Wednesday 17 April 2013

In the Kitchen: Yes, you can make your own salad dressing!


There was a point in my life that I decided I was going to go 100% real food. I had dreams about grinding my own grain, baking everything from scratch and never having a box of kraft dinner in my house again (how sad!)

Then I realized that if I wanted to do that, it would be a full-time job. And I already had a job I liked and it actually paid in real Canadian tender. Which was a big deal in my book. So I never got to go fully real food, and a few years away from those dreams I am still totally happy with my decision. 

During that time I made some real strides to eliminate questionable food (as in foods with ingredients only my chemist husband can understand) from our diet. But it had to be easy. Things that would be way too time-consuming to make from scratch just won't work in our lifestyle. 

One of the foods that I have been able to make completely from scratch for a while now is salad dressing. Making my own salad dressing helps me control what type of oil is used, as well as how much sodium and other non-pronouncables are put into them. And darn is homemade salad dressing ever tasty. Oh yeah and easy! I just throw all the ingredients in a jar and shake them. Here are my favourite vinaigrettes:

For Really Fast Days
- drizzle balsamic vinegar and olive oil over salad greens. Toss. 
Could not get easier!     

All-purpose Italian Dressing (lasts several weeks on the counter)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1 1/4 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. dijon-style mustard

Poppyseed Dressing (great on spinach salad)
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp. salt
1-2 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. poppy seeds

Honey Mustard Vinaigrette (great on grilled chicken salad)
2 tbsp. honey mustard
2 tbsp. cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
(if you don't have honey mustard use 1/2 tbsp. each of honey & mustard)

Next week I will share my favourite creamy dressings. I hope this will inspire some of you to try your own salad dressings! 


Do you make your own favourite dressing? Share below in the comments!

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