Pioneer Woman's Asian Noodle Salad

Having just finished Michael Pollan's book, In Defense of Food, I was in the mood for something with an abundance of vegetables, which is why I turned to The Pioneer Woman's Asian Noodle Salad.

After chopping the mountain of vegetables called for in this recipe and lopping off part of my fingernail in the process, I don't think I would have cared if this salad tasted horrible after the length of time I spent to prepare it. Luckily, it is a very beautiful salad of fresh ingredients with a light dressing that is very aromatic in addition to being very tasty. This recipe makes a huge amount of salad, so you may want to invite friends over if you choose to make it. I don't think that the quantity or size of the vegetables matched the long and skinny linguine noodles very well, especially when trying to pick up portions with my fork, so next time I may try this recipe with penne, farfalle, fusilli, or rigatoni pasta. A shorter pasta shape may make for easier vegetable stabbing.

I made this salad back in September 2008, so I will need to make it again soon.

Pioneer Woman Homemade Ranch Dressing

In the mood for salad and having all the ingredients on hand, but dissatisfied with store bought ranch dressing, Devin asked me to find out how restaurants make their ranch salad dressing.


I use a variety of salad dressings depending on my current mood, so maybe that is why I don't particularly pay attention to how a restaurant's ranch salad dressing tastes. In any case, store bought ranch dressing works for me, but in the interest in satisfying Devin's craving for restaurant-style ranch dressing, I turned to the Pioneer Woman's Homemade Ranch Dressing. Made of a base of mayonnaise, sour cream, and buttermilk (I had regular milk), with a few standard fresh herbs, this dressing can be easily suited to your personal tastes. On my first attempt, the raw garlic was a little too strong, so I don't add as much on my subsequent trials of this ranch dressing. In any case, Devin deems this homemade ranch dressing as pretty close to the restaurant version and it is deliciously creamy and flavorful with the fresh herbs, so it's a keeper. It can be made thick as a dip or thin as a dressing, depending on the amount of milk (or buttermilk) used.

In any case, I highly recommend the Pioneer Woman's website for amazing photos and witty posts.