Frugal Babe

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Homemade Salad Dressing

February 16, 2010 By Frugal Babe

We eat salads just about every day.  That means we go through a lot of salad dressing.  I’ve found that salad dressing is usually either really expensive or a dietary nightmare.  The organic stuff made of good ingredients without a bunch of preservatives and crud mixed in, is usually at least four dollars for a little bottle.  The cheaper stuff is usually a complex mixture of high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and a whole bunch of synthetic junk.  I stopped buying the latter years ago, but I had continued to buy (grudgingly) the really expensive stuff until recently.

A few months ago, I started making my own salad dressing.  I had always done the vinegar and oil thing, but my husband prefers creamy dressings, and I like to mix it up a bit too.  I got this book as a gift, and my favorite thing about it has been the salad dressings.  My favorite is made of nutritional yeast, celery, hemp seeds, herbs, miso, lemon juice, and some flaxseed oil, and I always add some apple cider vinegar.  It’s so tasty that I usually eat the leftovers with a spoon, straight from the blender.  It’s nutritious, made entirely of ingredients that I have on hand in my kitchen (no mystery stuff), and so much less expensive than the dressings I used to buy.  I can change the flavor by switching the herbs (cilantro instead of basil, for example), and I can make just enough for one or two meals so that it’s always fresh.  It usually takes about five minutes to make a great dressing.

I’ve started experimenting, and have had lots of luck with adding and subtracting ingredients – most of my dressing attempts have been successful, even though I’m usually winging it, just using whatever I have on hand and tossing it in the blender, using lemon juice and/or apple cider vinegar as a base.  An added bonus is that there’s no salad dressing jars to recycle or reuse afterwards – just a blender to clean.

Do any of you make your own salad dressings?  Any favorite recipes or secret ingredients to share?

Filed Under: food, organic living 13 Comments

Comments

  1. H says

    February 16, 2010 at 8:10 pm

    I had the same issues with the store bought salad dressing so started making my own, but I haven’t been very creative. When I’m feeling lazy, I’ll just do a basic olive oil and wine / balsamic vinegar dressing, and occasionally I’ll do a basic french style vinaigrette with shallot and dijon, as in here.
    http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/recipe-of-the-day-basic-vinaigrette/

    Reply
  2. One Frugal Girl says

    February 16, 2010 at 9:56 pm

    I just wrote a post about my favorite salad dressing, (recipe provided by Earthbound Farm Organic), on Saturday. It’s really delicious.

    Reply
  3. sam says

    February 17, 2010 at 8:15 am

    An ex boyfriend who was from Mexico always put citrus juice on his salad instead of dressing.
    He’d ask for a slice of lemon with his ice tea & then he’d squeeze the lemon over his salad. At home he’d do lime or orange slices. That culinary tip was the only positive thing I got out that relationship.

    It’s not bad however I wouldn’t recommend juice form a bottle as it’s usually watered down & tastes funny with lettuce. It definitely adds a kick.

    Reply
  4. Kaytee says

    February 17, 2010 at 9:20 am

    I prefer O&V, but like your husband, my husband prefers creamy & sweet salad dressings. There is one autumnal salad dressing that I make during apple season, for an autumn salad.
    The salad consists of:
    -Arugula or other bitter
    -diced green onions
    -apple chunks
    -goat cheese (optional, but really adds a level of awesomeness to the salad)
    -some type of nut (i usually use walnuts or pecans)

    Dressing (amounts to taste):
    -EVOO (equal with ACV)
    -Apple cider vinegar (equal EVOO)
    -Apple butter (i make jars and jars of apple butter every autumn for xmas presents and hostess gifts) (to taste, can also subsitute applesauce or a fruit infused vinegar)
    -organic dijon mustard (1 tsp-ish)
    -thyme (1 pinch)
    -minced garlic (1 med clove)

    This is a salad we both enjoy, and it gives us both something to look forward to every autumn.

    Reply
  5. sam says

    February 17, 2010 at 9:27 am

    Kaytee,
    That sounds good.
    What’s EVOO?

    Reply
  6. FrugalBabe says

    February 17, 2010 at 10:18 am

    Sam,
    EVOO is extra virgin olive oil.

    Reply
  7. Kay says

    February 17, 2010 at 10:46 am

    FB, you can’t tell us about this really yummy salad dressing that you eat straight from the blender…. and not share a recipe. :) share pls??

    I haven’t ventured into making my own salad dressings…usually its just evoo and lemon juice. Storebought stuff scares me and I think I’m ready for making my own.

    Reply
  8. FrugalBabe says

    February 17, 2010 at 11:02 am

    Kay,
    You’re right :)

    squeeze one lemon into the blender
    Add a garlic clove
    1/4 cup nutritional yeast
    2 stalks of celery
    a handful of cilantro or basil
    a dash of dried dill seed
    1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
    a couple tablespoons of flax oil (or olive oil)
    1/4 cup hemp seeds (I’ve subbed sesame seeds too)
    a date or a spoonful of agave nectar
    a teaspoon of nama shoyu or tamari
    1 – 2 tablespoons of miso (I like a lot!)

    Blend, and add a bit of water if it’s too thick. Enjoy! I’ve done lots of alterations to this recipe, depending on what I have on hand. When I was out of lemons, I used 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar and no lemon juice, and it turned out great. I’ve also used dried italian herbs in place of the fresh herbs. Have fun tinkering!

    Reply
  9. Ta2mama says

    February 17, 2010 at 9:26 pm

    I quit buying commercial dressing years ago, as well. The lemon juice thing is good! What I usually do is combine some olive oil, or sesame oil (sometimes both) with vinegar, (red wine, blueberry, apple cider, etc) add a little ginger and some sesame seeds. Sometimes a dash of soy sauce. Using different vinegar gives different results, and I also sometimes add crushed red pepper. Easy, and very good…my favorite salad is spinach and strawberry, with some grilled chicken tossed it!! Could eat it every day.

    Flax seed oil is really good on its own, too!

    Reply
  10. Leslie@spillingbuckets says

    February 18, 2010 at 12:12 pm

    I make my own italian dressing with dried herbs and oil/vinegar. It isn’t creamy, but tastes awesome!

    If you do have left over – get one of those reusable cruets (Good Seasons makes them) and you can store the dressing in the fridge for a few days.

    Reply
  11. Kay says

    February 20, 2010 at 9:04 am

    Thank you!!!!! :) It sounds yummmm! I’ll give it a try soon.

    Reply
  12. Kristen says

    February 20, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    My grandmother has a dressing that is so simple. Problem is she makes it with her eyes closed and never writes it down. Oil, sugar, lemon, salt, parsley and pepper. So good but she wont write the dang thing down…

    Reply
  13. Warren C. Williams says

    March 17, 2010 at 11:35 pm

    I enjoyed your opposition to all that bottled crap!!!! After all we carefully forage for, in todays market, mixed baby greens, spinach and other green leafys-then the average consumer negates the nutritional value by dumping some absurd concoction on them; made from ingredients we can seldom pronounce or even worse a whole sequence of acronyms that we really would rather not know. It is our responsibility to wake these people up and get the going on a dietary path that leads to longevity. I’ll be getting my video blog up next week-America beware…I’ll be issuing my own “nutritional wake up call”!
    Thanks Frugalbabe-W.Curt

    Reply

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