Whip it Up, Week Two

I'm not a huge fan of cooking. Baking, I love. LOVE. There's a comfortable rhythm to the science of combining flour, sugar and butter in just the right way. There's less of an urgency to baking and conveniently, the heat is restricted to the confines of the oven as opposed to radiating throughout the kitchen via an element on the stove.

That said, I'm also a fan of eating tasty meals that require no cooking OR baking. Give me a sandwich or hummus and veggies or a big dinner salad and I'm there, particularly on a hot summer evening.

This weeks recipe is that - a salad and dressing. Officially, my Whip it Up Week Two submission is this balsamic vinaigrette dressing, but I'm also going to tell you how we used it just in case you need a little extra inspiration. Important Note: We used regular balsamic vinegar instead of white because we haven't bought a new bottle since we moved.

First, we tore up a whole head of romaine lettuce. If you have some baby spinach to add, that would be lovely too. Then I botched a half-cup batch of honey-roasted pecans and they mostly stuck together in clumps. They still tasted just fine though and had just enough stick and crunch to work in the salad. We also threw in about a half-cup of dried cranberries and oh, let's say, six ounces of crumbled feta cheese. Toss all that with a half recipe of the balsamic vinaigrette dressing and you have yourself quite a lovely meal for a summertime weeknight.

The Big Three:
Was the recipe easy to follow? Yup!
Was the recipe tasty? Yes. I wouldn't change a thing. Uh, other than the substitution we made in the first place.
Would you make it again? Yes. It was easy enough and I'd sooner have a homemade dressing than storebought any day: It's fresh, I know exactly what's in it, and there's not usually enough of it to get sick of before it runs out!

As usual, click on the W.I.U. 2009 button over on the right for weekly wrap-ups and more recipes.