Salad........everyday

I applied to host yet another house party event. This time it is for salad dressing and one of the things I did in the process was to write about the salads I make. So here is a snippet into my salad making habits. Writing it makes me want to go make a pasta salad right now! I love to cook elaborate meals and I LOVE setting an impressive table. However, in between these feats of feasting, I really just want something quick and easy and healthy. I try to always have a fresh veggie salad and fruit salad ready in the fridge, because otherwise it is much to easy to reach for something that is less healthy and we eat a lot more fresh fruit and veggies when I do this than on the days where I did not take the time. The wonderful thing about this is that if my all-veggie salads start to look like they are getting to old they can be tossed in the freezer and added next time I make soup. This way salad is never wasted. I love nuts, dried and fresh fruit and seeds as an option to change things up for toppings to mix in with the salad. Typical ingredients for a salad at my house would be red cabbage, some dark leafy greens such as spinach, shredded carrots, red, yellow, or orange bell peppers unless we have the pleasure to get hold of some purple ones. It really just comes down to what is in season and how much room I have left in the bowl, for example right now i have a portebella mushroom in the fridge so it will either be used in the next salad or soup unless I suddenly feel like making coking something that happens to need one of those. I always have more veggies ready to go. I know a lot of people do well with making meal plans for the whole week but for me it is better to just stock up on fresh produce until the fridge is overflowing and just make sure it all gets eaten or frozen and I almost always have what I need for what ever I feel like making. Thinly sliced summer squash or soybeans can give it a nice crunch, sometimes we will add tomatoes, most of the time we just eat them by them selves though because we love them so much and they tend to make the salad go bad faster. There are really very few things I will not add to a salad, but I do try to avoid iceberg lettuce if at all possible, it just seems like such a waste of the space in your stomach. If we really want the salad to be the only meal we sometimes add cheese or meat or even bacon. I love pasta salad and I love having good dressings around for those. Some cooked noodles, finely sliced veggies and a good dressing and quick as a fox, you have a perfect side dish. If I have had company coming and I worry I will not have enough food i have made a super quick and very popular version that basically just consists of a can of black olives, a can of artichokes, half a bottle of vinaigrette and some noodles.

Summer 2012 Videos

homemade liquid handsoap

I'm really excited to try this at some point

Cheese grater (from the dollar store)
2 Tablespoons of Liquid Glycerin (found in the band aid section at any drugstore or grocery store)
1 - 8 oz bar of soap
1 gallon of water

Step 1:

Grate the entire bar of soap

 

Step 2:
Fill a pot with 1 gallon of water and add the soap shavings.

Step 3:
Add 2 Tablespoons of liquid glycerin and turn the heat to medium/high and stir until the soap dissolves.

Leave it alone to cool for at least 10-12 hours. It begins to cloud up after 3-4 hours.

After it has cooled completely around 12 hours later it will harden and look like liquid soap.

If the soap is harder than it should be you can take some beaters and blend it while adding just a little bit of water until the consistency is more like liquid soap.

All this I got from here  where she has excellent pictures as well. Some people in the comments are saying that you have to add preservatives so that it will not get moldy, I have no idea how to deal with that but I was thinking that you could freeze it in smaller portions and take them out as you need them.

one of the coments said "Have you tried microwaving a solid bar of Ivory for a couple of minutes? Great fun for the kids - OK I find it fascinating as it erupts into what looks like shaving cream but sets into a big plate of something just a little more dense than cotton candy. The next day put it into a bag and smash it. It turns to fine powder, which I would think would be perfect for your recipe. (And way more fun!)" I think it sounds fantastic!