salad dressings

mjbnj0001

Blondie_130 wrote: »

I've used hummus, thinned out with water, as a dressing for spinach salad with tomatoes and a cut-up veggie burger patty. So good.

what a great idea.

divcara

I like using coconut amino which has a lot less sodium that soy. I will use that, vinegars, lemon, small amount of olive oil. Sometimes stone ground dijon mustard. Mrs. Dash seasonings, fresh herbs like cilantro, basil, chives, or oregano. Nutritional yeast. You can make some pretty good dressings!

crystalewhite

Definitely vinegar, like others have mentioned. I usually use red wine vinegar, but a friend brought me a bottle of blueberry vinegar that is amazing on summer salads with berries. Here are the ratios I use, and this makes enough for two salads:
- 2 TBS Olive Oil
- 1 TBS Vinegar
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp honey
- Lots of fresh ground black pepper
- Pinch salt
- If I am not taking them to work, I will add chopped garlic and shallot. I can't do that to my coworkers!

LovesDogsAndBooks

Some more great suggestions here, thanks all!

wellthenwhat

I have never been fond of the smell of dressings, so I've never used them. I like taco salad, using the taco meat like you'd use croutons or dressing, just enough to flavor, plus a little shredded cheese. Today I am having a hard boiled egg finely sliced on top of the salad plus a bit of cheese for flavor, and protein. I also add salt to all my salads. I can even enjoy a plain vegan garden salad with just a little salt for flavor. Next time I have a baked chicken salad, I want to try some barbeque sauce mixed with a bit of water (to thin it down) for flavor.

inertiastrength

what I do with a really voluminous salad is I spray the thing with Kirkland Cooking OIl Spray (yes, the one you use to fry your eggs or cook your chicken lol) I find I can cover more area without using as much oil as if I was drizzling it from a measuring spoon and then I toss it BEFORE I add the balsamic glaze. I use a glaze because it's more flavorful and goes a lot farther than regular dressings. the spray oil trick makes it distribute pretty evenly and i don't have many nasty dry pieces (if any at all)

brittyn3

Thicker or aged balsamic would be amazing on a salad. A tablespoon is around 10 calories. It's so sweet and rich, it'd be amazing with olive oil, I'd imagine.

inertiastrength

brittyn3 wrote: »

Thicker or aged balsamic would be amazing on a salad. A tablespoon is around 10 calories. It's so sweet and rich, it'd be amazing with olive oil, I'd imagine.

Yes! A little goes a long way

AnnPT77

You can make your own yogurt-based dressings, too. Basic idea is plain yogurt + salt + seasonings of choice. What's good? Finely minced garlic; fresh ground pepper; herbs such as oregano, thyme, sage, and/or basil; alternatively to the green herbs, things like turmeric, cumin, or chili powder are also good. Fresh-grated parmesan is excellent in yogurt dressing, but one has to watch the calorie side (but note that there's some protein).

Thin with water or even balsamic vinegar as needed. I don't like to buy dressings, since I like variety, and it takes too long to go through a bottle of commercial dressing. Usually, home-made has fewer calories & better nutrition, too. Vinegar-based or yogurt-based are main choices, but thinned tahini or pureed veggies are also options for a dressing base.

inertiastrength

AnnPT77 wrote: »

You can make your own yogurt-based dressings, too. Basic idea is plain yogurt + salt + seasonings of choice. What's good? Finely minced garlic; fresh ground pepper; herbs such as oregano, thyme, sage, and/or basil; alternatively to the green herbs, things like turmeric, cumin, or chili powder are also good. Fresh-grated parmesan is excellent in yogurt dressing, but one has to watch the calorie side (but note that there's some protein).

Thin with water or even balsamic vinegar as needed. I don't like to buy dressings, since I like variety, and it takes too long to go through a bottle of commercial dressing. Usually, home-made has fewer calories & better nutrition, too. Vinegar-based or yogurt-based are main choices, but thinned tahini or pureed veggies are also options for a dressing base.

How long do these keep for?

mjbnj0001

AnnPT77 wrote: »

How long do these keep for?

I like to kid folks that, "hey, yogurt, it's ALREADY spoiled!" LOL.

Seriously, they keep for a few days in your fridge. It's not so much that they go bad, per se, but the whey/liquid continues to separate from the yogurt milk solids, making the stuff a bit unpalatable. Re-stirring the stuff if kept separate in a container prolongs its life a little, but if you've dispersed the dressing into a food, the clock starts ticking as soon as you do that. For instance, I've used yogurt dressing to sub for mayo in macaroni salad (summer BBQ season), and got about 3 days out of it, even though there was more salad left (we typically don't have greens salads leftovers left over for more than an extra day).

This is one application where full-fat, or sometimes, low-fat yogurt (greek or regular) is much better than non-fat.

AnnPT77

fascha wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

You can make your own yogurt-based dressings, too. Basic idea is plain yogurt + salt + seasonings of choice. What's good? Finely minced garlic; fresh ground pepper; herbs such as oregano, thyme, sage, and/or basil; alternatively to the green herbs, things like turmeric, cumin, or chili powder are also good. Fresh-grated parmesan is excellent in yogurt dressing, but one has to watch the calorie side (but note that there's some protein).

Thin with water or even balsamic vinegar as needed. I don't like to buy dressings, since I like variety, and it takes too long to go through a bottle of commercial dressing. Usually, home-made has fewer calories & better nutrition, too. Vinegar-based or yogurt-based are main choices, but thinned tahini or pureed veggies are also options for a dressing base.

How long do these keep for?

I usually just make one meal's worth at a time (I'm easily bored by repetition). I think the answer would depend on what one puts in the yogurt - I wouldn't necessarily use the yogurt's expiration as a guide, but with most add-ins in reasonable amounts, it shouldn't be lots shorter. (For example, minced garlic will get mushy in the fridge. I assume the acidity of the yogurt might retard that a little, but not indefinitely.)

Same general concept for non-yogurt bases: How long with the individual ingredients keep? (Noting that lots of vinegar or lots of salt (!) may delay spoilage a little.)

lapesadilla

i cut salad dressings with lemon juice - toss the salad in dressing, squeeze a quarter or half lemon over it, toss again. it works great with both vinaigrette and mayo/aioli-based dressings. a little coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper does a lot for a salad too.

lilawolf

I use yogurt dressing too like bolthouse farms ranch or Marzetti simply dressed creamy balsamic vinaigrette.. Also really like guacamole (really just avocado, lime, spices) and salsa/pico de gallo. I like adding fresh or dried herbs, smoked salt, chipotle powder, citrus etc. My salads are never boring.