Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza

Chicken bacon ranch pizza made with vegan ranch dressing and vegan cheese.  As a friend commented, this invokes thoughts of the song "one of these things is not like the other ones."  But, you do what you gotta do when you can't eat dairy or soy. 

First, the ranch dressing.  It's no Hidden Valley Ranch, but it's pretty good.  Samantha liked it, so that's good enough for me!

Ingredients (adapted from here):

• 1 c. mayo (I used Whole Foods' 365 brand, which is dairy/soy free)
• 3/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 3-4 tbsp. minced onion (or 1/2 tsp. onion powder - I just didn't have any)
• 1 tsp. dill
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• Splash of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
• up to 1/2 c. unsweetened So Delicious Coconut Milk
• Salt

To make:

• Whisk first 6 ingredients together
• Slowly whisk in milk until dressing is the desired consistency
• Add salt to taste
• It's best to let this sit in the fridge for a bit to let the flavors mingle 

I spread a bit of this on my homemade dough and added some Daiya mozzerella, grilled chicken, cooked bacon, and roma tomato slices.  It was really yummy . . . so good that I was too busy chowing down to take a picture!  Whoops.  Guess I'll have to make this again!  I think I can make the sacrifice. 

Cherry Rice Pilaf

Here's the rice pilaf recipe I promised you the other day.  I know y'all couldn't even sleep in anticipation.  Well, I promise, you will not be disappointed if you make this.  It is sooooo good.

Ingredients (adapted from my I Love Trader Joe's cookbook):

• 3 c. cooked rice (I used brown, gave it a nice crunch)
• 2 tbsp. Earth Balance butter
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 c. diced celery
• 1/2 c. dried montmorency tart cherries
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• Salt & pepper

To make:

• Melt butter in large skillet
• Saute onion, celery, cherries, and thyme until softened
• Stir in cooked rice
• Season with salt & pepper

Super easy and super tasty.  I doubled the recipe for the six adults and 2 kids and we had plenty left over (the leftovers were really good, too).  The original recipe called for 1/2 c. chopped walnuts, but I left those out.  I didn't really miss them, either.  The brown rice added a nice texture that you just don't get with white rice.  And the cherries . . . oh, the cherries. They really plump up and become soft.  Yum!

Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon

We had a full house (apartment) last weekend.  My sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephew came out from CA for a couple of days and my inlaws decided to drive out, too!  The visit was far too short, but we had a good time and lots of good food.  Plus we celebrated Samantha's 3rd birthday!

I decided to make glazed salmon for Friday's Lenten dinner.  But not just any old salmon . . . glazed salmon. 

Ingredients:

• 2lbs. salmon (I used wild coho salmon from TJ's - so tasty!)
• 2 tbsp. Earth Balance butter
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 3 tbsp. packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 c. whole grain dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• Salt & pepper

To make:

• Preheat oven to 400
• Melt butter, honey, and brown sugar in small saucepan
• Remove from heat san whisk in olive oil and mustard
• Season both sides of salmon with salt & pepper
• Brush with brown sugar mixture
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, until salmon flakes with a fork

This was so good!  Not too sweet with just a little tang from the mustard.  We had a couple of pieces left over and it reheated well, too.  I usually don't like reheated salmon; it just doesn't taste good.  But this was pretty tasty when I reheated some on Sunday. 

I served this with steamed veggies and a really yummy rice pilaf.  I think the rice may have been a bigger hit than the salmon.  Watch for that recipe up next!