mayonnaise – The Pajama Chef

This cool and creamy fresh vegetable dip is easy to make. It's a great appetizer or side dish!

Our Favorite Fresh Vegetable Dip

November 3, 2017October 31, 2017 Sarah

This cool and creamy fresh vegetable dip is easy to make. It’s a great appetizer or side dish!

At my house, the best way to make sure we eat our veggies is to always have some prepped and ready to snack on. I think that’s why those bagged salads, precut baby carrots, and ready-made vegetable trays at the grocery store are so popular. Preparing vegetables can be so time consuming! On the weekends, I like to spend some time cutting bell peppers and cucumbers, then portioning them into little containers to pull out of the fridge for my lunchbox all week long. Wait. I just reread that sentence. I’m not sure I like to do that… but I sure like the results. And you know when I like the results even more? When I’ve thought ahead enough to make some veggie dip like this one!

It’s not that veggies aren’t tasty enough on their own, but sometimes we need some extra motivation, ya know? 🙂 My husband can testify to that, haha! Some people just like dipping their veggies in ranch dressing, but since my husband isn’t a ranch sort of guy, I have to be a little more creative. This fresh veggie dip meets both of our needs: it has a cool and creamy base with tons of flavor, but not that unmistakable ranch flavor. The ingredients are somewhat similar since it uses onion and garlic as the base flavors along with some herbs like dill and parsley, but what makes this vegetable dip stand out from the crowd is the addition of Worcestershire sauce! This adds a complex salty depth to the herby goodness.

Like most dips, this comes together in a flash but I do recommend making it ahead of time so it can chill in the fridge for about an hour before serving. This allows the flavors to marry and taste even better! 🙂 If you want to healthify the dip, you could substitute some plain yogurt for part of the sour cream. I think the recipe is amazing as-is though! Hope you enjoy!

one year ago: Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake
two years ago: Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
three years ago: Cranberry and Cream Cheese Muffins
four years ago: Pumpkin Graham Muffins
five years ago: Roasted Chicken
six years ago: Homemade Maple & Brown Sugar Almond Butter
seven years ago: Pumpkin Soup and Homemade Croutons

Fresh Vegetable Dip

Servings: ~ 2 cups
Time: 1 hour
Print

from Taste of Home

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) sour cream
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons dried dill
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
a few cracks freshly ground black pepper
fresh vegetables, for serving

Directions:

In a medium bowl, stir together sour cream and mayonnaise. Add seasonings: onion powder, dill, garlic powder, parsley, and Worcestershire sauce and stir well. Taste and season with black pepper as desired.

Cover and chill for one hour in the refrigerator.

Serve with fresh vegetables!

Notes: You can also substitute some of the sour cream for plain yogurt (Greek or regular).

Main Dishes, Recipes, Salads, Sides, Vegetables

SRC: Green Goddess Dressing

May 17, 2015December 14, 2015 Sarah

A creamy, tangy dressing filled with lots of fresh herbs and onions… green goddess dressing is divine!

Hello, friends! What a week! We just moved and are getting settled in our new home. But I couldn’t miss out on the Secret Recipe Club this month so I made my recipe wayyy in advance. So unlike me. 🙂 This month I was given Jenna’s blog, The Painted Apron. Jenna is a lovely woman who gets to divide her time between Birmingham and Orange Beach, Alabama. She loves her family [just browse her blog for adorable grandkid photos! Awww.], football, and hospitality. My husband was very sad to learn that she’s an Alabama fan and wants to say GO BUCKS! OH! He’s a major Ohio State fan and is still basking in the glow of Big Ten > SEC victory in the National Championship last January.

All that aside, it was so fun to check out Jenna’s blog this month. Some of the recipes that caught my eye included: Creamy Corn Dip, Cranberry Salsa [must make at Christmas!], Cinnamon Roll & Sausage Breakfast Pudding [this would be an awesome dish to make while on vacation… we always stay in condos so low-prep recipes are great!], Apple Pear and Walnut Gorgonzola Galette, and Savory Apple Pie Quesadilla. I must have been in a fall mood when I browsed her blog, but I eventually settled on this great salad dressing. I know I’ll be able to enjoy it all summer long!

I’ve heard of Green Goddess Dressing before, but don’t really think I’ve ever had it before. Apparently it was concocted in the 1920s in San Francisco as part of a movie celebration. Fun! Truly, it reminds me of a more sophisticated version of ranch dressing. Creamy, herby, and tangy, this dressing is a fun creamy topping for salad. Traditionally, this dressing is made with sour cream and mayonnaise, but this time I used greek yogurt instead of sour cream because I had it on hand. We have enjoyed this dressing for the past two weeks on any and every salad we can find… but the first time, it was fabulous on a salad made up of red leaf lettuce, sauteed asparagus, sliced radishes, chickpeas, crumbled feta, and sliced hard boiled eggs. No matter how you serve it, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as we did! Thanks, Jenna, for a great recipe. 🙂

one year ago: Tropical Cake Mix Cookies
two years ago: Sweet Potato and Kale Egg Bake
three years ago: Reese’s Blondie Pie
four years ago: Sweet Potato Waffles

Green Goddess Dressing

Servings: 1.5 cups
Time: 5 minutes
Print

from The Painted Apron

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
1/4 cup chopped basil [or basil paste from Gourmet Garden]
1/4 cup chopped parsley [or parsley paste from Gourmet Garden]
1 tablespoon anchovy paste
4 tablespoons lemon juice [from about 2 lemons]
1 clove garlic, minced
crudites or salad, for serving

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a jar or small bowl, then process with an immersion blender until smooth. Serve as a dressing or dip. I enjoyed my dressing with this Asparagus and Chickpea Salad from A Nutritionist Eats [ingredients: red or butter lettuce, sauteed asparagus, sliced radishes, chickpeas, crumbled feta, and sliced hard boiled eggs].

Dressing keeps well in the fridge for about a week. Enjoy!

Check out all the other delicious recipes made by my friends in the Secret Recipe Club this month!

10 Minute Lunches, Main Dishes, Recipes, Sandwiches and Wraps

10 Minute Lunch #7: Curried Chicken Salad

April 10, 2015December 14, 2015 Sarah

Chicken salad… it can be boring, or awesome. This version is pretty darn amazing! I hope you give it a try. 🙂

Back in the days of grad school, I was ALL about the 10 minute lunch. These working days, I am ALL about leftovers for lunch… or special salads. 🙂 But I resurrected the 10 minute lunch lately with this fantastic curried chicken salad! I saw a few pics of curried chicken salad from different folks on Instagram, but I just made my own version based on what I had in my fridge.

I enjoyed this chicken salad on some fresh, homemade whole wheat bread. Recipe coming soon! But back to this chicken salad…it’s filled with all sorts of deliciousness. Golden raisins [golden > regular in my book!], crunchy celery, curry powder [duh], cinnamon [for a sweet kick!], and real mayo! I’ve tried to like using greek yogurt in the place of mayo, but I almost never like it… So why skip the good stuff?

This curried chicken salad was a great few day’s worth of lunches. I used leftover shredded chicken from one of the whole chickens we roast a couple times a month, but you could also use store-bought rotisserie chicken or just poach some chicken. It made for some great, hearty sandwiches. Creamy, crunchy, and flavorful! And fast! Just what I like for busy lunchtimes. 🙂 Enjoy!

one year ago: Coconut Curry Popcorn
two years ago: Dark Chocolate Crumb Bars
three years ago: Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Icing
four years ago: Chicken Pot Pie

Curried Chicken Salad

Servings: 2
Time: 5 minutes
Print

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked chicken, shredded
1/4 of an apple, diced – about 1/2 cup
1 stalk celery, diced
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
bread, lettuce, crackers for serving

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine chicken, apple, celery, and golden raisins. Add mayo, lemon juice, and mustard and stir to coat. Sprinkle curry powder and cinnamon on top then stir again.

Serve on good bread, a crisp lettuce leaf, or with crackers.

Beans, Main Dishes, Other, Recipes, Rice, Sauces, Sides

SRC: Falafel, Tzatziki, and Greek Lemon Rice

February 15, 2015December 14, 2015 Sarah

Panfried falafel served up with lots of creamy tzatziki [cucumber sauce] and a tangy Greek rice. No one said vegetarian food had to be boring!

I’m so glad it’s a Secret Recipe Club [SRC] day! What’s SRC? Basically a fun blogging group where you’re secretly paired up with another blogger. Everyone makes a recipe from their assigned blog and posts on the same day. The club has grown over the years and now has four groups. Since I first joined a few years[!] ago, I’ve been in group A. But when I had the chance to switch groups, I got SO excited because–hello!–new blogs to explore! 🙂 So now I’m in group C and loving it! This month I was assigned to Jamie’s blog, Our Eating Habits. Jamie lives in Canada and like any food blogger, loves food. She says on her about page: “Eating is a big part of my life, so I make sure everything that goes into my mouth is tasty.” A sentiment I agree with! [And that is EXACTLY why I bought jalapeno cheetos on Saturday at the grocery store. Those are SO good. Anyway…] Jamie loves cooking and baking for her family and has an impressive number of recipes on her blog. It was so fun to browse her recipes! I was tempted to make these red velvet M&M cake mix bars for Valentine’s Day, and will make this Butterscotch Confetti at Christmastime this year! I was all set to make those red velvet bars when I saw that Jamie had a falafel recipe…and I was sold!

Though I love falafel, sometimes I’m hesitant to order it at restaurants because it’s easy to make it too dry since it’s basically deep-fried chickpea balls/patties. Chickpeas are a drier bean anyway, so it makes sense. That’s why I’ve been excited to see so many pan-fried recipes for falafel lately. This recipe doesn’t disappoint! It’s so flavorful and moist [sorry!]. I changed the recipe a little from Jamie’s version, using lime juice instead of lemon, and adding the zest in for a little something special. Jamie used an egg as a binder and I decided to exclude it just so I didn’t have to worry about not cooking the falafel enough. I compensated for the lack of egg by using more chickpeas and less bread crumbs. Served up with some creamy tzatziki, chopped tomatoes and red onion, on a pita or lettuce-wrap style, this is an awesome meal! I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make this tasty vegetarian meal. Jamie added mayo to her tzatziki sauce and I thought that was genius! The mayo made the sauce a little creamier and added a little extra zip, but it also tasted good without.

As a side, I made a super easy lemon rice. It has just four ingredients: jasmine rice, chicken broth, rosemary, and lemon juice and is SO addictive. The bright, fresh flavor was perfect alongside the falafel. This is not a meal to be missed! Hope you try it today. 🙂 Thanks, Jamie, for a great recipe!

one year ago: Fresh Cranberry Coffee Cake
two years ago: Go-To Pancakes
three years ago: Sunrise Muffins
four years ago: Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes

Falafel, Tzatziki, and Greek Lemon Rice

Servings: 4
Time: 50 minutes
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Falafel and Tzatziki from Our Eating Habits; Greek Lemon Rice from Thank Your Body

Ingredients:

for falafel

1 small onion
1/2 cup fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
pinch cayenne pepper
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1/2 a lime
1/2-1 cup bread crumbs
1-2 cans chickpeas [15 ounces each]
freshly ground pepper, to taste
salt, to taste
oil for cooking

for Tzatziki

2 cups plain greek yogurt
1/2 cucumber, seeded and grated, pressed dry with a clean dish towel
2 teaspoons dried dill [or 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped]
1-2 tablespoons mayonnaise
freshly ground pepper, to taste
salt, to taste

for Greek Lemon Rice

1 cup jasmine or basmati rice
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
juice of 1 lemon [approximately 1/4 cup]
freshly ground pepper, to taste
salt, to taste

for serving

pita bread
chopped red onions
chopped tomato
romaine lettuce

Directions:

Begin by making the tzatziki. In a medium bowl, stir together yogurt, cucumber, dill, and mayo. Taste and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate while cooking falafel and rice.

Next, mix up the falafel. In a food processor, pulse together onion, parsley, garlic, cumin, coriander, cayenne, lime zest, and lime juice. Then add 1/4 cup bread crumbs and 1 can chickpeas and pulse together, being careful to not completely pulverize the chickpeas. Check to see if mixture holds together, then add additional bread crumbs and/or chickpeas, pulsing gently, until mixture can be shaped into patties. I used 1/2 cup bread crumbs and 1 1/2 cans chickpeas [approximately 2 1/4 cups chickpeas]. Season to taste with pepper and salt. Shape into small patties–I used about 1/4 cup for each. Place on a plate or baking sheet and pop in the fridge to chill while starting the rice.

In a small saucepan set over high heat, combine rice, chicken broth, rosemary, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then stir. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer, cooking for 15-20 minutes until the rice has absorbed all the liquid. Fluff with a fork and season with pepper and salt to taste.

While rice is cooking, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add oil and when hot, cook falafel patties, about 3-4 minutes per side until heated through and browned on each side.

Serve falafel in a pita or with lettuce, topping with onions, tomato, and tzatziki. Rice is great on the side or in the pita too!

Be sure to see what other SRC members made this week:

Chicken, Main Dishes, Recipes, Sauces

Baked Honey Chicken Nuggets with Homemade Chick-Fil-A Sauce

August 6, 2014August 4, 2014 Sarah

These baked chicken nuggets and homemade honey mustard sauce are an easy way to satisfy fast food cravings at home!

Even though I love salads, vegetables, and all sorts of healthy goodness, as well as eating at local restaurants, sometimes fast food just sounds SO good. Do you know what I mean? I rarely indulge, except on road trips or nights that I really really have no desire to cook and we have no leftovers. [This is super rare.] To be completely honest, the health aspect is only part of the reason I don’t indulge that often. It’s the cost. It just seems ridiculous to me to spend $7+ on a “good” fast food meal… especially keeping in mind what fast food is really made of. So what to do, what to do. Make my own fast food, of course! Chicken nuggets and chicken tenders are my absolute fave. Always have been, always will be.

True, it takes longer. And it’s not exactly like what you’d get at a fast food place. But seriously… if it’s just the crunch of chicken and the endless vats of dipping sauce that you desire, this will be well worth it! I’m not going to lie; these chicken nuggets aren’t healthy. They’re baked, not fried, so there is some redeeming qualities to them, but healthy they are not. Their breading is held on by an unexpected blend of balsamic vinegar and honey, a combination that’s sweet and savory all at once!

Though you can dip these chicken nuggets in whatever sauce you like–ketchup, BBQ sauce, mustard… might I suggest this homemade Chick-Fil-A sauce? Before seeing this recipe I didn’t realize that Chick-Fil-A had their own special sauce besides their honey mustard, so I can’t vouch for the authenticity of this recipe. I can speak for the taste though–it’s amazingly, utterly, wonderfully delicious! So next time you have a craving for fast food, why not make some at home? I bet you have most of these ingredients in your pantry and fridge right now! I know I do. 🙂 Enjoy!

one year ago: Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
two years ago: Pesto Potato Salad
three years ago: Salmon with Lemon, Tarragon, and Garlic Sauce
four years ago: Summer Mexican Soup

Baked Honey Chicken Nuggets with Homemade Chick-Fil-A Sauce

Servings: 4-5
Time: 45 minutes
Print

from Macaroni and Cheesecake

Ingredients:

for chicken nuggets

1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs, Panko if possible – if regular bread crumbs you may want to toast in a dry skillet for a few minutes until golden brown
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

for Chick-Fil-A sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon BBQ sauce

Directions:

Line a large sheet pan with foil and lightly grease with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a shallow bowl, whisk together honey and balsamic vinegar. Place bread crumbs in another shallow bowl. Roll chicken in honey then dip in bread crumbs, being sure to coat each side. Place on prepared pan and repeat until all chicken is used. Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through.

After chicken is in the oven, whisk together all ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate while chicken cooks, about 30 minutes, to allow flavors to marry.

Serve chicken nuggets with sauce, ketchup, etc. Extra sauce will keep in the refrigerator for a couple weeks.