Another "Easy Slider": Chicken in Cream Sauce

When I was a kid, Mrs. Grass Chicken Noodle Soup Mix was a hit.  I think it was one of the first freeze-dried products available.  It came with a little “magic egg,” called the Golden Flavor Nugget, that you placed in the pot along with the contents that were being rehydrated.  We’d carefully watch as the egg dissolved, knowing that when it was gone, it was soup!  The novelty of the product allowed us to forgive the taste…or lack thereof.

I wonder if anyone buys Lipton Onion Soup Mix and makes and serves it as just soup.  I don’t think I’ve every talked with anyone who, after eating a bowl of onion soup made from a mix says, “Now that’s good soup!”  Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who’s ever even done it.

I’ll admit it.  I’ve tried it once or twice when there’s been nothing else in the house to eat.  When you’ve had "real" soup, the stuff made from a mix is pretty awful.  And how about the sodium content?  Oh baby!  If you were able to down all 32 oz. of the soup made from one packet, you’d rack up 100% of your daily value of sodium!  According to the nutrition facts on the box, even a single one-cup serving is 25%, and 8 oz. is not a lot of soup.

Even the more "gourmet" dried soup mixes leave a lot to be desired.  Knorr makes a great soup mix.  Only it’s not very good as just soup.  But mix it with sour cream for a dip, or with other ingredients in a meat loaf or pot roast or in hamburgers, and something magical happens.  It creates a new flavor combination that causes taste buds to sit up and take notice.

Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup leaves something to be desired when it’s made as just soup.  Keep in mind that this is after you’ve had “real” mushroom soup.  But put it with chicken or in a green bean casserole, and it borders on “cuisine.”  Well, poor man’s cuisine, anyway.

That’s what There’s a Dad in the Kitchen is all about.  This week’s recipe is as easy as it gets.  It truly lives up to the mission of this blog:  “Basic recipes with simple ingredients…so easy, even a dad can do it.”  You’re going to love this one!

Fellow Dad in the Kitchen, Rob Brunner and I made this for the weekly Alpha Course and Journey Kids groups at Parker Ford Church.  We started with 16 lbs. of chicken, so the photos below reflect “mass quantities.”

CHICKEN IN CREAM SAUCE

Ingredients:

3-4 lbs. of chicken (combination of boneless, skinless breasts and thighs)

2 cans (10 oz.) Cream of Mushroom condensed soup

1 pkg. of dry onion soup mix*

1 cup sour cream

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

½ teaspoon dill weed

For the Buttered Noodles"

1 lb. wide egg noodles

2 Tablespoons butter

*The original recipe called for two packages of dry onion soup mix.  This resulted in a sauce that was a little too salty for me.  I recommend using only one package.  For a stronger tasting sauce, use two.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Trim any excess fat from the chicken pieces and arrange them in a single layer on the bottom of a 9”x13” baking dish.  For our Alpha dinner, we used three 12"x20" foil pans.  Even with those three spacious pans, we still had to partially layer a portion of each piece of chicken on top of another.  This was not a problem if your baking dish isn't quite large enough.

Combine all other ingredients, incorporating them until they are well-blended.  (Do not make the soup according to directions on the can.  Just add the can’s contents.)  The bowl to the right is huge!  It's 15" across.  For the Tuesday night group, we used 8 cans of mushroom soup, 8 packages of onion soup mix and four cups of sour cream!  I forgot to add the dill weed to the sauce and sprinkled it on top as it went into the oven.  It was good, but would have been better blended into the sauce.

Slather the sauce mixture over top of all of the chicken pieces with a spatula, coating them liberally.  Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°.

While the chicken is baking, prepare the buttered noodles.  Cook noodles in a generous amount of lightly salted water for the prescribed time recommended for the al dente level of doneness.  Drain the noodles and return them to the pot used for cooking.  Add about 2 Tablespoons of butter to the still hot noodles and toss until they are well-coated.  Try to time the cooking of the noodles to coincide with when the chicken will be ready.

It's hard to see if there is any chicken under there, but
there is...and it's tender and juicy!

After the chicken has cooked, if possible, remove some of the sauce from the baking dish and blend it with a hand whisk.  If it’s too thick, add a little milk.  This sauce can be used on any chicken pieces that are no longer coated, as well as over the buttered noodles.  I also chose to serve the ever-popular green bean casserole.  We also had a fresh greens salad and rolls.

I’m thinking that this recipe could also be made in a crock-pot.  Imagine how tender and flavorful the chicken would be after a day of slow cooking in this sauce!

Enjoy!

More Comfort Food: Old Fashioned Meat Loaf & Swedish Potatoes

I know…I know.  In fact, I already said it last week:  “While not a meat loaf and mashed potatoes kind of comfort food, spaghetti casserole is still an entrée that leaves you filled, as well as with a smile on your face…and that’s what comfort food is all about, right?”

Several of you reminded me that Spaghetti Casserole is not your typical comfort food.  I already agreed.  But, I also feel it qualifies.  However, to appease everyone, this week is:  Meat Loaf and Mashed Potatoes…and that’s what comfort food is all about, right?  Right!

Meat loaf was a favorite in our house when I was growing up, and it was always served with mashed potatoes.  Or, as a family friend referred to them:  smashed potatoes.

As anyone who has had a roommate will tell you, there is no shortage of philosophical discussions which roommates will debate.  The merits as well as the disadvantages of a wide variety of topics are heavily deliberated.  For my roommate and me, few of these discussions ended well…hardly ever amicably, and sometimes with someone being carted to the lake and tossed in.

One such discussion with my roommate, Kurt, centered around pairing fruit with meat.  He was not a supporter of such radical cuisine, citing Exhibit 1:  pineapple rings served with ham.  This combination was a revulsion in the highest.  Grapes in chicken salad?  Forget it!

Kurt proceeded to tell a story of his mother’s meat loaf recipe that called for a cup of corn flakes.  On one occasion, Edna was out of corn flakes, and the only comparable cereal in the pantry was raisin bran.  You guessed it:  Raisin Meat Loaf.

I couldn’t argue with that one.  Nobody went in the lake that night.

This meat loaf recipe is another from The Alpha Course Cookbook.  It’s been adapted only slightly.

OLD FASHIONED MEAT LOAF
(click on any image to enlarge it)

These are two of the four 18" meat loaves we made for our Alpha course dinner.

Ingredients:

1½ - 2 lbs. (approx.) lean ground beef

²/₃ cup bread crumbs

¾ cup milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 small onion, grated

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

For the glaze:

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ cup ketchup

1 teaspoon ground mustard

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine ground beef, breadcrumbs, eggs, milk, onion, salt and pepper.  

Blend thoroughly with your hands and...

...shape into a loaf.  Place into a baking dish.  Many people like to use loaf pans, but doing this can result in a greasy meat loaf, as the grease has nowhere to go.  (Some loaf pans have an insert that allows the grease to drain away.)  Using a flat baking dish permits the fat to drain, and if desired can be suctioned out with a turkey baster.

You can make the glaze and spread it on the meat loaf before baking, or if you're pressed for time, start baking the meat loaf and apply the glaze when it's ready.  

To make the glaze, combine the brown sugar, nutmeg, ketchup, and dry mustard, whisking it until smooth.  Spread it over the top of the meat loaf.

Place the completed loaf in the oven and bake at 350° for approximately 60 minutes.  After approximately an hour, use a meat thermometer to determine doneness, (165° internally).

As you can tell from the photographs, I did not grate the onion and only chopped it.  Grating will enable it to "blend in" and you'll also get more flavor.

Serve with gravy, (thickened beef stock), and mashed potatoes, (below).

SWEDISH MASHED POTATOES

This recipe is also from The Alpha Course Cookbook.  It has been adapted slightly.  When we served these at Parker Ford Church last week, one youngster, who was coming through the line, announced, “These are just mashed potatoes.”  My response was given in my best Swedish, of course.

Ingredients:

6-8 large potatoes, peeled and cut in half

6 ounces of cream cheese

1 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons onion salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons dried parsley flakes (optional)

Directions:

Cook potatoes in salted water until tender.

Mash until smooth with no lumps.  I use a Foley Food Mill.  It’s great for making mashed potatoes.

Guaranteed, there will be no lumps!

Add remaining ingredients and beat until light and fluffy.  The original recipe called for additional salt, on top of the onion salt.  We felt it wasn’t needed, but add more, after tasting, if you like.

You can serve the potatoes at this point, or place them in a buttered casserole, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

To reheat, remove from refrigerator approximately 90 minutes before dinner, and allow to sit at room temperature for about an hour.  Bake uncovered at 350° for 30 minutes, or until heated through.

Enjoy!

Comfort Food at its Finest: Spaghetti Casserole

Dads in kitchens everywhere are finding There’s a Dad in the Kitchen.  Hits to the blog are continuing to increase, but the most noteworthy indicators, at least to me, are the Google searches that are ending up at TADITK.

For example, the following search words all led people to There's a Dad in the Kitchen:

“browning 1 lb. of ground beef in a frying pan” – Can you think of anyone other than a desperate dad searching for this on the Internet?  “Let’s see.  She said to brown the ground beef.  How do I do that?”

Or:

“easy sure fire pie crust” – If it was just “easy pie crust,” it could have been anyone, but “sure fire?”  That had to be a dad.

How about?:

“best breakfast for dad to make kid” – Obviously, a dad, frantic to serve something other than cereal for breakfast, (upon finding that the milk has expired, of course).

For me, this was the clincher:

"bad school cafeteria style grilled cheese sandwiches" – Had to be a dad.  Whoever it was, he had persistence.  I tried the same search and the TADITK blog was not in the first 200 results!

And just this week, there were 9 hits alone on Beefaroni.  I’d like to think that at least half of them were dads.

I’m continuing to love the Alpha Course cookbook.  The Tuesday night meal team at PFC continues to cook for about 50 people, and last week was the first time I utilized an Alpha recipe without finessing it.  This week’s post captures comfort food at its finest:  Spaghetti Casserole.

SPAGHETTI CASSEROLE

(click on any picture to enlarge)

While not a meatloaf-and-mashed-potatoes kind of comfort food, spaghetti casserole is still an entrée that leaves you filled, and with a smile on your face…and isn't that what comfort food is all about?  As Sam Cornish once described a similar food, “It slides down pretty easy!”

Ingredients:

1 lb. box spaghetti

2 medium onions, chopped

1 garlic clove

2 to 2¼ lbs. lean ground beef

1 jar (approx. 25 oz.) spaghetti sauce

1 teaspoon dried oregano

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

²/₃ cup butter

²/₃ cup all-purpose flour

1 quart milk

2½ cups shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:

Make the pasta according to package directions, using lightly salted boiling water.  Follow the directions for an al dente level of doneness.  Mix with a little olive oil to keep spaghetti from sticking.

In a large frying pan or electric frying pan, sauté the onion and garlic in a little butter or olive oil until soft.  Remove from the pan.  Add the ground beef and cook until lightly browned.  Drain excess fat.  Add spaghetti sauce, oregano, salt, and pepper.  Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Make the cheese sauce by first making a simple white sauce.  Melt the butter in a 2 quart or larger saucepan, and gradually whisk in the flour to ensure there are no lumps.  Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly.  Cook over medium high heat, continuing to stir until the sauce simmers and thickens.  Stir in 2 cups of the Mozzarella cheese, and a little salt and pepper, to taste.

Prepare the casserole as follows:

Ready for the cheese sauce on top

Place half of the spaghetti on the bottom of a large oven-proof casserole or lasagna dish.  Layer half of the meat mixture on top, and repeat layers.  Pour the sauce over the top of the casserole and sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup of Mozzarella and the shredded Cheddar.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes, (longer if casserole has been prepared in advance and refrigerated), until the top is lightly browned and bubbly.

It must have been good!

GARLIC BREAD

Garlic bread goes with Spaghetti Casserole perfectly.

Ingredients:

1 large baguette (French bread stick, approx. 30” long)

¼ cup butter

¼ cup margarine

2 garlic cloves, crushed

½ teaspoon oregano or basil

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°.

Place all ingredients in a bowl and blend together with a rubber spatula.  Slice the bread in half lengthwise (not all the way through) and spread the garlic butter generously on one side using the spatula.  If there is butter leftover, continue spreading on the other side.  Close the bread and cut the loaf into 1” slices (all the way through).  Wrap the whole baguette in foil, keeping the slices closed, and place in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

BROCCOLI SALAD

If you’re looking for something to complement the spaghetti casserole, try this broccoli salad.  This recipe calls for Mandarin oranges.  We had just served them the previous week, and decided to leave them out.  Also, the original recipe called for almost twice the sugar.  It was so much that it literally did not completely dissolve!  Many people, especially the kids, loved it.  Look at it this way:  It’s one way to get kids to eat broccoli.  It really was way too sweet, so the sugar is reduced in this recipe.  Keep in mind that the pictures below reflect preparation for 50 people.

Ingredients:

Approx. 1¼ lbs. broccoli crowns

8-10 strips bacon or equivalent bacon bits

½ red onion

1 cup dried cranberries such as Craisins®  (raisins can be substituted)

½ cup sunflower seeds

2 cans (11 oz.) Mandarin oranges (optional)

For the dressing:

1²/₃ cups mayonnaise

1½ teaspoon vinegar

½ cup granulated sugar

Directions:

Cook the bacon until it’s crisp, drain on paper towels, and crumble, (or use bacon bits).  

Cut up and trim broccoli into bite-size pieces.  Chop the onion.  Add all salad ingredients and toss in a large bowl.  (Mandarin oranges are optional.)

Prepare the dressing by combining the three ingredients, whisking thoroughly.  Add dressing to the salad and toss thoroughly.  It is best to prepare the salad at least an hour in advance, tossing it several times while keeping it refrigerated.  If preparing more than an hour in advance, add the sunflower seeds and Mandarin oranges just before serving.  Toss salad one final time just before serving.

Enjoy!

Take This Pepper and Stuff It!

Just like a Southern belle once told me about shoo-fly pie, “I believe it’s an acquired taste,” stuffed green bell peppers also fall into the same category.  They just aren’t everyone’s cup of tea.  This week, as I informed a number of inquiring readers that I’d be posting a recipe for Stuffed Peppers, I got one of two reactions.  Only one was positive.

I have to say that the “results” were about 50-50.  Realizing I’m taking a chance at reducing readership this week, I’m still going with my originally planned recipe.  As for those who don’t like Stuffed Peppers?  Well, they can stuff something else.

Jeff Simon is a great guy.  He is a talented musician and when he plays the mandolin, people don’t just listen, they stop and listen.  Jeff is also gifted at working with kids and has led the games at our Vacation Bible School for the last couple of years.  He is also the third generation “Simon the Plowman” in Spring City, where he and his parents Dave and Liz, operate an excavating and landscaping business.  Jeff operates the backhoe like a surgeon.  He is also a talented cook and whips up any number of his own creations in the kitchen to the amazement of his wife, Amy.  Amy is also an accomplished musician, and they have been making beautiful music together both before and since they’ve been married.  Their music-making recently produced a son, Landon.  

As a result, Jeff is now a fellow “Dad in the Kitchen.”

Jeff makes an amazing stuffed zucchini.  He halves it, hollows out the core and stuffs it with Steak-Um beef steaks, bacon, mozzarella cheese and spaghetti sauce and bakes it.  He’s still perfecting the recipe, but says he’ll share it when he's ready to go public.

Naturally, Jeff has a garden, and it produced a bumper crop of peppers this year.  I lucked out when I stopped by the farm one day just as he was wondering what he was going to do with all of them.  The result was a stuffed grocery bag of green bell peppers, with some red and yellow ones, too.  I also found a few Jalapeños on the bottom.

As a kid, whenever we would have stuffed peppers, I would eat the “guts” and pass on the “containers.”  Now that I’m older, I have acquired the taste and love them.   I did not research recipes for this post, and just went with what I had available and what I thought would be good.  My friend Marge doesn’t cook the ground beef before baking the peppers, and I think that would produce a more meat loaf-like consistency.  If you do that, you may need to allow more baking time.  We both agreed that we love the aroma of stuffed green peppers in the oven!

STUFFED PEPPERS
(click on any image to enlarge it)

Ingredients:

8-10 green bell peppers

1 Tablespoon cooking oil

1 1/3 lb. lean ground beef

1 medium onion, minced

1 teaspoon oregano

1 Tablespoon parsley flakes

½ teaspoon Kosher salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

¾ cup frozen corn

1 (10.5 oz.) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

½ red bell pepper, chopped

½ cup long grain brown rice (prepared according to package directions)

2½ cups prepared spaghetti sauce, divided

Directions:

Prepare two servings of long grain brown rice.  For the rice I used, that was a half cup of uncooked rice.  Cook the rice according to package directions.

Mince the onion using a food chopper or dice it finely.  Sauté in a frying pan with 1 Tablespoon cooking oil.  Cook until the onion starts to turn translucent.  

Add the ground beef and brown.  Near the end of browning the beef, add the salt, pepper, oregano and parsley flakes.  Drain the fat.

Prepare peppers by removing tops and seeds.  Place peppers in a baking dish.  One of the peppers I used was a little uneven on the bottom and I had to trim it so that it would sit level.

In a large bowl combine the browned ground beef, corn, chopped red pepper, kidney beans, cooked rice, and 1 cup of spaghetti sauce.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Pack the mixture into the prepared green peppers using a teaspoon, filling each pepper solidly and rounding the top.  Place peppers in a 350° oven and bake for 30 minutes.  

Spoon the remaining spaghetti sauce on top of each pepper and bake for another 30 minutes, or until the peppers are tender and the internal temperature of the meat mixture has reached 160°.

Enjoy!

Golden Glazed Chicken, Crisscross Potatoes and a Great Salad

The Alpha Course is going well at Parker Ford Church, not that there was any doubt about the course.  What is remarkable is that cooking for approximately 50 people each week has also been going well.

Part of the reason for the success is the great team that is responsible each week.  I’m grateful for the kitchen crew of Ralph Bainbridge, Rob Brunner, Nancy Elliott-Carter, Ginny Imperial, and Stephanie Wanner.  Pastor Josh and Carol Doering have also pitched in.  Another explanation for the success is the detailed cookbook that comes with the program.  The North American edition is filled with popular dinner recipes from all over Canada.  I appreciate the calculations for groups of 10, 30, and 100.  In addition to the Canadian recipes, some originated in England where the program was started.  Not all of these “foreign” recipes translate to the United States.

For example, Alpha’s recipe for Shepherd’s Pie calls for baked beans.

I tried to imagine a Shepherd’s Pie made like chili and smothered with mashed potatoes.  I attempted to picture kidney beans or black beans under there.  Couldn’t do it.  I just can’t embrace baked beans in a Shepherd’s Pie.  Instead, I used my Shepherd’s Pie recipe, quadrupling it.  I’m glad I did.  Upon telling a few diners that Alpha’s recipe called for baked beans, their reaction told me I made the right choice.  Still…I’m curious.  If I ever try it, I’ll let you know.  A similar change from the printed page was required this week.  In fact, I can’t actually say that I’ve used any Alpha recipe “as is.”

This past week we served Golden Glazed Chicken, Crisscross Potatoes, and a Mandarin Orange Salad.  When people compliment the food, I take note.  When they ask for recipes, I know it was a hit.  There were five recipe requests, so I told those who asked to read this week’s post!

GOLDEN GLAZED CHICKEN

(click on any image to enlarge it)

The smallest quantity provided in the Alpha cookbook is ten, so I’ve cut that recipe in half, however this still makes sufficient sauce for six chicken breasts.  The original recipe called for 2 teaspoons of curry powder.  Most people in our “neck of the woods” don’t have an appreciation for curry powder, but I know that it’s a popular spice in Great Britain.  I decided to jettison the curry and substitute a combination of spices.  It must have worked!

Ingredients:

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (halves)

¼ cup butter

½ cup honey

¼ cup Dijon mustard

¹/₈ cup mild prepared mustard

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

¹/₈ teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons lemon or lime juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place chicken in a baking dish in a single layer and bake in a 350° oven for 15 minutes, until partially cooked.

While the chicken is getting started, in a saucepan (or in a microwave), melt the butter.  Add all of the remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth.  

Pour over the partially baked chicken.  My test batch was only with three chicken breasts, but I made the full amount of sauce for six breasts of chicken, so your's won't look like as much.

One word of caution:  Don’t go by the ounces printed on containers of honey.  Honey is sold by the pound, and those are not fluid ounces, they are ounces by weight.  I found this out when I needed 5 cups of honey for the mass quantities I was making for Alpha.  5 cups would be 5 x 8 oz. =  40 ounces, right?  I bought a 16 oz. bottle and a 32 oz. bottle of honey, totaling 48 ounces.  When I added the entire larger bottle and half of the smaller one, (40 oz.), it just didn’t seem like enough.  I measured the capacity of the larger bottle, and it was only about 2½ cups of liquid!  Adding the entire 1 lb. bottle only brought the total up to 3-³/₄ cups.  I needed another 1 lb. bottle.  While Carol Doering was running to Kolb’s Farm Store to buy it, I tasted the sauce and was glad I added more honey!

Return the chicken to the oven and continue to bake for another 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165°.  I used my new digital thermometer with meat probe, and it worked well, signaling when the internal target temperature had been reached.  No more over baked, dry chicken!  I recommend basting the chicken with the sauce at least once during baking.  Two or three times would be ideal.

If you would like to thicken the sauce, drain it into a saucepan and heat to boiling.  Dissolve a teaspoon of cornstarch in cold water and add the mixture all at once, while continuously stirring with a spring whisk.  Pour back over chicken or serve as an accompanying sauce on the side.

CRISSCROSS POTATOES

These potatoes are super simple to make and can be seasoned with your favorite herbs and flavors.  Use your imagination!

Ingredients:

Baking potatoes (medium), halved lengthwise

Butter, melted

Seasonings & herbs of your choice

Directions:

Scrub the potatoes and cut them in half, lengthwise.  Make diagonal slashes 1/8” deep in the cut surface of each potato.  Place potatoes, cut side face up, in a baking dish.  Brush the cut surfaces with melted butter and sprinkle on the seasonings of your choice.

For my test prep, I used (left to right) Lowry’s Seasoned Salt with parsley flakes, ground thyme with rosemary, paprika with garlic salt, and plain old Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.  

My favorites were the Lowry’s & parsley, (don’t use too much seasoning salt; it’s potent), and the Kosher salt & pepper (pictured, right).  If I would have added a little salt to the thyme and rosemary ones, it could have moved to the top of my list.  It also occurred to me that having some spray butter or spray olive oil to finish them when they came out of the oven would have been a good thing.

Bake potatoes in a 350° oven for 60-90 minutes, until they are tender when pierced with a fork.  Mine were ready in an hour, but the large quantity made for Alpha took much longer.  In fact, we needed the ovens for the chicken, and wound up finishing the potatoes in the microwave, which apart from some momentary panic, was not a problem.

MANDARIN ORANGE SALAD

Another awesomely simple recipe, and it is also awesomely good!  You don’t have to have a blender or food processor to make the dressing, but it helps.

Ingredients:

1 head lettuce, (I used a mixture of Boston lettuce and spinach)

1 can (11 oz.) mandarin oranges

½ cup chopped pecans

2 green onions, thinly sliced

½ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup red wine vinegar

½ to 1 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

¹/₈ teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Toast the chopped pecans in a 350° oven for about 10 minutes.  Mix the dressing in a blender or food processor, combining the oil, sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper, and parsley. 

Just before serving, mix the salad ingredients and toss with the dressing.  If the vinegar and oil have not emulsified, you may need to blend them again just before use.  It’s just that simple.  Enjoy!