Ghetto Ceasar - a goodbye to summer

Hey All,

Its the end of summer in good ol' Salt Lake City.  We've had our first freezes, which prompted me to harvest what I could of the tomatoes.  With the exception of a few ripening on the counter, the rest have been cut up and frozen (hint, so much easier than canning and you can use them pretty much the same).

In our meal plan for last week, we had a ghetto ceasar on the menu.  It never did get made, until tonight.  Since I'm going on a television and facebook strike tonight, I figured I'd blog the recipe.  Granted its a bit of this, a tiche of that kind of recipe, but hopefully it inspires some creativity.

So first up were the croutons.  Making your own croutons is relatively easy.  I'll save you details and let you find your own recipe.  The biggest trick, of course is having your pan plenty hot.  I don't mind if they have a bit of a toast to them, so you may have to play with it a bit to perfect it.  I've also taken a shine to using infused oils.  I'll have to do a write up with a how-to the chemists' way.  Its fun and its easy, and with the help of our good friend nitrous oxide, its quick!

OK, now for the fun:

1 head lettuce (traditionally one would use Romaine, but I use whatever is on sale or I have on hand....hint, swiss chard makes an amazing ceasar, but I'm letting mine grow some more, to see if its true it is a year round green here)
1 tomato cut into 1/8 wedges (oh, I'm gonna miss my garden fresh 'maters this winter)
3 prepared chicken patties, cooked and diced
1 small bag baby carrots
Croutons

Ghetto Ceasar Dressing:  Mayo, dill pickle juice to thin, some dried oregano, minced garlic, and a good dose of parmesan cheese.  Put it in a jar or other container so you can shake it up.

Clean and cut or tear the lettuce into a bowl with a tight fitting lid.  Pour the Ghetto Ceasar Dressing over.  Put the lid on and shake the daylights out of it, coating all the lettuce.  Top with the tomato, chicken, carrots, and croutons.

If you grill your chicken, it will lighten it up substantially in the calorie department.