Olive Garden Salad

Olive Garden is one of my favorite places to eat. I don't know why, but whenever we try to go eat there, the wait to sit down is way to long. So we end up going somewhere else.
I was so excited to run into this recipe, now we can make our own little Olive Garden meal.
I made this salad for a Neighborhood pot-luck.
I thought it tasted delish. . .
a few friends have asked for this recipe, so here it is.

Olive Garden Salad

Adapted from: The Sister's Cafe

Olive Garden Salad Dressing:

½ c. mayonnaise

1/3 c. white vinegar

1 tsp vegetable oil

2 Tb. corn syrup

2 Tb. Parmesan cheese

2 Tb. Romano cheese

¼ tsp garlic salt – or one clove garlic, minced

½ tsp Italian seasoning

½ tsp parsley flakes

1 Tb. lemon juice
1 TB. sugar

Mix all dressing ingredients in a blender until well mixed. Refriderate until ready to use.

Salad:

2-3 large head romaine lettuce or 2 1/2 -3 bags of precut romaine lettuce

slices red onion

black olives

2-4 banana peppers

4 roma tomatoes, sliced and cut in half

1 c. croutons home-made or store bought

freshly grated Parmesan cheese

For homemade croutons:

4 slices sandwich bread

1 clove garlic, minced

3 Tb. butter

salt and pepper

dried parsley flakes

Put lettuce in bowl. Place on top of lettuce red onions, black olives, banana peppers, tomatoes, and croutons. Add some freshly grated Parmesan cheese if you like, and add plenty of Olive Garden Salad Dressing on top. Toss together.

For the homemade croutons:

Cut off crusts of sandwich bread, and cut bread into cubes. Melt butter in small saucepan and add minced garlic. Toss sandwich cubes in the butter and spread out in a pan. Sprinkle salt and pepper and parsley flakes to taste. Bake for 15 minutes at 350°, turning half way through baking.