McDonald’s actually makes their sauce with sweet pickles and sugar, but this is my version and I think it is the best big mac sauce around.

Today I give you my version of Big Mac Sauce for either a large big mac salad, a big mac burger, or big mac bowls. You could even make big mac tacos on flour tortillas or my grain free tortillas.

The Best Big Mac Sauce Recipe

It is not the thousand island type dressing one sees on many burgers. It is different in that it is not tomato based.

• 1 cup Mayonnaise (I prefer Better Body Foods (no canola oil and has a tang).
• 3 tablespoons Dill Pickle, diced
• Dill Pickle Juice (splash)or white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Yellow Mustard
• 2 tablespoons Sweet Onion, very fine dice
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon Paprika

How to Make the Original Big Mac Burger

Two grilled flat patties, melted cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce and lots of this sauce and a triple bun. You can still do that, but I’m opting more for a big mac salad.

What is the Best Mayonnaise?

There is no substitute for Better Body Foods Mayonnaise and it makes everything better, including this sauce. According to Amazon I’ve purchased this mayonnaise 19 times already. Unlike most avocado based mayonnaise, this one has a lot of zest and flavor.

Big Mac Salad with Big Mac Sauce

• lettuce
• shredded cheddar cheese
• tomatoes
• pickles
• Big Mac sauce
• Tomatoes (optional addition)

Related Recipes

• Keto Chicken Tenders would be great with the sauce
• Remoulade Sauce
• Taco Salad Dressing
• Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing

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Big Mac Sauce

Big Mac Sauce with Big Mac Salad

Course Salad and Salad Dressing

Cuisine American

Keyword Big Mac Salad, Big Mac Sauce

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Sauce Time 10 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup mayonnaise Better Body Brand (amazon)
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 3 tablespoons dill pickles finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons onion finely chopped
• splash pickle juice or white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Big Mac Salad

• 6 cups lettuce
• 1 pounds ground beef
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• Big Mac Sauce as needed

Instructions

Big Mac Sauce

• Make sure pickles and onion are very finely chopped.
  
• Mix together with all ingredients.
  

Big Mac Salad – Two Ways

• There are two ways to serve this salad.
• You can make small burger patties, top with thin slices cheddar, allow to melt, and place on salad and serve with sauce, extra pickles.
• Cook crumbled ground beef (season with salt and pepper) and place on salad with shredded cheese, sauce, extra pickles (optional chopped tomato).
  

The post Best Big Mac Sauce Recipe with Big Mac Salad appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Baked in a 9 x 13 baking dish, you will have up to 12 servings, which makes this perfect for cutting into squares for a brunch party.

Ingredients for Low Carb Sausage Casserole

• Eggs
• Sausage (Italian or Country)
• Sweet Potato
• Fresh Spinach (can use kale or arugula)
• Cheddar Cheese
• Baking Spray

Equipment

• 9 x 13 Baking Dish
• Parchment Paper
• Egg Scrambler

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Low Carb Sausage Breakfast Casserole

Baked Egg Casserole with Sweet Potatoes, Sausage, Spinach, Cheddar

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Keyword chicken sausage,, eggs, frittata, sweet potatoes

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 12 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup heavy cream optional
• 1 large roasted cubed sweet potato
• 1 pound loose sweet sausage Italian or country
• 1 handful baby spinach leaves
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese shredded
• 1 tablespoon bomba sauce

How to Cook Sweet Potatoes

• 1 large sweet potatoes
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• dash sea salt
• dash black pepper
• dash paprika or cayenne pepper

Instructions

Baked Egg Frittata Casserole

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 190 C.
• Prepare 9 x 13 baking dish with parchment paper and spraying sides with baking spray.
• Prepare sweet potatoes (recipe below).
  
• Cook sausage in frying pan over medium heat, breaking it up for bite sized pieces. Drain on paper towels.
• Beat eggs with salt, pepper and heavy cream.
• Place sausage and sweet potato cubes evenly in baking pan. Arrange spinach leaves evenly.
• Pour eggs over baking pan.
• Sprinkle cheddar cheese evenly.
• If you want to add in bomba sauce spoon in to your taste.
  
• Bake in middle of oven for 25 minutes. Rest 10 minutes before cutting.
  

The post Low Carb Sausage Breakfast Casserole appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Confession time. Until this recipe, I never liked mac and cheese. I know I should be thrown out of the South for saying that, but wait, this homemade macaroni and cheese recipe changed my mind.

The problem I’ve had with macaroni and cheese is too often, there’s no there there. I’ve left it on plates in restaurants for being too milky, too flavorless or too dry.

This best homemade macaroni and cheese recipe works, and  is so good. Wear stretchy pants; you’ll eat seconds.

The recipe also has a story. My mom, Retro Rose, cut the recipe out of the Tennessean and saved it for years. She came over one day and we made it together. To my great surprise, it was fabulous.  I looked at the name and behold, it was from a Nashville friend and fellow blogger, Beth Sachan. That really made me smile, which is funny because her blog is called Eat.Drink.Smile.

I played a little bit with the original recipe as it was super rich, but it’s still gooey good.

It’s not the the first time my mind has been changed by food. I used to hate kale and now I have numerous kale recipes showing how wonderful it can be.

Sometimes people think they know themselves, but we are not an inanimate object; we are a living organism and we change our sleep patterns, our hairstyles, the size of our shoe heels, and the color of our lipstick. We also change our eating minds about what we like and don’t like. It’s all about exposure and that right moment.

My husband hated red wine until we accidentally found ourselves in the middle of a Chianti wine festival in Italy. I hated liver until I went to Paris. I hated macaroni and cheese until I moved to the South and had the crispy topped version like the one I’m showing you.

I like when macaroni and cheese is gooey inside, but still intact. It’s such a satisfying bite.

The best homemade macaroni and cheese recipe is not topped with breadcrumbs but instead toasted bread pieces. Trust me. You’ll never make it any other way after you’ve had it like this. It also has to hold together for me to like it. I like gooey instead of runny. This is all that and more.

Turn up the Heat in the Best Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Recipe by Adding Poblano Peppers

I added in some poblano peppers. You can further the heat by substituting one of the cheddar cheeses with a pepper cheese, or leave the heat out altogether.

The tricky part of a good mac n cheese is making the roux. This one is perfect and comes out every time.

Now that I am a big mac and cheese fan, be prepared for numerous versions, because I tend to geek out like that. I do have one mac and cheese appetizer here. You can save some of this for that.

Save the leftovers to make these mac n cheese nacho party bites.

So tell me, is there something you love eating now that you used to hate?

More Southern Recipes

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Poblano Mac and Cheese

How to make the best homemade macaroni and cheese, with poblano peppers and three cheese for a gooey mac n cheese that makes the South proud.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 pound of elbow macaroni
• 2 tablespoons salt for macaroni water
• 8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese grated
• 8 ounces white cheddar cheese see notes
• 4 ounces gruyere
• 4 cups half and half or whole milk
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 1 poblano pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 4 slices tuscan type bread cut into one inch cubes (or use heavy farmhouse bread).

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 F.

Make macaroni.

• Cook elbow macaroni in large pot of boiling salted water, until tender but firm to the bite, stirring occasionally.
• Add in the poblano pepper into the boiling water and allow to blanch for four minutes, until nearly soft.
• Remove pepper to cool.
• Once macaroni is done, drain and set aside, adding in a tablespoon of butter and stirring.
• Once poblano pepper has cooled, trim stem, seed and dice into very small pieces.
• Using a medium sized, heavy duty sauce pan, warm the milk and cream together with the cayenne pepper, black pepper, and nutmeg.

Make roux.

• In a separate high sided frying pan or dutch oven pan, melt 4 tablespoons butter on medium low heat.
• Add the flour and continue to stir constantly with a whisk, until a roux has formed, about one minute. It will be smooth and thick.

Make cheese sauce.

• Add the warmed half and half to the roux.
• Continue to cook on medium heat until the mixture is thick, about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat. Add cheeses to the roux, reserving 1/2 cup cheese for the top.

AssembleMake macaroni and cheese.

• Spray your baking pan. Add poblano to macaroni.
• Put the drained macaroni into the pan.
• Mix cheese sauce and macaroni.
• Toast slices of tuscan bread cubes in oven until lightly toasted.
• Add on top of macaroni and cheese.
• Bake until bubbly about 30 minutes. Check at 15 minutes. If top is getting to browned, lightly top with foil.
• This will make (1) 13 x 9.

Notes

If you want to make the mac n cheese spicy, add cooked poblano and substitute white cheddar with pepper jack.

If you do not use the poblano peppers, add in a 1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg. Keep the cayenne pepper.

The post Best Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Recipe appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Apple Cheddar Rosemary Biscuits. Made on a whim on my birthday just to try out my new oven that I talked about in my last post. I am simply overjoyed about it. I was inspired by this picture I put on instagram.

I have made over twenty different biscuit variations, and guess what? Some are gluten free and all are highly reviewed and high ranking.

That is crazy, because I never even saw myself making a single “from scratch” biscuit in my life. Just like I never saw myself liking cats, but now there are two rescues in my walkout basement that I can’t get enough of.

I never saw myself living in Tennessee or doing farm girl things.

I never ever thought I would be a writer for a magazine. I not only wrote Nashville’s bucket list in a Nashville Arts & Entertainment Magazine, I did a piece on our restaurants. You can see 2015’s on line here, and the current 2016 just hit the shelves.

I never saw myself cooking for a living, or holding a camera, or using cast iron pans.

I never saw myself head over heels for a friend’s children, but if you have spent anytime here, you know all about these twin boys who have been very popular cooking with me on my youtube channel.

This video doesn’t include the cheese and apple, but does show the basic biscuit recipe.

I never saw myself working from home because I’m way too social to not be with a group of people every day, but here I am all by myself, yet reaching millions of people. That one still seems surreal to me.

I never saw myself as a DIY type, yet I repaired my own drywall last week.

I never saw my husband as Black & Decker man. He’s not, he just surprised both of us and become a  Ridgid man and he just bought a garage full of Ridgid tools, which he actually knows how to use!

I never saw myself with straight hair, but then the flat iron was invented.

I never thought I would love vacuuming until I bought this Shark! Now I vacuum three times a day. Minimum.

I never saw myself as an artist, yet being creative is the only way I feel normal.

In the meantime, I’ll keep making biscuits on cast iron pans I never thought I would use in a town I never thought I would live in, with a man I knew I would marry from the first week we met.

How about you? What has happened to you in your life that has taken you by surprise? Fill in your own “I never myself…”

More Apple Recipes from Spinach Tiger

More Biscuit Recipes from Spinach Tiger

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Apple Cheddar Rosemary Biscuits and the Things I Never Saw Myself Doing

A Perfect Autumn buttermilk Biscuit with apples, cheddar and rosemary.

Course Biscuits

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup diced apples
• 2 cups all purpose flour or soft wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
• 3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 450 or 425 if you have true convection oven.
• Dice 4 tablespoons butter into cubes and place in freezer.
• Use one tablespoon to saute apples.
• Dice apples (you can leave skin on if using apple such as gala)
• Saute for five minutes in just enough butter to soften. Remove from pan and cool.
• Mix dry ingredients together. Flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, rosemary. Whisk well.
• Add grated cheese to flour mixture.
• Add cold butter and either using hands or a pastry cutter (or fork) blend butter into flour mixture, but only until butter is pea sized. Do not smear butter into flour. As the butter melts, the biscuits become more flaky in oven.
• Add buttermilk up to 3/4 cup and mix with wooden spoon. You want a wet, shaggy dough. Use all the remaining buttermilk if dough seems too dry.
• Pat down into about an 8 inch disc and cut out approximately 8 medium sized biscuits.
• See this post for tips on biscuit making.
• Place biscuits on cold cast iron griddle, pan on on baking sheet, touching.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

The post Apple Cheddar Rosemary Biscuits appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

These are the perfect party deviled eggs loaded with cheddar, bacon, chives and if you feel it, add a dollop of sour cream.

I bought my first air fryer on Cyber Monday and I’ve used it almost every day, especially for bacon. The worst part of making bacon is the clean up and the air fryer makes this a snap. And the bacon makes deviled eggs better.

Use chopped scallions chopped finely if you don’t have chives.

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs 

The key to deviled eggs is making perfect hard boiled eggs that will easily peel and only be the color of yellow inside. In other words, not over-cooked with that dark ring around the yolk.

You can make your hard boiled eggs and peel them the day before to save time.

Make Perfect Easy to Peel Hard Boiled Eggs HERE

Once you have your perfect hard-boiled eggs,  mix your yolks with mustard and mayonnaise. This past year I’ve discovered Better Body mayonnaise and I love it so much, I have it delivered on a subscription basis from Amazon. It is made with avocado oil, not canola or other unhealthy oils.

It tastes amazing, and works perfectly in egg salad wraps  and rosemary chicken salad.

When you’re ready to make them, decide if you want to cut them across or long ways. I like them both ways.

I think mustard is important to the mayonnaise mixture. You can add in a little dill if you love dill, and season well with salt and pepper. I like to top my eggs with a sharp shredded cheddar and crunchy bacon.

You cannot believe how much bacon adds to the bite of a good deviled egg. I like to garnish with a little color and that’s where chives, or scallions come in. If you are taking these to a party, I’d probably use chives. If you have fresh chives, all the better.

Tips for Presenting the Best Deviled Egg Recipe

Deviled eggs are slippery. I salt the bottom of the serving dish or deviled egg plate and paper towel off any moisture on the egg white. The salt helps to add a little extra flavor. Use a piping bag to fill each egg, which makes it much easier.

Garnish with cheese and bacon, chives or scallions right serving.

More Appetizers

• Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs
• Olive Feta Appetizer
• Grain Free Italian Sausage Balls
• Party Caprese
• Holiday Chicken Salad
• Sourdough Camembert Wreath

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Best Deviled Egg Recipe (Loaded with Cheddar and Bacon)

Perfect appetizers that could be a perfect low-carb snack.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Keyword deviled eggs

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 12 hard-boiled eggs (recipe here)
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 4 slices cooked bacon crumbled
• 1 teaspoon chives (or chopped scallions)
• 1 teaspoon salt as needed
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper as needed

Instructions

• Peel eggs and remove yolk.
• Mix mustard and mayonnaise together.
• Mix yolk with mayo mixture until thoroughly mixed.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Use a paper towel to make sure the whites are dry and place on a salted plate.
• Pipe into each egg white.
• Top with cheddar, crumbled bacon, and chives.

The post Best Deviled Egg Recipe, Loaded with Bacon and Cheese appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Here’s the funny part of this. I have never much cared for this type of salad, always leaning towards  a sultry, sexy vinaigrette  and fancy lettuce.

This is  a comfort food salad, a good meal actually, because the combination of everyone’s favorite foods like cheese and bacon is brought under that creamy stream of buttermilk. The crunch and flavors are happy.

I call it a farmhouse salad for obvious reasons. I used a white farmhouse cheddar that is crumbly and has a good kick to it. I added a bit of corn cut from the cob, which is great for summertime, and in the winter, let me suggest adding in some thawed, frozen peas.

Corn and bacon for summer; peas and bacon for winter. Trust me on this. It works. The buttermilk dressing can be found here.

There are a few fun ways to make this. Serve individual dishes of long leaves of Romaine. It’s pretty and dramatic. Or chop it all up and serve in a big bowl. You can shred iceberg lettuce for this salad or use Romaine. I like the heartier lettuces for this type of salad. They are full of water, but that just adds the right texture, as the lettuce is more crunchy and stable.

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing

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Summer Farmhouse Salad with Buttermilk Dressing, the Salad Men Love

Summer Farmhouse Salad with Homemade Buttermilk Dressing, eggs, bacon, tomatoes, corn, white cheddar.

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 20 Romaine lettuce leaves washed, rinsed, drained.
• 4 pieces Bacon cut into strips crosswise
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup fresh corn cut off the husk
• 1 cup shredded farmhouse cheddar
• 1 pint grape tomatoes cut into quarters
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• chopped avocado optional
• buttermilk ranch dressing
• salt and pepper

Instructions

• Assemble 5 leaves per plate, using a mix of large and smaller leaves.
• Salt the leaves.
• Pour Dressing over the leaves.
• Garnish with cheese, corn, bacon, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, and if you like add in some avocado.
• Season once more with sea salt and pepper.

The post Farmhouse Salad with Buttermilk Dressing appeared first on Spinach Tiger.