Olive Garden Copy Cat Salad

I don't know about all of you but the main reason I go to Olive Garden is for the salad and the breadsticks. Heck! You could even fill up on that and take your meal to go. I know quite a few of you that are there with me even if you won't admit it. So, I was doing my usual Pinterest searching a.k.a. wasting time when I probably should have been doing household chores when I came across a recipe for the salad dressing. So, I decided to make this on Monday night with dinner. It was so delicious! My husband was very grateful that I didn't do my usual lettuce, avocado and ranch dressing salad. Although, I did add an avocado to the Olive Garden salad because I'm addicted to them. I got my recipe from Mommy Savers


Salad Dressing ingredients:

• 1/2 C. mayonnaise
• 1/3 C. white vinegar
• 1 tsp. vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp. corn syrup
• 2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese
• 2 Tbsp. Romano cheese
• 1/4 tsp. garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp.  Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp.  parsley flakes
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Toss salad with fresh tomatoes, sweet red onions, black olives, croutons, pickled pepperoncini, avocados (if you are like me) and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. I made a huge bowl and my husband and I ate the whole thing. If you are wondering where to find the pepperoncini's they are right next to the pickles. That's probably a no brainer but I get so frustrated when I'm looking for uncommon items at the grocery store.

I also made Italian Parmesan breaded tilapia to go with the olive garden salad. I've seen these Kraft seasoning packets in the grocery store a few times and thought I would buy it for a night when I didn't want to spend too much time cooking. I tried it out and my husband said it was the best tilapia I have ever made and I like to think I'm pretty good at cooking tilapia. you can find the Kraft breaded packets in grocery stores right next to the cheese section. It  might be worth a try. We loved it with fish but I think we are going to try it with chicken next.