We’ve had a typical June weather pattern for southwestern Pennsylvania lately—cool mornings, muggy afternoons and evenings, thunderstorms at least a couple of days a week. Everything is so green and lush, and when I run on the wooded trails behind the house it feels as though I am in a jungle (although not entirely unpleasant, when the sun is hiding behind clouds I choose to run on the meadow paths instead).
A couple of days ago, we spent the evening watching weather maps on television. Atypically for our area, there were several tornado sightings, thousands of lightning strikes contained in severe thunderstorms, and flash flooding in the area (almost 4” of rain in 12 hours!). Although we were prepared, we must have been in some sort of protective bubble as we watched damage reports all evening and most of the next day, yet had no more than a few branches down on our yard. Our fingers are crossed to repeat this good luck, since a similar forecast is for later today.
Because hail was also forecast the other day (one county west of here was reporting “egg sized” hail!), I picked all of my lettuce and greens from the garden rather than risk their being shredded by ice balls from the sky. For lunch, I made one of my favorite salads consisting of greens, chickpeas, tomato, onion, and lowfat feta crumbles. If I had any, I would have liked to add sliced cucumber and kalamata olives, but it was not to be.
I dressed this salad with a light, creamy lemon vinaigrette which accented the flavors without being heavy and overpowering. I’ve been making this for years, but I don’t think that I have ever posted it here. Because I have fresh oregano, I added ½ tablespoon (chopped) to the dressing.
* Exported from MasterCook *
Creamy Lemon Vinaigrette
by: Vicci
Servings : 3 (makes 1/3 cup)
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon plain lowfat yogurt
1 teaspoon honey
3/4 teaspoon
1 mall garlic clove -- crushed
Whisk all ingredients in a small bowl, add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. If available, add fresh herbs if desired (about ½ tablespoon). Transfer to a bottle and refrigerate at least an hour to meld flavors.
Yield:
"1/3 cup"
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Per serving: 55 Calories (kcal); 5g Total Fat; 1g Saturated (72% calories from fat); trace Protein; 4g Carbohydrate; trace Cholesterol; 20mg Sodium
Another wonderful salad to use this dressing on would be salad greens, veggies, strawberries or blueberries, and goat cheese. Hmmm, I think that I have some goat cheese in the freezer…
