a day of random eating: southern caviar, loaded potato soup, and French cheesy-herb bread

there is no other word to describe yesterday's eating other than random. i wanted Southern Caviar (a black-eyed pea salsa), loaded potato soup, artichokes dipped in homemade Italian dressing (like we used to do growing up) and cheesy-herb bread from a French cookbook I received as a gift. So, that's what we had for dinner. And it was delicious. And I totally earned it with a 3200-yard swim!

As promised, here is my take on the Southern Caviar recipe, which uses bottled Italian dressing. I don't like bottled, processed dressings because of all the "stuff" they put in it (preservatives, flavor enhancers, cheaper oils) and because dressings taste better and are less expensive when you make them at home.

Italian Dressing Mix

• 2 tbsp oregano (homegrown and dried!)
• 1 tbsp garlic salt
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp basil
• 1/4 tsp celery salt
• 1/4 tsp thyme (homegrown and dried!)

Mix the herbs thoroughly in a little jar – you can see how classy mine is! – and store it in your pantry. When you're ready to use it, mix two tablespoons of it with 1/4 c white wine vinegar and 1/2-2/3 c canola oil (to taste). This gave me just enough to pour over the Southern Caviar, below, with a little leftover to dip a delicately steamed artichoke into.

Southern Caviar (sure to be a hit at any party ... or by yourself with a bag of corn chips ... )

• 15 oz can black beans, drained
• 15 oz can black eyed peas, drained
• 10 oz Mexican-style tomatoes, like Rotel
• 11 oz canned corn, drained
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 3-4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 3/4 c Italian dressing (above)
• Tortilla chips

Simply mix the first seven ingredients and let them hang out in the fridge for a while so the flavors marry, and then show no mercy with the chips.

Next, I made this creamy potato soup (with leftover homemade chicken broth!), but loaded it by sprinkling the top with cheddar, bacon crumbles and green onions. The recipe doesn't call for it to be creamed, but I really wanted to use my immersion blender, so I whirred it until it could take it no more. yumm-o!

The cheesy bread is from "Around My French Table," and was gooey with white and sharp cheddar, and herby with sage, rosemary and parsley – which are some of the only living herbs in my garden. Next time I'll buy some chives to give it an oniony bite.