"Parmesan" Peppercorn Dressing

For dinner last night I was making a peppercorn-crusted broiled steak salad and needed - no WANTED- a creamy peppercorn dressing like what I used to be able to eat in the restaurants. Went to my trusty Recipezaar  and found this gem. I think this fits the bill quite nicely! Smooth, creamy texture ... subtle peppery bite.... I was quite pleased with this and think you will be, too. Let me know what you think and if you make any changes that make it better, let me know that, too!

Makes approx. 1 cup takes 10 min.

Ingredients
2 tsps onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground black pepper
3 tsps cracked peppercorns
1/4 tsp salt
1 c. mayonnaise or Vegenaise
1/2 c. plain, lowfat soy yogurt (if you can have dairy, use yogurt)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp worcestershire sauce (Lea & Perrins is GF)
1/4 c. white cheese substitute (I used Whole Food's in-house Dalya Vegan Cheese Italian Shreds. So far, I love it! If you can have dairy, just use parmesan)

In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add in wet ingredients, whisking after each addition to blend well. Pour into a clean jar or salad dressing cruet and refrigerate. Keeps well for at least 2 weeks, flavors fully marry and dressing is best after 24 hours in the fridge before serving.

Weekly Dinner Menu March 14-20

I like to plan our dinner menus a month at a time, so that I can make sure we don't have the same meal more than twice in one month (I am easily bored)

Sunday - Roast Chicken, Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Cauliflower, Roast Asparagus

The inspiration for this meal came from Woman's Day's Month of Menus (LOVE this feature!) It's a "planned leftovers" meal, so the leftover chicken will be getting used on Thursday. I haven't yet decided specifically how I am going to season the roast chicken - lemon and rosemary, perhaps? For the mashed potatoes, I am going to swap 1/2 the amount I would normally do for raw cauliflower, cooked and mashed together. (I'm trying to get us to eat healthier).

Monday - Veggie Ravioli w/ Spinach Salad

I have been missing ravioli and tortellini/tortelloni something fierce. Or ANY stufefd pasta. I recently bought a Pampered Chef Cut-N-Seal and have been itching to make homemade, fresh ravioli ever since. And since I am now incorporating vegetarian meals twice a week instead of once into our eating plan, it seems like the perfect opportunity to make it.

Tuesday - Broiled Ham Steak, Lemony Sweet Potatoes, Roasted Green Beans

Again, inspired by the monthly dinner menu from Woman's Day. They had listed peas as the side dish to this meal. Confession time: I hate peas. I gag at the thought. Went searching on recipezaar for a yummy-sounding green veggie side and came across this one. Sold!

Wednesday - Roast Beef Cottage Pie, Irish Colcannon, Chocolate Potato Cake

St. Patty's Day! I have never made a themed meal for St. Patrick's Day (I'm not Irish) but why not? After doing searches for authentic Irish dishes, I came across these and they seem to fit the bill, as well as please the picky-palate people in my house. None of these recipes are GF/CF as you can see if you take a peek at those links, so I'll be making swapouts and recipe adjustments as needed.

Thursday - Funky Chicken w/ Sesame Noodles (leftover chix)

I have made this recipe from recipezaar mnay times now. I absolutely adore this meal. It's fantastic! Prepare a double batch, you'll want the leftovers. I will be using the leftover chicken from Sunday's dinner in this one, instead of the raw chicken called for.

Friday - Baja Black Bean Tacos

After doing a recipezaar search for vegetarian main dishes, I ran across this. Sounds fabulous, and why not make it a filling for tacos?

Saturday - Stuffed Meatloaf, Lemon Garlic Broccoli, salad

Inspired by the stuffing-mix stuffed meatloaf on Woman's Day's March 2010 menu, I will be stuffing mine with a veggie mixture instead. And if you can have cheese, mmmmmm yummy.

Meatloaf Mix 3 Ways

Since I like to be frugal with my time as well as my money, when I am making meatloaf for dinner I make enough to make meatloaf, meatballs AND mini meatloaves (which are awesome for lunches). I will say that my meatloaf (like almost all my dishes) tends to taste a lil' bit different every time. Because I don't really measure. Or follow recipes much. So some of my measurements will not be precise. Sorry 'bout that, for all you recipe-followers.

Meatloaf Mix
2 beaten eggs
3/4 c. milk (or soy milk, almond milk, hempmilk, etc. We are dairy-free)
1 slice of bread, cut up into teeny-tiny cubes (we use gluten-free bread)
1 tsp olive oil, cooking spray, butter (just use a fat of some sort)
1/4 c. minced onion
2 tsps. garlic,minced
1/4 c. shredded carrot,minced
2 tsps of dried herbs (I usually use Italian-type)
1 lb. very lean ground beef (I use 90-ish % lean. Why pay for fat you are going to drain off anyway?)
1 lb. ground turkey
1 lb. ground hot italian sausage
1 small container baby food sweet potatoes (I add this in to boost nutrition. You can use spinach, too. Or leave it out. Up to you.)

In a small bowl, combine the egg, milk and bread cubes, set aside. Saute up all the veggies with the fat over med-high heat, just until soft. In a large bowl, mix all the meats together, along with the baby food (they will never know it's there, I promise). Throw in the veg and the softened bread and mix well. If you are like me and hate getting your hands dirty, you can try mixing it all up with a potato masher.

and now for the 3 ways part...
Divide the meat mixture into thirds - 1/3 for an actual loaf of meat, bake at 350* about 1 hour.

1/3 make into meatballs- I use a small melon baller or a tsp to measure my meatballs. Then they are all uniformly sized and bite-sized. I hate huge meatballs, but do what you like. Bake off in the oven (350* for about 10 minutes, tops). After they have cooled, freeze them until solid, maybe an hour, then bag them up into a gallon-sized freezer bag or some other container. Super-handy to have on hand for impromptu parties, for spaghetti w/ meatballs, meatball pizza...

1/3 form into equal sticks of meat, or use a mini loaf pan, or do what I do and use muffin tins. About 1/3 cup equals 1 muffin cup. Bake @ 350* about 20 minutes.

Here is my glaze:
1/4 c. ketchup
2 tbsps brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
a few dashes of Frank's Red Hot Sauce (you know...the hot wing sauce)