Salad dressings are fun and really easy to make, because usually all you have to do is whisk everything together or put everything into a jar and shake it up. And you can get creative with the flavors too!

I made a buttermilk ranch sort of dressing today (and I call it “sort of” ranch because although I will usually try any food, I hate ranch dressing. Or at least I hate that bottled one from the supermarket. Eew.) but this one turned out pretty well.

I used 2 cups of buttermilk

And whisked it together with some mayonnaise.

Then I added some vinegar (I actually used tarragon-flavored vinegar, but you can use any white vinegar or apple cider vinegar).

And I whisked in some spices

Then I crushed garlic and added it

I poured the finished dressing into a jar and stored it in the refrigerator until I was ready to use it. It’s creamy and flavorful and delicious on a salad or even to dip veggies in!

Buttermilk Salad Dressing

Ingredients:

2 cups buttermilk

4 Tablespoons mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon each salt, pepper, mustard powder, dried chives, dill, and thyme

3 cloves garlic

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and mayonnaise. Add the vinegar and whisk again.

Stir in the spices. Crush the garlic and stir it in.

Pour into a jar to store in the refrigerator, and shake before serving.

A few weeks ago, I was reading my favorite Korean food blog, and I saw a recipe for steamed egg. It looked really pretty with some green onions in it and a little hot pepper on top, and it said that eggs can be steamed in the microwave, too, which made me excited cause I have one of those. So I decided that if I ever got an egg I would make this.

Well, I helped with a bake sale a few days ago and I had a few eggs left over that I bought for cupcakes. I took one of them and mixed it with about 2 Tablespoons of water using a fork, and stirred in some salt and pepper. (I thought I’d deal with spices once I figured out how to get the texture of the basic recipe right). Then I microwaved it until the egg was cooked.

I don’t have a picture of this particular fail because it was so gross that I threw it all away pretty much immediately after I tasted it. I don’t know what I did wrong, but whatever it was, I did it horribly, horribly wrong. Maybe there’s something wrong with my microwave. I don’t know. Anyway, it tasted bad.

So I tried again, this time by making a hard-boiled egg, which I hear you can do in the microwave also.

It exploded.

It literally exploded in the microwave. I followed the instructions that I found were common to most websites I looked at, and apparently my microwave is too strong or something, cause I was brushing my hair while it cooked and all of a sudden I heard a really loud popping noise and thank goodness I had the little plastic top thing on the mug I was microwaving it in because that would have been a gigantic mess. Well it was a gigantic mess, just inside the mug. I didn’t take a picture of that either cause it looked like puke.

On a more positive note, I had 2 eggs left to redeem myself with. Since apparently I can’t cook an egg any other way, I thought I’d try poaching one of them.

I looked at some recipes on the internet, and then I remembered that I don’t trust the internet anymore because it lied to me about those last two recipes. So I made up my own cooking time. I decided that I would crack the egg into the mug, cover it with water and put the lid on, and cook it for 3 minutes (I did the last 2 minutes or so in 30 second intervals so I could check in between and see when it was ready).

It turned out awesome! It was really ironic, since I’ve never been this successful with a poached egg in real life on the stove. It’s a pretty hard thing to get just right. But apparently, even though I’ve never made poached eggs exactly right at home with basically unlimited space and resources, I can poach an egg perfectly in a dorm room with just a microwave, water, and a mug. What do you know.

With the last egg, I made egg drop soup, which also surprised me with how well it turned out. I heated up water in the microwave and stirred in a beef bouillon cube, a few drops of spicy mustard (I picked up some packets of mustard and duck sauce and soy sauce last time I went to the Chinese place in the food court with some friends) and black pepper. I microwaved it some more until it was really hot, and then in a separate bowl I whisked the egg with a little salt and pepper. I poured the egg into the hot broth and whisked it around really fast and it worked! Delicious egg drop soup ^_^

The reason I don’t have a picture of these last two is not because they were gross looking, like the first two, but because they were so yummy that I ate them before I could take any pictures :)

Hi! My name is Grace and I love cooking, eating, and food in general.

I do, however, live in a dorm. Which means I don’t have a kitchen. Which is especially sad because I love love LOVE cooking! The good news is that I’ve signed a lease for an apartment next year and I am COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS until I have my own kitchen ^_^ In the meantime, I guess I will just have to blog about the things I eat, which is no problem because I love trying new things and tasting delicious foods.

I have a rice cooker, a microwave, a mini-fridge, and two shelves worth of risotto, oatmeal packets, dried beans, and other similar foods in my dorm room. Also I have my stealth skills with which I can smuggle food out of the dining hall. So I will also blog about whatever creations happen to come out of that. And recipe ideas for the future too :)

Thanks for reading my first blog post, and have a happy day! :D