An early thaw, a birthday celebration (and cake), and the start of a 12 week pottery course, and searching daily for hidden ‘happies’ are about the only things worth noting since I wrote last. Speaking of happies, here are the latest:
Day10:Happiness is waking up to 6+ inches of snow. And snow on tree boughs. And snowy birds on said branches. And snow on eyelashes. And untouched snow in wide open spaces/Day11:Happiness is checking off the last to-do on a list. Day12:Happiness is drinking Shipyard beer and watching hockey with friends/Day13:Happiness is a lazy, snowy Saturday morning. And not caring if the rules (no dog on the furniture) are broken/ Day14:Happiness is game day luppers, even when your team isn’t playing so hot/ Day15: Happiness is walking down quiet, snow-covered, peopleless city streets/ Day16:”Try to make at least one person happy every day. If you cannot do a kind deed, speak kind words. If you cannot speak a kind word, think a kind thought. Count up, if you can, the treasure of happiness that you would dispense in a week, in a year, and a lifetime.” Larry G. Lovasik/ Day17:Happiness is getting a package addressed to your food blog. And getting a product to get creative with/ Day18: Happiness is leafing through recipes your friends and family-friends hand wrote and shared with you as a wedding gift.
The 2nd to last happy, the homemade cookbooks, we received as wedding gifts. Chris’ coworkers from Fairbanks put one together for us and as I may have mentioned before, we had a pre-wedding reception in North Carolina for all the East Coasters to attend, and in lieu of gifts, everyone brought a potluck dish to share with the crowd and the accompanying recipe. It certainly made for an eclectic recipe collection!
I took them out the other night searching for my dad’s handwritten blue cheese dressing recipe because his you can eat my the spoonful (and shellac your arteries while you’re at it). I wanted to add my own zsa zsa zsu by adding a palmful of chopped fresh rosemary. And like everything I test in my kitchen, it works or it doesn’t. This one did it.
As soon as I tasted it, I knew it would be killer on a steak or a salad with bitter greens and fruit and even more so after a long sleepover in the fridge. To maintain my girlish figure, I figured I’d go with the latter. And I must say before I move on, I am loving the Pinterest-inspired mason jar salads. They’re great for workdays!
Since I couldn’t find my dad’s recipe, I searched my old cookbooks and found a couple renditions. Here is a recipe from my vintage Joy of Cooking, that gave me a good jumping-off point:
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- ⅓ cup blue cheese, crumbled
- ½ cup mayonnaise (preferably Duke's)
- ½ cup sour cream
- Splash of buttermilk
- Juice from ½ a lemon
- 2 green onion, sliced thinly
- ¼ tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- pinch of salt
- healthy grind of black pepper
- Rosemary, finely chopped, to taste (I used about 1 Tbsp)
- Arugula
- Rub a bowl or jar with the clove of fresh garlic. Reserve for future use or, if you want a little more of a garlicky bite, run through a garlic press and add to the bowl/jar.
- Combine ingredients 2-11 in the same bowl you rubbed with garlic.
- Stir. Let sit for at least 2 hours for flavors to meld.
- Serve with arugula, pear, cranberry, and cucumber salad, or any veggie you'd like.
Jerry Pollard says
Your rosemary/blue cheese recipe has no blue cheese. Mistake?
I cannot rate it because I haven’t tried it yet.
Mary Catherine says
Jerry, thank you for pointing that out!! Yes, that was a mistake. Forgetting the key player on the ingredient list?! Inconceivable!
If you try it, I hope you enjoy it…with the blue cheese!
Jerry Pollard says
I read your reply, but you did not say how much blue cheese to add! How much? A restaurant here makes a pizza with marinated artichoke hearts and mushrooms (not the plain button types) with a Rosemary Gorgonzola topping (which they also use on salads) that is fantastic. I’m trying to replicate it.
Mary Catherine says
I used 1/3 cup in this recipe. I, personally, like a really robust blue cheese dressing so if I didn’t write the recipe for the masses, I would have added as much as 1/2 cup. But it’s easier to add than to take away in this case.
P.S. That pizza sounds amazing.
Kalena says
What is the purpose of rubbing the bowl or jar with garlic?
Mary Catherine says
That’s a great question! It’s for an even bigger garlic flavor punch. You could, of course, omit that step if it doesn’t strike your fancy.