Dressing alternatives

I use Salsa's they are super low and they have body (helps dress it up and adds other textures and taste) Like White Corn and Black Bean Salsa (Walmart brand) and there are MANY different ones, so check those out in the Salsa isle of your store. I find more of them at Walmart for a very reasonable price too.

Stop buying pre-made dressings.

1. MEASURE MEASURE MEASURE 1 T. olive oil + 1 T. GOOD (not cheap, it will taste bad) balsamic vinegar add freshly ground black pepper (yes, you need the pepper). Honestly I don't even need to have the oil when I'm using a good balsamic. mmmmmmm. If you have a Baker and Olive store near you, the Traditional Balsamic is wonderful, and they have a million other flavors you can try too. Yes, expensive, but worth it. Life is short. A big bottle of balsamic lasts a LOOOOONG TIME. Often street fairs have vendors sampling and selling balsamics.


2. 1 T olive oil + juice of fresh lemon, lime, or orange (maybe even grapefruit). Microwave your fruit 20 seconds, roll it HARD on the counter to maximize the juice; cut & ream with a fork or reamer. ADD FRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER.

3. Oil + Red wine vinegar + pepper

4. Try other oils and other vinegars - almond, walnut, sesame . . . visit your local kitchen store.

Just google salad dressings. It is seriously so easy to make your own. Don't buy that garbage from the stores.

Stop buying pre-made dressings.

Ranch dressing is also my favorite! Here's how I make a lo cal version. I take fat free or low fat yogurt & mix it with a packet of the dry Ranch dressing seasoning. It's creamy, lo fat, lo cal, & yummy.

I slice up 1/4 or 1/2 of an avocado and put that on my salad instead of dressing. Healthy fats (which I plan for in my pre-logging), it's creamy and good for you.

Best salad dressing evar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLXWn3mzAeA

Not sure its actually lower calorie, but its definately got more wholesome ingredients than the stuff you'd buy with all the preservatives and such.

Thanks for this site. Looks like a lot of good ideas will have to review them

Chef John is fantastic. Check out his Chicken Kiev recipe if you want something for a special occasion. I've used it half a dozen times and its always perfect:

I like Ken's Lighter Options dressing. Taste full flavor, but their macros are a lot smaller. My favorites are their parmesan peppercorn, and balsamic vinaigrette.
Dressing wise, you can also make your own. Plenty of recipes online.
There is a "ranch" dip I found on a channel I like to follow for recipe ideas. I'm not vegan, but her stuff looks good! She has an imitation ranch one as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK4KXaGUCt4

olive oil and lemon juice.

And you don't have to entirely forgo your favorite dressings, just learn to use less. A big thing I used to do was just but a bunch of dressing on top, then I'd need more to cover the lower leaves of salad that didn't get touched. Now I mix the salad with the dressing in a bowl so everything is lightly coated, which uses much less dressing and it tastes a lot better IMO. I used to consume upwards of 100 calories per salad from the dressing alone, now it's somewhere between 40 and 60 calories depending on the dressing and the size of salad (obviously a huge salad involves using more dressing).

I don't normally use dressing, but if I do, I will just measure out however much I want before hand so it's only one serving, and then dip it in rather than pour it over. I have tried the low-fat ranch, and it is nasty. But eh... Just don't use a lot and the full fat stuff is ok. If you like to slather your dressing then maybe try some other people's suggestions.

bump

olive oil and lemon juice.

This and add a pinch of dried mint. It is awesome and makes the salad so fresh tasting! Love it