Olive Garden Salad

My sister was having a party this week on the same day she was singing for a benefit. I volunteered to come do the cooking for her since she is always so willing to sacrafice her time whenever I'm in need of a vacation from little punks. Not too mention, hanging out at the lake on a Saturday is not too shabby a way to spend the day, even if I am cooking for most of it. She wanted fall themed foods. It was fun to plan and to satisfy my never ending craving for pumpkin. Lots of pumpkin recipes to follow...

Darby was also having an Anti-homecoming party for all of her punk friends that are either not old enough to date or didn't have a date for homecoming. I doubled everything from Kat's party and served the same thing for Darby's. Ford heard one of the kids say "how come the food is so good?" I'm not sure they are used to fancy food at these teen parties.

We started with the Olive Garden Salad. I found the recipe on The Sister's Cafe.

Olive Garden Salad

dressing:
1/2 c. mayonnaise

1/3 c. white vinegar

1 tsp. vegetable oil

2 Tb. corn syrup

2 Tb. parmesan cheese

2 Tb. romano cheese

1/4 tsp. garlic salt or one clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. italian seasoning

1/2 tsp. parsley flakes

1 Tb. lemon juice

Mix all dressing ingredients in a blender until well mixed. It it is too tart, add a little sugar.

Salad:
1 large head romaine lettuce

slices red onion

black olives

2-4 banana peppers

2 small tomatoes, quartered

1/2 c. croutons

freshly grated parmesan cheese

Put lettuce in bowl. Place on top of lettuce red onions, black olives, banana peppers, tomatoes, adn croutons. Add some freshly grated parmesan cheese if you like, and add plenty of olive garden salad dressing on top. If you want to be really authentic, chill your bowl in the freezer for half an hour.