Ceasar Dressing, a Tasty Grilled Chicken Salad, and using fresh raw eggs the safer way.

Before I start here there is something you should know, and this is very important. I know most people can eat raw and undercooked eggs and have absolutely no problem in doing so, but that is not always the case.

The risk of salmonella in the summer months is very high in uncooked egg products, and that is probably why eggnog is a traditional winter beverage. There is an alternative. Pasteurized Eggs. There are the egg beater types that are a liquid in the carton but this will not work as well. You will need to buy fresh pasteurized eggs in the shell for the best results.

No, these are not from pasture raised chickens, the eggs have been pasteurized like pasteurized milk to kill harmful bacteria. I am not that crunchy when it comes to food safety.

So, this is a easy, very quick and refreshing Caesar Salad to serve on hot summer evenings as a full meal.

First component: Caesar Dressing ( this recipe is an old recipe from the Nugget)

whip together
~4 eggs (pasteurized eggs please)
~3t. red wine vinegar

Add very slowly, mixing constantly
~1 cup olive oil

Add:
~1t. fresh minced garlic
~1t. cracked black pepper
~2t. dry mustard
~1/4c. parmesan cheese
~1/4t. salt
~2t. worcestershire sauce
~3t. fresh lemon juice

Grind and add:
~6 fillet anchovies

Chill for 2 hours minimum.

Then the chicken breast filets, boneless, skinless, thawed ... sad really but stick with me here.

Marinade how many breast filets you think you need, be it two, four or a dozen... depends on how hungry you are and how many you are feeding but one filet per person is usually enough. I like to put them in a large zip lock freezer bag then add in enough of the cheapest you can find italian dressing to marinade them in, and toss and turn the bag every 20 minutes or when you remember to so everything stays  nice and coated with the dressing. A half bottle should be plenty for the marinade. Keep this in the fridge while marinating on a deep tray or shallow bowl in case of any leaks. These can marinate overnight so feel free to start this on the night before. When it is just about time to eat just take them out, slap them on a hot bbq grill and cook through. it does not take long so keep an eye on them.

And finally the salad itself. Get a ginormous bowl, rinse, shake dry and slice Hearts of Romaine lettuce into bite sized morsels... or just get a bag of prepared hearts or romaine, I won't judge. Toss the salad with the dressing prepared in step one in your huge bowl.

Plating: place a generous portion of the dressed salad on the plate, slice one grilled chicken breast and lay it over the salad so it looks pretty, top with croutons and parmesan and romano cheese if desired. Toast some garlic bread and enjoy.

But who am I kidding right? most people have never tasted an honest to god authentic caesar salad in their lives, so a commercial prepared dressing will work just fine but why not give it a try?

Bobbie Jo’s Daisy Dew Sipper Melon Daiquiri

Bobbie Jo’s Daisy Dew Sipper Melon Daiquiri 
In memory of Daisy of the Daily Pippin by Bobbie Joe the philosopher kitty.

Ingredients: 
4 Parts Light Rum 
1 Part Lime Juice 
1 Part Melon Liqueur 
Simple Syrup To Taste 
1 Slice Honeydew Melon 
1 Slice Peach 

How to mix: Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Add all ingredients. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with honeydew melon and peach.

Another From Kimon, Vintage Dip? hahaha.

(this one sounds delish)

One more "vintage" recipe from Vegas. The alpine Village Restaraunt. This was an icon in Vegas for decades. Fine German dining upstairs and a ruckus downstairs in the Rathskellar.

Alpine Village House Seasoned Cottage Cheese dip

2 lbs cottage cheese, small curd
1⁄2 teaspoon caraway seed
1 1⁄2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon Accent seasoning
1⁄2 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon dried chives
1⁄2 teaspoon celery salt

Mix all ingredients together and chill for several hours before serving.

Serve with crackers, or fresh bread, and assorted veggies for dipping.

A Recipe From the Legendary Kimon Brown, Salsa!

For my Vegas and Arizona peeps - These two are a little different than mine. I use tomato sauce, and cayenne, granulated garlic, onion powder, kosher salt, and a little cumin. But these two sound like they are worth a try. Most important is to use real tortilla chips and not the store bought ones. Fresh fried and lightly salted in a brown paper sack.
None of these are salsa recipes that are so popular but for those of us that grew up with Macayo's sauce it is like liquid crack. Bowl of chips two cherry cokes and a TCT perfect high school date night.

Macayo Sauce from the 70’s
(2) 28 oz. can stew tomatoes or (1) 46 oz. can
1 med onion – cut in 4ths
3 small guerro jalapeno peppers hot
Put in sauce pan cook low for 1 ½ hrs covered. Pour mixture in a hand ricer or blender
Chips – use day old corn tortillas cut into 8ths in a regular deep fryer.

Macayo Sauce NOW
1 46 oz. tomato juice
1 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1 TBSP and 1 ½ tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
For Mild sauce – 1 ½ tsp crushed red chilies
For Hot Sauce – 1 TBSP crushed chilies
Put all in the blender and blend in high for at least one minute. Refrigerate – serve with chips.

3 bean salad

This is one of my Grandma Gert's recipes, and a favorite for picnics. Perfect for keeping on hand during the summer months to serve as a topping for a green salad or alone as it is.

2/3 cup vinegar
1/2 cup good salad oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon celery seed.
4 cans of assorted beans-drained ( I know it says 3 beans but... well don't ask)
1 medium onion-sliced thin or Frenched
1/2 cup green pepper-sliced ( for me this is optional, I don't really care for raw green pepper)

Mix all together, chill for 6 hours.

This bean salad lasts a long time in the fridge, because of the vinegar, oil and sugar it has a pickling effect so bacteria or mold will not grow. Sorta like a refrigerator pickle. Double the recipe and add all the beans from the list below to be super festive, remember it keeps very well and just gets better.

Beans I like the best are green (string) beans, black-eyed peas, garbanzos, butter (lima) beans, great northern beans and Kidney beans. beans need to be packed in water so no chili seasoned beans here, and I give the beans a light rinse with cold water when draining.

What is up with bitter beers and Spicy Food?

That is a question posted by a childhood friend of my husband's on Facebook today. I am not much of a beer drinker, Tecate from the imported menu if i got a preference, other than that I can do without beer.

Spicy food does not have to be a challenge of one's manly manlyness. I got a recipe to show you how delicious (and cheap) spicy can be. The only previous requirement is experience in making fried chicken.

Hot Wings

Yeah, another hot wings creation from the interwebs, like we need another. We don't. But here is an easy, cheap, and delicious way to do it yourself. When wings go for a buck EACH in restaurants and take out joints... you are saving a fortune over an appetizer menu here. I have tried many different recipes and this is my version, adjusted for maximum crispiness and sauce soakabilty.  (is that a word?)

4 lb bag of frozen wing sections. (Aldi)
1/3rd cup red hot Sauce (the Aldi's label is very much like Louisiana or Texas Pete hot sauce... very good for this)
2/3rds stick Butter
2 cups flour to coat wings, seasoned with 1 tsp. season salt. (put in wide bowl or pie tin, do I need to include this?)
Oil for frying.
Deep cast iron cookware (see previous posts) or deep fryer.
Prepared dipping sauce of buttermilk ranch or whatever... homemade or from a jar does not matter much, but this is important to have.

Thaw wings, rinse in water, shake off excess water and while still damp roll in seasoned flour to lightly coat, fry in preheated oil till done turning halfway through. (about 7-10 minuets@300 degrees) set aside on wire rack to drain. Chicken is done when juice runs clear when pierced with a fork. This usually takes me 2-3 batches to fry the entire bag of wings.

Melt butter (microwave works fine) and mix with hot sauce. This is usually enough sauce to coat all the wings. This should be a 50/50 mixture of hot sauce and butter. This mixture will separate so give it a good stir before pouring on wings.

When wings are cooked and drained place in large bowl and drizzle half the wing sauce over the wings, toss, then drizzle the rest of the sauce, toss again.

Serve immediately with the dressing on the side and garnish with celery sticks. Everyone needs fiber.

Tecate beer is optional. Enjoy!