Cooking Through “The Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook” – Jane’s Favorite 3, 2, 1 Dressing

Jane’s Favorite 3, 2, 1 Dressing from page 174

This is a wonderful, basic salad dressing. Use this as a starting point to all kinds of delicious salads. I tried several different variations and they were all fantastic.

The basic 3, 2, 1 dressing is all over the internet. Here is one place I found it. The difference in this one is that it calls for the addition of some lemon juice.

The first one I tried was the exact recipe from the book with plain balsamic vinegar. This is my favorite balsamic.

This was delicious, but I wanted to try different variations. Not one was a disappointment. Most of the time I used them on green salad, but it was also great in a quinoa salad with veggies.

Here are some of the combinations I tried.

Plain balsamic, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, lemon juice

Blood orange balsamic, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, lemon juice

Fig balsamic, spicy brown mustard, honey, lemon juice (this was my favorite)

Pomegranate balsamic, spicy brown mustard, honey, lemon juice

I found that I liked the dressing better with honey instead of maple syrup. It added a more subtle sweetness and a depth of flavor that was lacking with the maple syrup.

The recipe says that it makes 1/3 cup. The lemon I had was very large, so I ended up doubling the rest of the ingredients. When I did that, I got 2/3 cup, so it was pretty much on target.

Instead of whisking, I blended everything in my NutriBullet.

This had a wonderful mouth feel.  You don’t even realize that you are eating dressing made without oil.  You can even use a lot of dressing and not feel guilty.

The lemon made the dressing a little on the tart side for my taste, so I cut it down a little.

NOTES:

• Try adding different fresh herbs. Dill, parsley, basil, oregano, tarragon….these are all wonderful in a salad dressing.
• Try different mustards. Spicy brown, Dijon, yellow…they all work perfectly. Use your favorite.
• Try different flavored balsamic vinegars. Napa Valley Naturals has flavors like blood orange, fig, black cherry…they are all delicious.
• Use lime juice instead of lemon juice.
• Adjust ingredients to your taste.

Cooking Through “The Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook” – Susie Cuke Dressing

Susie Cuke Dressing from page 173

If you are like me, you will have everything on hand to try this dressing. I found the idea of using cucumber in a salad dressing a little odd, but figured how bad could it be? I put cucumber on my salad and then add another dressing, so, why not?

This clung to the salad leaves pretty well, which is important in a salad dressing. It was a very nice consistency. Sort of in between a creamy, fat filled dressing and a vinaigrette. It was light, but had a nice texture and a good mouth feel, which I think is important in a salad dressing. Let’s face it, plain lemon or vinegar is tasty on a salad, but it leaves something to be desired in how it feels in your mouth. This dressing takes care of that.

It gets body from the hummus and the cucumber, a tangy bite from the lemon juice, balsamic and rice vinegars, and a little spiciness from the garlic, mustard, and black pepper.

The recipe does not call for any salt. I used to add a little bit to salad dressings, but I’ve gotten over that. I do not add any salt to anything I make. If I really feel it needs it, I add a tiny bit at the table.

There was really not much prep to this. I already had hummus made, so making this salad dressing was really all about throwing everything in the Vitamix and blending. Voila! Nice, creamy salad dressing in less than 5 minutes.

The recipe says that it makes two cups, and that is just about how much I got.

I really liked this salad dressing, and I like the idea of getting another veggie. I also like the idea of not using nuts to add creaminess to a dressing. Honestly, if you are following an oil free diet and missing creamy type dressings, give this a try.

NOTES:

• Add more lemon for more tang.
• The recipe calls for white balsamic.  I just used regular balsamic.  The color is still light.
• So easy, no excuse not to make salad dressing.
• The recipe says to use a food processor, but a blender makes for a smoother dressing.
• I bet zucchini can be subbed out for the cucumber.
• This would make a nice dressing for potato or pasta salad.

Cooking Through “The Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook” – Enlightened Dr. Seuss Stacked Polenta and Cannellini Bean Sauce

Enlightened Dr. Seuss Stacked Polenta from page 130 and Cannellini Bean Sauce from page 110

This recipe took a few steps to pre-make several parts of the recipe prior to assembly.

You will need to make Cannellini Bean Sauce from page 110 for this. When you do make the sauce, make double so you have leftovers to use on rice cakes, sammies, taters, or just for dipping your chips or veggies.

This sauce comes together easy, peasy. And with only 3 ingredients, you can always have what you need to whip this baby up. My guess is that you probably already have what you need to make this. This recipe lends itself well to modification. Don’t have tamari, use Bragg’s Liquid Aminos. Don’t have that, use a little salt. Don’t want any sodium at all, don’t use it?

You can add some roasted red pepper, or some spinach…whatever your imagination can dream up.

This sauce reminded me of a creamier, lighter version of a hummus. Add a little more water, you have a thinner sauce. Add less water, you have a dip.

Add some vinegar or lemon and you have a salad dressing.

Honestly, try this one. It’s a great basic sauce. You just can’t go wrong.

NOTES:

• Requires a food processor or blender.
• Many uses…as a dip, on the Enlightened Dr. Seuss Stacked Polenta, over veggies, over potatoes. Anywhere you would use a sauce or a dip.
• Would be great as a dip for crudité.

Now, on to the polenta stacks.  I’ve never really thought about using polenta in this way. The combination of polenta, bean sauce, sweet potatoes and tomatoes was amazing.

While the finished dish did look a little to fufu for us, it was absolutely wonderful. I even ate the leftovers cold!

The key here is to use top notch tomatoes. Vine-ripened Jersey tomatoes are perfect for this…after all, we do have the best tomatoes, don’t we? I can’t wait to make this again when I have tomatoes from the CSA in the summer.

The finishing touch to this dish was some basil and lemon mixed together in the food processer and then dressed with balsamic. While it did make the dish pretty, the basil really didn’t add anything to the finished results. The balsamic, on the other hand, pulled the entire meal together. I use this low acidic balsamic from Napa Valley Naturals. Yes…there is a huge difference.

We liked this a lot more than we thought we would. Served alongside a green salad or some veggies, and this is a perfect, filling meal.  We will most definitely make this again…most likely in the summer when we can get awesome tomatoes.

This recipe took about 1.5 hours from start to finish. 10 minutes cutting, 60 minutes baking, 5 minutes to make the sauce, 5 minutes to prepare the basil, and 10 minutes for assembly.

NOTES:

• Be sure to slice all of the ingredients the same thickness.
• This would be lovely to serve to company. Perhaps a first course for a dinner party.
• Next time, I will omit the basil and lemon. Not worth the time.
• Top notch tomatoes MUST be used with this.
• I used Napa Valley Naturals Grand Reserve Balsamic Vinegar. Worth every red cent that I paid for it.