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Another “saucy” product review

I hope you like product reviews, because you’re going to be seeing a lot of new product reviews in the coming weeks. Some are products I found while on vacation. Others are from a few companies who contacted me, asking me to do a review. While I was away, they shipped me fun samples, which were waiting at my doorstep when I arrived home. (Well, technically, the samples waited inside, thanks to our neighbor who brought in our mail.) One of the new products from New York was incorporated into my lunch:

roastvegsalad

roastvegsalad2

Veggies, almonds, spinach, and sauce. With a bowl of Savory Oat Bran.

Oatmeal: It’s not just for breakfast.

The roasted veggies couldn’t have been easier. I sliced them, drizzled on some oil, broiled on high for 12 minutes on one side, and flipped for another 12 minutes. Then I put ‘em in the fridge for a while to cool, so they wouldn’t wilt the spinach.  And what about the new product I mentioned?

dino

Another barbecue sauce. The above hails from a little health-food store in New York. I’ve been trying out new sauces lately, especially barbecue sauces, as I’ve yet to find a favorite.

This Dinosaur sauce, when used like traditional bbq sauce, was entirely too sweet for me, and not spicy at all. But I still loved it on the salad. I used just a bit of sauce on the salad, and the bitterness of the spinach balanced the overwhelming sweetness nicely. It was the perfect mix of sweet and bitter. I definitely see more of those salads in my future! More savory oat bran too!

Question of the Day:
What’s your favorite sauce or salad dressing? And how do you use it?

I am in love with Newman’s Own Sesame Ginger. It’s good on salad, on veggies, and I’ve even made a pasta salad with it before.

Published on August 17, 2010

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50 Comments

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  1. Jennifer - jcd says

    Well, I’ll be… a guy at work who went to New York in June brought back the same sauce. He likes it too.

    My favourite salad dressing is miso mixed with lemon or lime juice and a little prepared mustard. It goes really well tossed with sui choy and cucumber.

    I look forward to the raw carrot cake post!

  2. Leslie says

    I love Newman’s Own! It’s my whole family’s favorite. Pssst, have you tried it mixed into a bean salad? Or fried rice? Yummy!

  3. Marina says

    I usually just put olive oil and balsamic vinegar into my salads, I’m not really creative with salad dressings.
    Mhm, I spy some eggplant in your roasted veggies…love eggplants 🙂

  4. abby says

    katie, that looks sooooo good! i love simple meals like yours, just thrown together into a bowl. i don’t think i’ve ever put bbq sauce on a salad before, though. love all your creative ideas!

  5. Murph says

    Ive only recently started using salad dressing, it really used to freak me out! I don’t really like vinegar and I was always worried that any dressing I tried would be full of it. But I’ve overcome my (some may say irrational) fear and now love trying lots of new dressings. My current fav is light tahini, lemon juice, olive oil and a touch of garlic. Yum. I suppose it’s hummus without the chickpeas, lol!

  6. Melissa says

    I actually just use Alessi Raspberry White Balsamic vinegar as a dressing. The raspberries sweeten it and the white balsamic is less bitey than regular balsamic. Plus, cheap and low cal/fat free – which means I can add avocado/nuts to my salad and get my fat in a tastier, healthier way. 🙂

      • Melissa says

        You should get this stuff! It’s just vinegar but it *tastes* like a slightly sweet, slightly tangy vinaigrette. Yummo. I like salads with spinach and baby greens, some sort of fruit (berries or sliced green and red grapes) and some cubed avocado and the vinegar on top. EPIC.

  7. Lindsay says

    I love Annie’s Naturals salad dressings!! I’ve been meaning to try their Green Goddess one. I didn’t start using salad dressing until I was 22…servers used to look at me like I was crazy when I’d say “no dressing”… one time in high school a server told me I didn’t need to be on a diet!! Now that I’ve been converted to a dressing user, balsamic is one of my favorites. Occasionally, I’ll using dressing for salads but mainly I use it for dipping veggies 🙂

  8. Katelyn says

    That is so funny! Dinosaur BBQ is actually located in my hometown, but ironically I’ve never tried their food..OR their sauce! But lezzbehonest, they probably don’t have much in the way of vegan fare, so perhaps not a total loss 🙂

  9. Gloria says

    I love your running philosophy. I only workout 3 days a week and some people seem to think that’s not enough. My metabolism is so raging that if I worked out more than that I’d disappear.

    YESSS! I’m so excited. Carrot cake <3<3<3

  10. Erika @ Health and Happiness in LA says

    I love BBQ sauce. I buy Bullseye, because I like the taste, it’s pretty cheap, and it doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup.

    For salad dressing, I love Maple Grove Farms Balsamic. It’s pretty vinegary and it’s oil-free (I don’t like to eat added oils, and I just don’t like the taste of oil). But I also just love using hummus instead of salad dressing. I just blogged about this Indian curry hummus I bought and have been using on salad. It’s really good!

  11. Melissa says

    I’ve been running 4x a week while training for my marathon and I’m beat up just doing that. I feel super guilty, since I’m used to working out 5-6 days a week, but just from the high mileage I’m burning more calories a week than I did before. I could work out more (and eat more) but I’m feeling the rest days. I don’t want an injury to sideline me! Marathon is on Oct. 23 – and I stupidly, accidentally signed up for a half marathon the following weekend, Oct. 30. That’s going to be one SLOW half for me! Yowza.

  12. Angela says

    I just discovered a new Caesar dressing by Galeos cafe. Its made with Miso so its naturally light. I love the flavor so much and the ingredient list is short and sweet. Its great as a dip, a dressing or even a marinade for fish.

    Can’t wait for tomorrow’s post. I love Carrot Cake. 🙂

  13. thedelicateplace says

    i make my own, usually either oil and vinegar or tahini cut with lemon juice. i love the rich creamy texture!

  14. Mary @ Bites and Bliss says

    This is random..but did you get a new camera? Your photos always look awesome but there’s something different about those pictures- the constrast, tone, softness and what not. They’re really great!

    • Chocolate-Covered Katie says

      Aww Mary, you are too sweet! And I’m amazed you noticed! You have good eyes, girl! I did get a new camera, a Nikon (early b-day present). That’s not to say I didn’t up the contrast considerably using photoshop, cuz I totally did! I’m not the most skilled photographer, so I make NO secret of my love of photoshop 🙂 :).

  15. Rebecca says

    This Asian Sesame dressing from Trader Joe’s is AWESOME. Unfortunately I (semi) recently moved to Colorado and NO TRADER JOE’S. Realizing that was one of the saddest days…(only halfway kidding on that one sadly enough)

  16. Danielle says

    My favorite sauce/salad dressing is a tie between miso tahini dressing (equal parts miso, tahini, and water omggg so good) and any type of peanut sauce!

    And I totally agree that it’s NOT ‘good for you’ to run everyday.

  17. Vegyogini says

    My favorite BBQ sauce is Follow Your Heart’s spicy BBQ sauce. You can probably find it at Whole Foods (we have it at WF in LA). As for salad dressing, I’m not really a fan. I dress my salads simply with a little red wine vinegar and nothing else.

  18. Rachael says

    It’s not a specific sauce, but the whole chimichurri concoction works for me – I don’t eat the meat it’s usually served on, but as a veggie marinade, bread dip or what have you, ’tis awesome.
    Also, mole salad dressing – I had it in a Mexican joint in Austin, and have been desperately trying to recreate it ever since. Smoky, spicy, chocolately goodness.

    • Chocolate-Covered Katie says

      Can you believe I don’t think I’ve EVER had mole?! I know it’s chocolate… but I just don’t think I’ve ever encountered it on any menu unless it was covering some sort of meat. Maybe I should just make my own; I’m curious!

  19. BroccoliHut says

    My favorite salad dressing is Annie’s Goddess–I use it to make Goddess Garbanzos (a good tuna-esque substitute) and mix it into my hummus.

  20. wendy @ ABCs and Garden Peas says

    I like hot fudge…he he

    I am a big fan of vinaigrettes, especially homemade. So simple, so good. But I really like going to restaurants that have interesting house vinaigrettes that you can’t get anywhere else. If I’ve never had it before, you can bet I’m going to order it!

  21. spoonfulofsugarfree says

    Mmm… my favorite dressing has to be the stuff they serve at Japanese steakhouses. I don’t know what they put in it, but it is kind of clear, brown, and chunky-ish. I love it! Maybe some kind of miso?? Idk, but if anyone knows what i’m talking about, I want the recipe!

  22. ecogrrl says

    that’s a good lookin’ veggie plate! as for me, i don’t buy salad dressing anymore – too easy (and tastier, and cheaper) to make it myself – olive oil, champagne or balsamic vinegar, a dash of dijon, and some herbs and boom! yum.

  23. CJ says

    I’ve been looking through your old posts and came across this one. I have to say I chuckled a bit when I read “The above hails from a little health-food store in New York.” I’m not sure which health-food store sent you the sauce, but Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is a very popular Western New York barbecue joint with a few locations. I’ve never been inside one because the smell from outside is awful (major smell of cooking meat); I can’t fathom walking into one, and I’ve been told by my meat-eating sister that I definitely wouldn’t be able to handle it. I have looked at their online menu a few times, though, when my coworkers decide they’re going to walk there for lunch–there’s nothing close to healthy about that place. The chain sells their sauce in most of the stores in the area, and it is an extremely popular sauce. I personally don’t like it, but whenever my parents visit from another state, they stock up on several bottles.

  24. Ginger says

    Yum….. I’m loving the roasted cauliflower! Totally agree that these are in a way like chicken nuggets, not that I much remember what they were like, other than greasy and crunchy. The cauliflower is crunch and big taste without the grease. It actually has quite a complex flavor when roasted. My favorite dipping sauce is Red Tail Ale BBQ sauce. Nice and tangy and not too sweet.

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