Golden Salad Dressing

Golden Salad Dressing
Adapted from Nigella Lawson's dressing of the same name.  While her dressing is good, I find it to be too sweet for me so I tweaked it a bit to suit my taste.

In a 1/2 pint jar add:
2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
1 Tablespoon honey
The juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon, tangerine or orange.
Salt to taste, a good pinch
1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil

Put the lid on the jar and shake well until blended.  What you have is a fantastic dressing for a fancy salad or just lettuce alone.  So good you could drink it!  I used an orange or tangerine that looks more like a blood orange that I bought at Wal-Mart.  I can't remember what the label said they were but it said they were supposed to have the hint of raspberry with a blushed skin.  Whatever they are, they are really good but not neccessary for this recipe.  It works equally well with a lemon, tangerine or orange. 

After a good mix:

On top of my salad.  Romaine lettuce with orange wedges.

Homemade Fajita Seasoning

Stop buying those expensive packages of fajita seasoning and make your own!  Most people have all of the following spices in their cabinets already so put them to use.

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon sugar

Mix together and rub on your meat.  Let meat marinate for at least an hour before cooking.  I have used this with beef and pork with great results and to make it even better I place the meat (beef or pork roast or skirt steak, whatever I'm using) in a ziplock bag.  Pour mixed seasoning over meat and add 1/2 to 2/3 cup Italian dressing, seal the bag and move the meat around to get good coverage.  Place in the fridge overnight or at least a few hours.  Remove from bag and place in crockpot on high until it is done, this will depend on the size of roast you are using.  To shorten the crockpot cook time you can cube the roast first.  Meat should pull apart easily when done.  If you are using steak you can grill or pan saute.  The Italian dressing really helps breakdown the meat making it super tender.  I haven't tried it with chicken yet, but its sure to be good!