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This charred tomatillo dressing is a sweet, creamy, and smokey addition to any southwestern salad. It will actually make you want to eat salad…which is kind of miraculous in my book. Try it today!
I told Brooke that when her dad gets home from his training {63 days left!} we’re all going to go on a family vacation together. Except now I can’t decide where we should go.
WHYYYYY did I open my big mouth?
I’m thinking Disneyland, but there are so many other great options that I don’t know where to choose! If we go to Disney, we could also hit up other parts of SoCal and also eat lots of great food! I was also thinking a fun place might be Vancouver BC. Or SLC. Or Denver. Or Hawaii. Or Yellowstone. Or Chicago.
Can you tell I’m indecisive?
Basically, I just need you all to ban together and make this decision for me. Out of the spots I’ve listed, is there a more family-friendly spot that is better than the others? What about cheaper? We’d probably fly to most of these locations, except maybe SLC or Denver.
Or Hawaii.
{Just kidding Mom.}
Is there somewhere else I’ve missed? Have you taken your family somewhere that you completely LOVED? Tellllll meeeee nowwww!!
In other news: tomatillos.
Those are some weird fruits. Or are they vegetables? Who knows what they are. But they taste ah-mazing!
This is the very first recipe I’ve posted on my blog in the last 5 1/2 years that I’m using tomatillos for! I know, congratulations to me. But the cool thing is you get to benefit from this discovery too…because, well, this dressing paired with this salad is the new latest and greatest concoction I’ve come up with that is so crazy healthy and is absolutely positively delicious you’ll want to never stop eating your greens. Which is kind of shockingly impossible at my house because, allthecarbsandcheese.
It’s a problem. #thunderthighs
Anyways, this dressing is delicious on just about anything tex-mex. I love it on this salad, but it’s pretty tasty drizzled over very cheesy chicken nachos too…not that I know from experience or anything. I also want to make some chicken floutas, similar to the ones I tried in St. Louis and use this as a dip.
Now I got a hankering for some serious Mexican food….but first, here’s how to make it:
The first thing you’re going to want to do char your tomatillos. You can use the broiler or a gas stove top to get that charred action. As you can tell, I took no pictures of this. Smart girl, I am.
Anyways, once the tomatillos are good and charred, throw them into the blender with the rest of the other ingredients and blend until you’ve got your dressing.
Just like this! Taste and adjust your seasonings and toss it over your salad/nachos/floutas.
Or just drizzle it over the top and dig in face first.
I love the little black flecks in this dressing from the charred tomatillos! Yum yum! This dressing is one of my favorites and I hope you get to try it this week! Enjoy!
Printable recipe below 🙂
Charred Tomatillo Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Instructions
- Place tomatillos directly over open flame of gas stove or broil until charred, 3-5 minutes, turning to char entire outside.
- Cut into chunks and place into the bottom of a blender with remaining ingredients for dressing. Blend until smooth. Taste, adjust seasonings and serve over southwest salad.
- For my salad, I used baby kale, butter lettuce, black beans, corn, cheese stick cut into slices, crushed tortilla chips and tomatoes.
Your 30 minute meals are a life saver! A new salad recipe is always fun, but this dressing is THE BEST! Im pretty sure I could put it on a show and have a great meal. Love this!
How can the tomatillos be charred without a grill or gas stove (we have electric). This sounds amazing!!
Thank you, Lauren!
Look up Laguna Beach at Crystal Cove. There are beach houses you can stay at overnight that are amazing and it’s a short drive to Disneyland. They book way in advance, but sometimes in cooler months you can get lucky.
Thanks for the recommendation!!
Incredibly delicious! I need to make this soon!
Please do!! It makes salad actually enjoyable instead of bearable.
This dressing is just the thing we need to jazz up our weekly salads. It sounds amazing!
I vote for Hawaiiii!!!!!!!! The sun, sand, waves, tropical everything, everywhere. Perfection 🙂 I’ll just be here on non-vacation drinking this dressing 🙂 Pinned!
Ooh, a vote for Hawaii!! I’ll have to make that happen asap!
I vote Hawaii also!
I’ve been twice and it’s a great family destination! Loved the excitement of the luau’s, folk dancing, open-air fleamarkets, the food, the food, the food! lol
I was never bored. The beaches are amazing!
I’ve been to the the Big Island, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai.
Kauai has the more lush and beautiful landscaping. I took a helicopter ride of the island. It was as you say: “Ah-mazing”!
Waikiki on Oahu was the most inexpensive in my opinion. Breakfast there was a bargain and enough that kept me going late into the evening (just in time for a big luau pig fest! lol)
The other islands are more pricey but so worth the effort! The black sand beaches on the Big Island was so cool! And speaking of cool, there was always the beautiful breeze that was heavenly in the evenings!
Kona is known for coffee and is an absolute treat (I know, I know, you don’t do coffee, lol). Paired with their banana bread…aaaah, a match made in heaven!
I wish I knew where my pics were. I would post them for you.
If you go, don’t go by boat (unless they have built newer ships now, I went some time ago. Loooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago! I would go back every year if I could!
I used to be a travel agent but I forgot when their “off” season is. Ask your travel agent.
I think Hawaii has something for everyone!
I flew and island hopped the first time. The second trip was by ship with American Hawaii Cruises. I booked about 75 people on the ships and they were utterly disappointed. So was I.
I would island hop by plane and rent an open jeep and just explore.
I need an excuse to get back on the salad bandwagon (I feel your thunder thigh issue, TRUST ME), and this dressing looks perfect. So creamy and flavorful!
I feel like I could eat this dressing just on its own! Sounds amazing, Lauren!
YES! Chug it down, sister.
Our favorite family vacation was Williamsburg, VA (Oct 2013), with 5 grandkids ages 10-20. Second favorite was Wisconsin Dells, WS (Oct 2006).
Thank you!!
this looks delish…what is the two-tone orange/white “thingy’s” in the salad? cheese?
The only cheese I had on hand were cheese sticks for my kids that were swirled. So it looks kind of funky. But, it’s really good.
It is finally warming up and I am ready to eat cold salads again. This will be first on the list. The dressing sounds delicious!