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Friday, October 23, 2009

Olive Garden Salad

This is the delicious salad I love to have with the Zuppa Toscana soup. My husband has been in love with the Olive Garden Salad since the first time we ate there and now I can re-create it at home. It's just like eating out only cheaper and healthier. This salad is a favorite of mine too. I love the homemade crutons which are so easy and way better than store bought. The dressing is the perfect mix of flavorful but not too heavy and then there's the kick from the peppers. Yum. This salad goes great with any pasta dish or with some soft, chewy breadsticks for a delicious lunch.

Olive Garden Salad
Sister's Cafe
Olive Garden Salad Dressing:
½ c. mayonnaise
1/3 c. white vinegar
1 tsp vegetable oil
2 Tb. corn syrup
2 Tb. Parmesan cheese
2 Tb. Romano cheese
¼ tsp garlic salt – or one clove garlic, minced
½ tsp Italian seasoning
½ tsp parsley flakes
1 Tb. lemon juice
Salad:
1 large head romaine lettuce
slices red onion
black olives
2-4 banana peppers
2 small tomatoes, quartered
½ c. croutons
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
For homemade croutons:
4 slices sandwich bread
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tb. butter
salt and pepper
dried parsley flakes
Mix all dressing ingredients in a blender until well mixed. If this is a little too tart for your own personal tastes, add a little extra sugar.
Chill one salad bowl in freezer for at least 30 minutes. Put lettuce in bowl. Place on top of lettuce red onions, black olives, banana peppers, tomatoes, and croutons. Add some freshly grated Parmesan cheese if you like, and add plenty of Olive Garden Salad Dressing on top.
For the homemade croutons:
Cut off crusts of sandwich bread, and cut bread into cubes. Melt butter in small saucepan and add minced garlic. Toss sandwich cubes in the butter and spread out in a pan. Sprinkle salt and pepper and parsley flakes to taste. Bake for 15 minutes at 350°, turning half way through baking.
Posted by: Sallie

1 comment:

  1. You have got a ton of good recipes here. I've enjoyed looking through them, I am eager to try many! Thanks for your time!

    ReplyDelete