lemon honey salad dressing

the aforementioned blog is spinach tiger and i'm quite interested. she used this on microgreens; highly nutritious first leaves of various vegetables she got from the farmers market.

The Process

This is not much of a recipe as an idea to explore. Local honey, fresh lemon and olive oil together are wonderful on tender greens, fresh fruits or even cottage cheese.


Lemon Honey Dressing Recipe

1 t Fresh lemon juice

1/2 t Honey

1 T Olive oil


Blend honey and lemon juice together and slowly pour in olive oil.

Other ideas:

Now that you have a honey lemon dressing, see where else it can go. Here it is poured over cottage cheese. Just add black pepper and you have a great high protein snack or lunch.


Drizzle on fruit, such as watermelon, pears, figs.

granola bars

this is smitten kitchen, adapted from ina garner. she left out 1/4 c brown sugar and 3 T melted butter, so that c/b added back. every time i buy a bar, i think: i am going to make my own. i would add flax seeds. maybe pecans or pine nuts. here, heather. much cheaper than the boughten ones and i'll bet better!

Makes 12 to 16 granola bars

2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed (I used unsweetened)
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
2/3 cup honey
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cup dried fruit, or a mix of dried fruit (I used chopped apricots, cranberries and raisins)

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Butter an 8×12-inch baking dish (lacking this, I used a 9×13-inch) and line it with parchment paper.

Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ. Reduce the oven temperature to 300°F.

While the mixture is still warm, stir in the honey, vanilla and salt until the mixture is well coated, then the dried fruit. Pour the mixture into your prepared baking dish and press, press, press it in (wet fingers and/or a silicon spatula work great for this) until the mixture is packed as tightly as possible.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool for 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares — your best serrated knife is great for this.

You can store these in an airtight container at room temperature for a week or two, as you would cookies, however, I prefer to store mine in the freezer. I find that they stay the most crisp this way as all granola tends to soften at room temperature after a day or more.

ham with thyme honey glaze

* 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 2 tablespoons chopped thyme
* 1 (12-to 14-pounds) boneless or semiboneless fully cooked ham at room temperature 1 hour
* 1/4 cup cider vinegar
* 1/2 cup mild honey
* 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Preparation

Melt butter with thyme and let stand until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in lower third.

Peel off and discard any rind or skin from ham, leaving 1/4 inch of fat on ham. Score fat on top of ham in a crosshatch pattern without cutting into meat. Put ham on a rack in a large roasting pan. Cover ham with parchment paper, then cover roasting pan with foil. Bake 1 3/4 hours.

Meanwhile, boil vinegar in a small saucepan until reduced to about 1 tablespoon. Remove from heat and whisk in honey, Worcestershire sauce, and thyme butter. Let honey glaze stand until ham has baked 1 3/4 hours.

Discard foil and parchment from ham. If there is no liquid in roasting pan, add 1 cup water (liquid will prevent glaze from burning in pan). Brush ham with half of honey glaze, then bake, uncovered, 30 minutes.

Brush with remaining glaze and bake until glaze is deep golden-brown and ham is heated through, about 30 minutes more.