Kiss the Cook: Cool dressing for hot summer days

The past week has been rather hot and humid. Those heat waves tend to curb my interest in cooking indoors.

Sometimes a nice simple recipe that doesn’t add more heat to the house is preferred. 

Add in the fact that fresh garden vegetables are becoming available and you’ve got the makings for a clean, cool and simple salad for dinner.

I wanted to try making a homemade salad dressing that would work with a grilled chicken and avocado salad. Cooking the chicken breast on the grill keeps the heat outside and the dressing is easy work inside that requires no heat.

Below is a very easy-to-make salad dressing that you can pour over your salad and toss well. We found that the dressed salad tasted even better the next day for lunch. If you prefer it a little sweeter, you could use 1/3 cup honey and lower the lime juice to ½ cup. I really liked it with my Cajun grilled chicken breast salad. Next time you want to try a little different salad dressing, give this recipe a try. Enjoy!

Summer salad dressing

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Ready in: 20 min

Ingredients:

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded

2 garlic cloves

¾ tsp. fresh minced ginger root

1/3 c. lime juice

¼ c. honey

1 tbs. balsamic vinegar

½ tsp. salt, more or less to taste

¼ c. cilantro, leaves and stem

½ c. extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Using a food processor or blender, chop the jalapeno, garlic clove, and ginger with a few pulses until finely chopped. Add the lime juice, honey, vinegar, salt and cilantro, pulse a few more times to blend. Add the olive oil slowly while the processor or blender runs until its blended. Season with salt to taste.