the last recipe-a-week 2009 #40: poppy seed dressing

Happy New Year! I hope that 2010 brings you plenty of joy and health. Thinking ahead, I expect that Son #2's arrival in March will be the big highlight of the year (do you realize how close that is?) and that there will be a foggy blur for a couple of months immediately following. We are so very, very excited for the new addition to our family! 2009 has been quite good to us in so many ways, and it was a fun and busy year. So long, 2009!

Along with 2009, my recipe-a-week for 2009 project is wrapping up today. I didn't quite make it through 52 recipes, but I'm okay with that if you are. I'll blame it on the whole being-pregnant-and-not wanting-to-eat-or-look-at-food-for-three-months-or-so thing.

The first 15 recipes are at the former blog home, over here, and the remainder are (or should be) here. Some of my favourites are the slow cooker chicken with tarragon and leeks, the best bread, ever, and spaghetti with tomatoes and peppers. A lot of the best ones that I've made again came from Great Food Fast, which I highly recommend. The search feature at the top left of the blog doesn't seem to function very well, and I still don't know why, but I'll put up a couple of links in the sidebar which should hopefully take you to the groups of recipes.

The last recipe-a-week 2009 recipe is:

We bought a lovely new blender a couple of weeks ago, and I borrowed The Blender Bible from the library for some ideas of how to use it for more than smoothies (which we make very often). Last night we ran out of salad dressing, so the stars aligned for me to try a new recipe from the book, and this was the one I chose. It's delicious drizzled on a crispy salad, and now I'm excited to try out more of the rest of the recipes in the book.

Poppy Seed Dressing
from The Blender Bible
Makes about 1 3/4 cups

1 small clove garlic, smashed
1/4 sweet onion, chopped
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp cider or white vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce
2 tbsp poppy seeds
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1. In blender, on low speed, blend garlic, onion, honey, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, salt, and hot pepper sauce until onion and garlic are finely chopped. Add poppy seeds. With motor running, through hole in top, gradually pour in oil in a thin stream until blended. Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week. Enjoy!