Monday, June 6, 2011

Homemade Italian Dressing for salads or marinade

My family LOVES chicken cooked on the grill that has first been marinated in Italian Dressing.  I am never one who wants to go to the store to buy ONE INGREDIENT!  So, I pulled out my trusty laptop and searched for a homemade Italian Dressing recipe.  I found one that I love.  It makes a great dressing for salads, lettuce or pasta, and I also use it for marinating chicken, either for cooking on the stovetop or on the grill.  Its so much cheaper than buying a bottle of salad dressing and uses ingredients you probably already have in your house:



Homemade Italian Dressing (Zesty)


½ cup olive or canola oil
½  cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon Italian spices (I used oregano)
1 teaspoon salt
pepper (just a shake)
½ teaspoon garlic powder
3 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon mayonnaise (I did not use the mayo for my marinade)


Mix well and store in a jar in the fridge.  Shake well before using.  Sometimes I add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar if I'm after a less sour dressing.  (IT SMELLS DIVINE!)



June, 2011 meal log

Trying to get my meal ideas all in one place again.  Its JUNE, 2011, and this is our meal log.

June 4, 2011 (Saturday):  Poolside, hotdogs and polish sausage on the grill, chips and Dean's Dip, cream cheese covered with red pepper jelly w/ crackers
June 5, 2011 (Sunday):  grilled chicken marinated in this Homemade Italian Salad Dressing, cheesy potatoes (hashbrown casserole), seasoned green beans, canned corn, HM french bread;
Snacks:  Salted yellow popcorn and Peanut Butter Popcorn (the popcorn was a huge success!)
June 6, 2011: (Monday):  Leftovers & Grandma's Homemade Vanilla Icecream and Homemade Strawberry Icecream
June 7, 2011: (Tuesday): McDonalds with Granny and Poppy
June 8, 2011:  (Wednesday)  HAPPY 26 ANNIVERSARY!  We had Outback and loved it!
June 9, 2011:  (Thursday)  Homemade Spaghetti Sauce with pasta, salad and garlic toast made with leftover HM french bread.
June 10, 2011:  (Friday)  Leftovers, frozen pizza
June 11, 2011:  (Saturday)  HM waffles for breakfast with crushed/sweetened strawberries from the Gentry garden along with Gerke's Osage local sausage and also sausage gravy over toast (for hubby).  Supper was Roast/Potatoes/Carrots, Onions, HM dumplings, last year's homecanned green beans, corn, HM cornbread
June 12, 2011:  (Sunday)  Leftover waffles w/ strawberries, Dinner at my brother and his wife's house, we took brownies made with a mix.  We had smoked ribs & chicken, hashbrown casserole, asparagus, Mom's baked beans, garlic bread!  It was yummy!
June 13, 2011 (Monday)  Leftover waffles w/ strawberries, pinto beans in the crockpot with some round steak and baked oven fries.
June 14, 2011 (Tuesday) Hamburgers and tator tots in the oven
June 15, 2011 (Wednesday) Leftovers from the freezer (spaghetti)
June 16, 2011 (Thursday) Leftovers from the freezer
June 17, 2011 (Friday)  Our friends bought us pizza and came over to swim.  I made these blondies!
June 18, 2011 (Saturday) Wedding of a friend.  We made a Bridesmaid Breakfast of quiche, chocolate chip muffins, blueberry muffins, and a fruit tray.  No lunch, but had supper at the wedding and it was scrumptious!
June 19, 2011  (Sunday)  Breakfast at the Bobber restaurant.  $2 subs at Subwy for lunch, and supper was hamburgers, hot dogs, and brats on the grill with Mom's potato salad, baked beans, slaw for the dogs, Orange Pretzel dessert, Nana's Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake.
June 20, 2011 (Monday) Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger macaroni (cheater)
June 21, 2011 (Tuesday) Baked Chicken in the crockpot, oven fries, garlic toast made with going stale hamburger buns.  IT WAS A FEAST!  (notes-half a chicken is left!)
June 22, 2011 (Wednesday) Chicken Alfredo, using chicken marinated in HM Italian Dressing, jarred alfredo from the pantry (although I do have easy recipes for this), salad