Salad Dressing

In the spirit of being domestic, I thought I would share a recipe today. It was always a common joke at my bridal showers for people to give us kitchen items and then ask, "So are you actually going to cook with all this stuff?" Well, I (we) have been working really hard at trying out new recipes and it is super fun to use all the new gifts we got! I have tried a lot of new recipes, and so far no disasters, but I have to say that my favorite new thing is making my own salad dressing! We got the recipe from Marilyn, Aaron's best friend from growing up. This salad dressing is seriously good...I make it almost every night now for us to have as a side to our meal. It's kind of like a dijon balsamic vinaigrette. I thought I would post it because I haven't seen anything like it in a cookbook.

You need:
garlic cloves
walnut oil
balsamic vinegar
dijon mustard
sea salt
fresh cracked pepper
pinch of sugar

What you do:
- Using a wooden salad bowl, crush up the garlic with some salt and pepper. The amount of garlic depends on how much you like. I just use one clove for a salad for the 2 of us. Crush it using a pestle or the back of a wooden spoon until it makes a coarse paste. You can also add a pinch of sugar in here too.
- Once a coarse paste is formed, add some oil and a splash or two of balsamic vinegar. The amounts all depend on the size of the salad, but I will say that a little goes a long way.
- Add just a squirt of dijon mustard and whisk it all together.
- Once it is done, you just add the lettuce and toppings to the bowl and hand toss it. The dressing isn't runny - it is supposed to just coat the salad.

It tastes best with butter lettuce, sliced onion, tomatoes, and some shaved parmesan in my opinion. I love this salad and I am so thankful to Marilyn for handing down the recipe! If you decide to make it, let me know how it turns out.

This is us with Marilyn and her precious kids who were in our wedding! Sorry - didn't have a picture of the salad! I'll try to remember to add one on this post next time we have the salad.