Make Your Own! Salad Dressing

In my last newsletter I wrote about "Make Your Own Granola Bars". (which by the way are amazing even after being frozen in the fridge for the three weeks I was out of town!). This month I will share some basics about "Make Your Own Salad Dressing". This series of "Make your Own" is not meant to overwhelm you with more things to do in life but to support you in slowly, one at a time, adding a few things into your routine that you "make on your own" in order to avoid the packaged varieties of your favorite foods which are commonly filled with preservatives and other weird ingredients. 

Salad Dressing is very simple to make yourself. When you look at the ingredient list of most salad dressings you will find a very long ingredient list of items you might not know how to pronounce, many of which are not things we want to be putting in our bodies. But when you make your own salad dressing it only takes a few simple ingredients and a few seconds to whip up a delicious and healthy dressing.   

Here is the equation for salad dressing:  Healthy Oil +  Acid + Sweetener + flavors = Dressing!

The ratios of  each ingredient in the equation is as follows:  3 oil to 1 acid to 1/2 sweetener

3 - Oil: Olive oil (avoid canola or vegetable oils)

1 - Acid: Any kind of vinegar, lemon, lime

1/2 - Sweetener: Honey, agave syrup, maple syrup, brown sugar, fresh squeezed orange juice

Flavor Options to taste:

Mustard (use different kinds for variety)

Plain yogurt (optional if you want a creamy dressing)

Minced Garlic

Salt/pepper

Spices: cayenne pepper, parprika, cumin, red pepper flakes

Herbs: fresh or dried - oregano, cilantro, basil, chives….

Onion: yellow, red, shallot, green onion

Nut butters: Peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter

Soy sauce

Chili sesame oil

You can try a variety of different ingredients from the list above as long as you are using the basic equation and ratio. For example here is a simple recipe:

Oil: 6 tbsp Olive Oil

Acid: 3 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

Sweetener: 1/2 tbsp Honey

Flavors:

1 Tbsp Mustard

1 Tbsp Plain yogurt

1 tsp Minced Garlic

Salt pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together in small bowl. Pour over salad.

Tips:

You can always make salad dressings ahead and store them in a jar to use throughout the week.

Give it a try, be creative,  and share your favorite dressing creation with the Sprout Wellbeing blog community!