Salad Dressings

I write for HubPages and recently put together an article with a few recipes for homemade salad dressings. The back story is that I grew up with bottled dressings. It wasn't until I met my future husband that I found out you can make salad dressing from scratch really easily! For him it was never a question - his parents are 100% Italian, and well, they didn't sell bottled salad dressing on the rural farms of Naples. It all started with a few shakes of extra virgin olive oil and some vinegar - usually a combination of red wine, balsamic and apple cider vinegars. I've gotten braver in recent years and have moved to complex dressings when the mood strikes and the ingredients are handy. Read more about them here on HubPages.

Shrimp over Green Salad w/Avocado Vinaigrette

That's a mouthful - literally! This is a quick and easy dinner for anyone, especially those watching their carb intake.

• Marinade about a pound of medium size shrimp (vein and tail removed) in the juice of one lemon, salt and pepper for 30 minutes before next step.
  
• Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a skillet over medium high heat.
• Crush 3 garlic cloves with the flat part of a knife or your hand and toss into the butter until fragrant and remove before they get too brown.
• Add shrimp to pan until pink. Set to the side.
• Prepare garden salad - I used cucumber and carrots over romaine and radicchio.
• Create dressing - Add to coffee mug (I use coffee mug because I can easily hold it and my hand blender fits nicely) one avocado, juice of one lime, 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons white wine (optional), 2 tablespoons water (increase if omitting wine). Mix with hand blender until creamy.
  
• Toss the salad with the dressing, and plate. Add the warm shrimp on top.

Enjoy!