My favorite salad dressing (or how to get kids to eat salad)

I haven't felt much like cooking lately. The stuffy nose and cough thing doesn't exactly bring thoughts of gourmet cooking to mind. But this past Monday, after 2 weeks of feeling blah, the cooking bug came back. I wanted to get back to my 'eat vegetarian more often' phase, so I prepared some Cheese and Caramelized Onion Enchiladas, a new-to-me recipe that I've had my eye on.

I made a salad to go with the enchiladas and was reminded that I wanted to write about my latest salad dressing creation. It goes especially well with Mexican dishes and for whatever reason, every kid I've fed it to loves it. I've had a two-year old say over and over "more lettuce. more lettuce."

Here goes- I'll apologize in advance for the fact that I don't measure anything.


Honey-Lime-Cilantro Dressing

Begin with lime juice - half a lime is generally enough for the 3 of us, use a whole lime for more people. You can get a lot of juice out if you warm the lime and roll it on the counter. Add honey - I'm not sure how much, start with a dollop and see how you like it. Add salt and pepper and whisk until well combined. Add olive oil and continue to whisk. The nice thing about this dressing - in my opinion- is that you don't need a lot of oil as you do with a vinaigrette. I add it a bit at a time and check the taste. Finally I throw in a bunch of chopped cilantro - that's coriander for some of you. We all love cilantro around here - I even throw some cilantro leaves into the salad if I have enough. That's it! If you're planning on making this ahead, I wouldn't add the cilantro until just before serving.

If you decide to make the enchiladas, I would be careful when seasoning the sauce. I didn't have enough chili powder and I wound up having to dilute the sauce to ensure my 6 year would eat it. I also used less of the chipotle then called for. It still had a kick, but I knew if it was too spicy for her she wouldn't be able to eat any of it. Turns out, she loved them.