I look forward to the fall for so many reasons.  The summer months are just so crazy with the store, visitors and when I have a spare second I try to hit the beach!  I never have much time to do anything in between so I get excited about spending time at home and cooking!!  If anyone knows me, they know that I am not very good at relaxing.  I always have to be doing something…  I can’t even just sit and watch TV – I usually clean during commercials.  Cooking is surprisingly relaxing for me – I’m busy doing something and it’s fun!  I never used to cook.  Allison and Caroline used to joke that I couldn’t even cut a carrot.  But the long winters on Nantucket presented itself with the perfect time to learn.

A homemade salad dressing beats a bottled one hands down and it’s so easy to make!  My go to base dressing always includes lemon, olive oil, agave, salt & pepper.  I learned a hot tip from my cheffette friend Annie about adding tarragon (a very underused herb in my opinion) and dijon mustard.

Here are the ingredients: Dijon mustard, tarragon, lemon, agave, olive oil, salt & pepper.

• Makes enough for a salad for 4:
• Pull a large handful of tarragon leaves from the stem and chop – set aside.  It will look like more than you need but trust me: more is tastier.
• Juice a lemon into a small bowl.

• Add 1 1/2 TB of Dijon Mustard.
• Add 2TB of Agave.

• Add tarragon and add about 3TB of Olive Oil (I just eyeball everything – trust your instincts because you really can’t mess it up!)
• Salt & Pepper (be a little generous!)

Whisk it!
And Enjoy!