Asian and Mexican

Last night for dinner, we had some grocery store sushi and taco salad.

Honestly, I hate dinners that don't "match," but when it all tastes pretty good, the matching isn't as important.

To continue a theme tonight, I decided to see if I could get the same flavors in a few make-ahead salads for work lunches Monday and Tuesday.

The Asian one was easier ... take most of the ingredients from the Asian Carrot Slaw and call it a day. I didn't have cabbage, but did have cucumbers. I didn't want all that oil, so I left out the veg oil altogether. I remembered most of the dressing components, but just winged the proportions. Voila! Good to go.

The Mexican one was harder. I wanted a veg salad and did not want a creamy dressing, nor did I want to open a whole can of black beans. So I threw some zucchini, carrots, green onions, corn, leftover roasted turkey, black olives and queso fresco. But what for a dressing?

"Here goes nothing," I said to Jim. "I'm just going to start trying stuff."

"That's how the wheel and fire were invented, my dear," was his reply.

The first attempt was simply vinegar, olive oil and some fajita seasoning. It tasted like turpentine.

I needed an emulsifier. I found some southwest spicy mustard in the fridge and gave it a whirl. Closer, but not right.

So I added some chili powder and that magical Tajin. Close enough for this try. To be honest, the whole thing is still kind of weird and I would have been better off doing a chunky, veggie-like variation on salsa, I think. But where's the fun in that?

Do you ever do this? Who is your tasting guinea pig?