Creamy Caesar Salad Dressing & Homemade Croutons

    [This recipe was my April column for The Hinton Voice, my local newspaper.]

Back when I still lived at home with my parents, whenever my family was invited to a potluck dinner, everyone always asked me to bring my famous Caesar salad.  They raved about the Caesar dressing, saying it was the best they had ever tasted by far.    Like any young girl trying to impress her family, I didn’t divulge the secret, nor did I have the heart to tell everyone, that the dressing they loved so much was actually available in the refrigerator section of the local grocery store.  They were right to love it - this dressing was the perfect combination of creamy, garlicy bliss.   As I started to branch out and learn how to make my own sauces and dressings from scratch, I knew that I would need to try and replicate this store bought version that everyone adored so much.  I’m happy to report, that this dressing not only matches its store-bought counterpart, it is even better (because isn’t everything that’s homemade 100 times better?).

Crab Rangoon

To celebrate the premier of Mad Men on Sunday, I teamed up with Modcloth and a group of my favourite bloggers to bring you Mad Men inspired vintage recipes, as well as an awesome themed giveaway! 

Today I'm sharing a vintage inspired recipe for crab rangoon, a common fare at Trader Vic's (a popular restaurant on the show).    

Homemade Dinner Buns and Flavour of Home

This post is sponsored by Knorr Canada. I received compensation in exchange for this post, though as always, all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own, and I only work with brands I use in my own kitchen. 

Do you ever get nostalgic when a certain food scent hits your nose?  If you do, you're not alone.

"According to recent studies,  80% of Canadians are reminded of their childhood simply from the aroma of certain foods."* 

For me, the smell of freshly baked buns always brings me back to much simpler times, when the only concerns I had were whether or not I would be able to sneak an extra cookie or two out of my Grandma's homemade cookie jar.  

Me as a child, snacking on something delicious in Grandma's kitchen.

When I was a little girl, I used to spend a lot of time in the kitchen with my Grandmother.  Every Saturday my Mom had to work, so she would drop my brother and I off at her Mom's house and Grandma would teach me how to create something delicious.