My Favorite Season

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Have you ever tried "Daddy Dip"? I'll bet you probably have and you just don't know it. "Daddy Dip" is what my kids call Italian Dressing. They, or more appropriately My Beautiful Wife, began calling it that years ago because it is my salad dressing of choice and I make it "fresh" on a daily basis.

Even when all else seems lost at dinner time, the one constant we have is salad. My children are not big fans of cooked vegetables, despite my growing up country and loving everything that came from Pop-Pop's (my Grandfather's) garden. Therefore My Beautiful Wife and I are quite happy that they like salad. We go through "Daddy Dip" like it's going out of style. If the Good Season's people ever did a test to find out where their largest market is, I bet they would find it's right here in the northeastern U.S. of A. I'm also convinced that the reason for that large market is because of the HB clan.

 Besides being a great cook and an awesome Dad, I also hold down a full time job.  Not only do I hold down a full time job, I drive a long way to get to it.  That sometimes leaves me a little short on time and energy to put together my usual awesome well rounded meal. It is on nights such as these that the true versatility of the "Daddy Dip" shines through. I have marinated just about any kind of meat you can think of in it.

For those of you that have never tried marinating anything because you don't know what to put in the marinade, or thought it would be too much trouble or mess to put a marinade together, I have two words….."Daddy Dip". When you read this, and if you know what makes a marinade work you probably just had an Ah-ha moment. A good marinade needs an acid, "Daddy Dip" has vinegar. A good marinade needs an oil, "Daddy Dip" has oil (I prefer extra virgin olive oil, or as Rachael Ray says, EVOO). And lastly, a good marinade needs spices; with "Daddy Dip" you pre-mix all of the spices and use it as needed.

If you marinate anything in "Daddy Dip" Italian Dressing for an hour or so, especially before grilling, I promise you it will taste great. If you marinate your steaks for four hours or more (preferably overnight), I promise you it will taste great and be infinitely more tender.

 The only thing I would caution here folks is this: Apparently for some people, as my eldest son jokingly said to me, eating "Daddy Dip" could constitute cannibalism.

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