Healthy eating

^  Sorry to hear that

Raff wrote: stonebeard wrote: I agree. I need to find a really good recipe for Greek/Italian salad dressing with extra virgin olive oil. Nothing I've gotten in store seems good enough and it always goes to waste.  Happy to assist you, sir! The basic recipe for Italian-style salad dressing is very simple.... Just vinegar (or lemon juice), EVOO, salt and pepper, whisked together with a fork in a small bowl, or (even better) shaken in a small glass jar. You need to use good-quality vinegar (balsamic is my favourite), and be careful that you don't use too much, or you might overpower the dressing. I don't like to use a lot of oil on salad, but of course you need more oil than vinegar. To this basic mixture, you can add whatever you like.. fresh or dried herbs (mint, basil, parsley, oregano, dill...), minced onion or garlic (garlic paste works very well), capers, olives, grated citrus zest, anchovy paste, even grated Parmesan (NOT shredded). Try it - I'm sure you'll never go back to bottled dressing again!

I'd like to put in a shameless plug for Good Seasonings which makes a dressing mixing carafe that comes with pre-made seasonings packets where you add your own vinegar and oil.  It's not too bad in a pinch, the carafe is glass, reusable, and has marks to help you get the oil vinegar and water proportions right.  I usually fall back on the packet rather than using my own seasoning mix.  But given a decent quality extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, it's not too shabby.  And of course you can always toss the packets and go with your own fresh or dried seasoning ingredients.

Speaking of healthy eating, we are getting our seasonal garden going.  Chili peppers are one of the easiest to grow around here.  We'll also be doing tomatoes, herbs, etc.  Squirrels are our main adversary.

I love a salad with that kind of dressing, good feta cheese, peperonchini, kalamata olives....


Edited by Slartibartfast - April 04 2009 at 18:17

We're doing Thai basil for the first time here (along with sweet).  Mint survived the winter as well as thyme and oregano.  Sadly rosemary doesn't do too well over winter.  Living in a house does give you more options but it's all container grown.

Edited by Slartibartfast - April 04 2009 at 18:37

That's one of those plants that's very wonderful to brush your fingers on and take a whiff. 

Any of you out there who haven't experienced the olfactory rush of the scent of fresh rosemary really need to give it a try.

Mint's another.


Edited by Slartibartfast - April 05 2009 at 03:40

Eat whatever you want.  Just exercise.  I exercise everyday, sometimes for only 20 minutes (just loosening up, stretching, pull ups pushups, etc) other times for 2+ hours.  I eat well too, but I haven't cut out eating Big Macs, or bacon, butter, whatever else people are worried about fattening up on.  In fact today my meals were: