Dressing Your Salad

Dressing Your Salad! It’s a lot easier than you might think! Once you start mixing your own salad dressings, you will never buy them again. I swear! The thing is, you already have everything you need to make the most basic dressing. A good oil (extra virgin olive oil, grapeseed oil or avocado oil) to start with. Then some kind of acid like fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice and/or your favorite type of vinegar. I love sherry vinegar and champagne vinegar the most. I probably use red wine vinegar most often though.

Summer is just around the corner. I remember growing up, my mom would often make salad for dinner in the summer, especially in August. She would make tuna salad or chicken salad………. anything to avoid turning the oven on, especially if it was crazy hot outside. Experimenting with all sorts of salad ingredients, especially after a trip to the local farmer’s market is one of my favorite things to do!

As for salad dressing, it’s just something I would never ever buy! I honestly cannot remember the last time I even purchased salad dressing from the grocery store. Even when I am dining out, I always ask if the salad dressing is homemade because the though of store bought dressing kind of makes me sick…….. especially if it’s a creamy one like blue cheese or creamy garlic. Have you ever read the label on one of the bottles? Yuk!

I was so excited to finally sit down and write this post. Mostly because I make a ton of salads and I wanted to share some of my pictures! I think editing all of the pics will probably end up taking much longer than it will take to write this post. But that’s ok.

I will often make a big salad on a Monday and pick off of it all week for lunch. If I don’t plan ahead, I end up skipping lunch and not eating all day. Especially if I am working on this blog!

One of my favorite salads is a Nicoise Salad with Seared Tuna however, I often just use canned tuna which is great and I always keep canned tuna in my pantry. And hey, there’s no cooking involved! My other favorite salad is a Cobb Salad. I love blue cheese so much and I also add roasted beets to my Cobb as well. California Pizza Kitchen has a Cobb Salad and they offer beets as an add-on. It’s so good! Beets are my favorite and I like roasting them all the time to have as a side with dinner. However, Trader Joe’s has them already cooked and packaged in their produce section. I don’t often buy “prepared” foods, but it’s a little work and time consuming roasting beets. You definitely have to plan ahead so the prepared one’s at Trader Joe’s come in very handy sometime.

Since the weather is getting hot, everyone tends to want to eat a little healthier. Salads aren’t just something to have on the side. Just look at all of these pics! I use fresh tuna, canned tuna, grilled chicken, salmon. You could even buy a rotisserie chicken and cut all of the meat off and store in it your fridge to use on salads. I even like sauteing shrimp or scallops sometimes. You can even cook and slice up a steak for a great salad.

Another great benefit to eating more salads (not just during the summer) is that you can save those calories for more vino! I don’t know about you, but that’s a HUGE benefit to me!!! Hahahaha!!! I love my wine! I know you know that already if you follow me on IG and FB! 🙂 I remember trying to find a few pictures of myself recently for something and I had trouble finding any where I wasn’t holding a cocktail or a glass of wine!

So………… back to Dressing Your Salad! Listen, if you just keep a few key ingredients in your pantry, you can do this! Try and challenge yourself to throw out any store bought salad dressing that you currently have in your fridge! Come on! You can do it! Here is a basic shopping list for you:

1. Your favorite type of oil (extra virgin olive oil, grapeseed oil or avocado oil)
2. Your favorite vinegar (red wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, champagne vinegar, white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar or raspberry vinegar)
3. Dijon Mustard (optional)
4. Red Onion or Shallots (optional)
5. Fresh Garlic (optional)
6. Fresh Lemons and/or Limes

There! That’s just the start to some great homemade salad dressings. If you want to step it up a bit try adding one or a few of the following ingredients:

1. Dried Oregano
2. Fresh Herbs (parsley, dill, cilantro, mint or chives)
3. Greek Yogurt (for a healthier creamy dressing)
4. Honey
5. Maple Syrup
6. Tahini Sauce

The general ratio is 3 to 1 oil to vinegar and/or fresh citrus juice for your salad dressing, but I always tend to use less oil. Especially if I am using fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice. I love the light fresh citrus flavor. I like to add in Dijon Mustard for the extra kick. Also the mustard will make the salad dressing appear creamy-like without adding the extra calories! Other than the oil and vinegar…….. you don’t really have to measure too much. If you’re adding in Dijon Mustard I would start with a few teaspoons and adjust if necessary. You can add an herb or two if you like, a minced shallot or a fresh grated or minced garlic clove.

If you have a mason jar, just add everything in the jar and shake shake shake! No mason jar? Just whisk in a bowl or if you don’t have a whisk use a fork to mix all of the ingredients!

You can store the salad dressing in the fridge for about a month. However, I’m certain it won’t last that long because you’ll be eating it up! If you happen to add some Greek Yogurt for a creamy dressing, that can be stored for about a week in the fridge. And of course, make sure you season your dressing with salt and pepper (preferably fresh cracked black pepper). If you don’t have a pepper grinder, you should definitely get one! 

I recently posted my recipe for a Creamy Garlic and Herb Salad Dressing. In the coming weeks, I will be posting more recipes for you to try. In the meantime, if you have any comments or questions please reach out! Let me know if you’re gonna take me up on this challenge! I would love to hear your thoughts!!