in very handy when I was moving though so no complaints there!!
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April 29th, 2008 at 10:11 am
She would LOVE an apron!
I have to be honest, just the word anchocy makes my skin scrawl. Can you taste them and smell them alot?
I would to be more green, and I do what I can, but I swear the rest of my family could care less, except of course Ariana. She LOVES stuff like that!
And how did you make your own croutons???
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April 29th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Let em’ stare. You’re doing the right thing by going green. We have a lot of people using the “green” bags here too, and they get the same treatment from the cashiers.
Thanks for the recipe! :o)
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April 29th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Good for you! We’re trying hard too but the garbage is a bad thing for us.
Re: the produce bags, I bought reusable ones at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5430714 and they’re great. You’re so crafty you could probably make your own! (And I’ll buy them from you next time if you make lots!)
Here’s the recipe for caesar salad dressing I got from my friends Italian boyfriend - they don’t measure anything, and it’s delicious! (You’re not breaching copyright unless you print more than 10% of the book and you cited them so you’re golden! I think it’s 10% - could be more.)
Put all this in a food processor or blender - I love my mini Cuisinart for this, and Primo does most of the work and especially loves to push the button on the processor.
1. A big squirt of Hellmann’s 1/2 fat mayo (1 cup?)
2. A whole bunch of fresh parmesan (1 cup?) (Costco sells a huge container of pre-grated that is awesome.)
3. Fresh ground pepper to taste
4.Fresh lemon juice
5. (he puts anchovies - I don’t)
6. EV olive oil just to thin it if you need to
7. Grainy dijon mustard - 1-5 T depending on how strong you want it. Make sure you use the grainy kind in a jar. I like the Safeway Select, actually.
I play with the recipe and it’s different every time, but I think it’s delicious. Let me know if you try it!
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April 29th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Holy hell, that was a long comment!
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April 29th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Oh the recipie!! Yes! You know I’m so making this.
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April 29th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Oh I knew I loved you. I make a version of ceasar all the time and I got the best compliment from my daughter. We were at a restaurant and she tasted the salad and said, “I only like Mama’s.” It was so sweet.
P.S. I always make my croutons. They are so much better than store bought.
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April 29th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I need to get into the habit of cooking healthy again. I’ve gotten away from it with this pregnancy since I’ve been able to get away with eating whatever I want and not gaining much weight!
You’re inspiring me though…must remember to bring reuseable bags to the store for purchases!
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April 29th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Reusing bags is a big thing in the UK just now and some shops are actually charging for the plastic ones now. We reuse our bags all the time.
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April 29th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Yum!
Cooking is a funny sort of thing - it can seem kind of intimidating from the outside, but it’s really such a cozy, comforting sort of thing.
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April 29th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Ooooh the caesar salad dressing sounds yummy! I love me my caeser salad.
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April 29th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
That sounds delicious.
I have noticed the same change towards green bags here. I love going to our green grocer - the people there are really keen to fill our string bags and don’t ever bat an eye when our produce is rolling all over the counter because we’ve not put them in plastic bags!
It is so rewarding making things from scratch! Another good use for crusts of bread and buns etc is to chuck them into a food processor or chop them the old fashioned way and then put into the freezer - bread crumbs! They are so much better than bought bread crumbs!
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April 29th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
We’ve been trying too…It IS hard.
I JUST started feeling guilty for being home all day and expecting him to cook when he gets home from work.
I’m finally growing up. I guess?
I do love my reusable shopping bags though.
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April 29th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Hahah, I used to eye greenbags with disdain, too. As a cashier, they slowed me down and affected my speed, which it is crucial to keep up if I expect to stay employed. I finally got myself a good routine together for working with them, though, and it’s easy-peasy. I use greenbags religiously myself (unless I forget, which…unfortunately is often - but I recycle and donate to thrift stores what I bring home).
I love the challenge of going green, but my attempts at cooking from scratch always kick me in the face. I end up wasting more than I would have had I just bought some pre-prepared or easily prepared meals.
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April 29th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I love cooking because it relaxes me. I am glad you stepped up to the challenge. How fun and what a great recipe. Did the kids like it? Well I guess not the baby.
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April 29th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Hey there,
I almost never comment on cooking posts since I don’t cook but I’ve been MIA. And I must commend you for using stale whole wheat hot dog buns for croutons. I thought I was the only one with whole wheat hot dog buns….
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April 29th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I know it’s terrible but no one really lives green around here.
Including me.
April 30th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Very cool! Excellent work in training yourself and your children to live with more respect for the environment
April 30th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Hola! Thanks for stopping by and commenting. That salad dressing sound delish - I will have to try making some!
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April 30th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
I, too, so want to be greener than I am now. just the other day i heard some really good advice- don’t try to go green all at once. Start with one small change and build on it. That really clicked with me and made it seem more manageable. Good luck with cooking!
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