Creamy Italian Dressing

I spent most of last week licking my wounds.  I guess I'm more of a Seahawks fan than I care to admit.  After all, Max Unger is from the Big Island, and Jermaine Kearse and I are both Huskies.  Maybe it's also because I do NOT like the Patriots.

In my book, the Patriots are the NFL equivalent of the Oregon Ducks.  I'd like to draw in a Joker smile on Bill Belichick's face and give Gronk a good spanking.  Don't even get me started on Tom Brady.  He is from a school in the Big 10, the sworn enemy of the Pac 12 conference.  But I have one question about Tom Brady.  Why are his teeth so nice?

I can't believe the NFL swept Deflategate under the rug.  WTF.  The NFL spends all that money on domestic violence "no more" commercials, yet they condone cheating.  Talk about messed up priorities.  Moving on. . .

I guess the next big thing for me (in terms of entertainment) is the start of the 2015 Formula One season.  I hope Lewis Hamilton can repeat as world champion.  That would be awesome.  The F1 season runs March thru November, so that should take me well into football season.  Good.  I'm so not into basketball and baseball. 

Mr. Dependable crapped out again this weekend.  Well he told me that he was going to the other side of the island for this and that and if I wanted him to take the kids (HIS kids), then he had to change his hotel reservation.  Blah, blah, blah.  Out of fairness, I asked the Ds if they wanted to go with him or stay home.  Both said they'd stay home.  I like it when they're home anyway.  I don't need to wonder what time they'll roll in on Sunday evening.

D2 invited a friend to spend the night.  That was nice. I was going to order pizza for dinner, now that D2 eats pizza (D2 used to hate pizza, but now she will eat cheese pizza, as long as it's from Domino's.  Sorry, Pizza Hut.).  But on Thursday, after eating some kind of Doritos casserole for lunch, I decided maybe I wasn't ready for pizza just yet.  So I sent The Help to the market to buy some thin sliced beef for teriyaki.  The weather had been fairly nice last week, so having hibachi food wasn't too much of a stretch.  I even managed to make some Spam musubi for the girls.

There was a cute conversation at dinner.  D2's status as picky eater extraordinaire is well known.  One of her friend's mother has a list of the foods D2 will eat...it is not a long list.  D2's friend was shocked to see D2 eating beef teriyaki.  She said, "I never saw you eat this kind of food before."  I told her she could tell her mom to add that food to her list. 

On Friday morning, D1 showed up at my room carrying a bag of lettuce.  She said it was from Ma (a beloved counselor).  Ma and 3M left on Friday night for the city of brotherly love so I inherited a nice head of lettuce from her.  Cool.  I figured I'd offer the kids a nice bowl of salad alongside the Spam musubi and beef teriyaki.  There were no takers.  The Help and I ended up eating the salad by ourselves.  I suppose things could have been worse.  The dressing was beast.

As much as possible, I try to avoid buying salad dressing.  The only exceptions are ranch dressing (I buy the bottle) and Italian dressing (I have a thing for Good Season's packet mix).  Too many times, I've been grossed out from reading the dressing ingredient label.  Many dressings contain the Devil's condiment.  Just the thought of it grosses me out.  If a recipe I come across calls for it, I will leave it out.  Ick.  Yes, I am a hater.   I am a mustard hater.  That shit is nasty!

The dressing I made for Ma's lettuce was a creamy Italian dressing.  It didn't have the robust flavor of the Good Season's mix, but it wasn't missed.  A creamy dressing should be creamy and smooth.  This dressing delivers on those points and boasts the right herb flavor.  The instructions call for blending the dressing.  I use an immersion blender for this; it's easier to wash than a traditional blender. 

click on recipe title for link to printable recipe

Creamy Italian Dressing

     1 c mayonnaise
     1/4 c onion, diced
     2 tbsp red wine vinegar
     2 tsp sugar
     3/4 tsp Italian seasoning
     1/4 tsp salt
     1/4 tsp garlic powder
     2 dashes of black pepper

Blend all ingredients until smooth.  Chill at least 2 hours before serving.

I spent most of last week licking my wounds.  I guess I'm more of a Seahawks fan than I care to admit.  After all, Max Unger is from the Big Island, and Jermaine Kearse and I are both Huskies.  Maybe it's also because I do NOT like the Patriots.

In my book, the Patriots are the NFL equivalent of the Oregon Ducks.  I'd like to draw in a Joker smile on Bill Belichick's face and give Gronk a good spanking.  Don't even get me started on Tom Brady.  He is from a school in the Big 10, the sworn enemy of the Pac 12 conference.  But I have one question about Tom Brady.  Why are his teeth so nice?

I can't believe the NFL swept Deflategate under the rug.  WTF.  The NFL spends all that money on domestic violence "no more" commercials, yet they condone cheating.  Talk about messed up priorities.  Moving on. . .

I guess the next big thing for me (in terms of entertainment) is the start of the 2015 Formula One season.  I hope Lewis Hamilton can repeat as world champion.  That would be awesome.  The F1 season runs March thru November, so that should take me well into football season.  Good.  I'm so not into basketball and baseball. 

Mr. Dependable crapped out again this weekend.  Well he told me that he was going to the other side of the island for this and that and if I wanted him to take the kids (HIS kids), then he had to change his hotel reservation.  Blah, blah, blah.  Out of fairness, I asked the Ds if they wanted to go with him or stay home.  Both said they'd stay home.  I like it when they're home anyway.  I don't need to wonder what time they'll roll in on Sunday evening.

D2 invited a friend to spend the night.  That was nice. I was going to order pizza for dinner, now that D2 eats pizza (D2 used to hate pizza, but now she will eat cheese pizza, as long as it's from Domino's.  Sorry, Pizza Hut.).  But on Thursday, after eating some kind of Doritos casserole for lunch, I decided maybe I wasn't ready for pizza just yet.  So I sent The Help to the market to buy some thin sliced beef for teriyaki.  The weather had been fairly nice last week, so having hibachi food wasn't too much of a stretch.  I even managed to make some Spam musubi for the girls.

There was a cute conversation at dinner.  D2's status as picky eater extraordinaire is well known.  One of her friend's mother has a list of the foods D2 will eat...it is not a long list.  D2's friend was shocked to see D2 eating beef teriyaki.  She said, "I never saw you eat this kind of food before."  I told her she could tell her mom to add that food to her list. 

On Friday morning, D1 showed up at my room carrying a bag of lettuce.  She said it was from Ma (a beloved counselor).  Ma and 3M left on Friday night for the city of brotherly love so I inherited a nice head of lettuce from her.  Cool.  I figured I'd offer the kids a nice bowl of salad alongside the Spam musubi and beef teriyaki.  There were no takers.  The Help and I ended up eating the salad by ourselves.  I suppose things could have been worse.  The dressing was beast.

As much as possible, I try to avoid buying salad dressing.  The only exceptions are ranch dressing (I buy the bottle) and Italian dressing (I have a thing for Good Season's packet mix).  Too many times, I've been grossed out from reading the dressing ingredient label.  Many dressings contain the Devil's condiment.  Just the thought of it grosses me out.  If a recipe I come across calls for it, I will leave it out.  Ick.  Yes, I am a hater.   I am a mustard hater.  That shit is nasty!

The dressing I made for Ma's lettuce was a creamy Italian dressing.  It didn't have the robust flavor of the Good Season's mix, but it wasn't missed.  A creamy dressing should be creamy and smooth.  This dressing delivers on those points and boasts the right herb flavor.  The instructions call for blending the dressing.  I use an immersion blender for this; it's easier to wash than a traditional blender. 

click on recipe title for link to printable recipe

Creamy Italian Dressing

     1 c mayonnaise
     1/4 c onion, diced
     2 tbsp red wine vinegar
     2 tsp sugar
     3/4 tsp Italian seasoning
     1/4 tsp salt
     1/4 tsp garlic powder
     2 dashes of black pepper

Blend all ingredients until smooth.  Chill at least 2 hours before serving.