Wellness Weekly

By Sandy Considine

Skip the bottled stuff and use these healthy salad dressing recipes to make your own at home for a fraction of the cost!

Salad dressings are super easy to make at home, and I think learning how to make your favorite salad dressings in your own kitchen is a super useful skill to have. It’ll save you tons of cash. The markup on bottled salad dressings is OUTRAGEOUS—most of them you can make for pennies on the dollar.

You can also completely control the ingredients. Have you ever cruised the salad dressing aisle and checked ingredient lists? Many of them are packed with artificial colors and flavors, which just aren’t necessary
And my favorite part is that you can completely customize the taste to your liking. Once you land on your “house dressing” that is perfect for your family’s tastebuds, you always will have that recipe in your pocket.

For most salad dressings you will need:

•Something acidic. Lemon juice, lime juice, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or white wine vinegar are all good choices.

•Some fat. Oil is a standard ingredient in most vinaigrette-style dressings you want a mildly flavored oil that won’t stand out in the dressing. Extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil are my favorites.

•Something sweet. A little sweetness can bring all the flavors together and round out the dressing. Honey is my go-to, but maple syrup, agave, or even a bit of granulated sugar will work as well.
All these recipes can be made using the jar-and-shake method. Just grab a jar with a tight-fitting lid, I use a wide mouth mason jar and plastic cap, toss in all the ingredients, and shake the dickens out of it until it’s well-blended. There are a couple of recipes below that could be made smoother if you use a food processor or a blender—but you don’t have to if you’re fine with chunkier dressing.

•Salt, pepper, garlic, and other herbs and spices. Salt and pepper will enhance the flavor of the other ingredients—don’t skip them where they are called for!

Each recipe has amounts for using fresh OR dried herbs—you can use all fresh, all dried, or any combination of the two. Just keep in mind that the dried herbs will take a while longer to impart their flavor on the dressing.

A good rule of thumb is that if you’re using mostly fresh ingredients, you can get by using your dressings within 15-30 minutes. If you’re using mostly dried ingredients, you’d be better off waiting 2+ hours so the flavors can really develop.

Each recipe makes one cup. Enjoy these dressings and take pleasure in knowing they are healthy with no artificial ingredients. It all about being healthy and staying healthy.

Balsamic Vinaigrette
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic finely minced OR 1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid, shake until well combined.
Refrigerate and let flavors blend for at least 30 minutes, preferably 2 hours, before serving.

Lemon Vinaigrette
¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Zest and juice of 1 lemon about 4 tablespoons lemon juice and 3 teaspoons zest
1 clove garlic finely minced OR 1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh minced oregano OR 2 teaspoons dried oregano
Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid, shake until well combined.
Refrigerate and let flavors blend for at least 30 minutes, preferably 2 hours, before serving.

Italian
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon fresh minced parsley OR 2 teaspoons dried parsley
1/4 medium onion, diced (about 2 tablespoons) OR 2 teaspoons onion powder
Juice of 1/2 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon fresh minced basil OR 2 teaspoons dried basil
1 tablespoon fresh minced oregano OR 2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 clove garlic, finely minced OR 1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake until well combined. Alternatively, combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse until well combined and smooth.
Refrigerate and let flavors blend for at least 30 minutes, preferably 2 hours, before serving.

Honey Mustard
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid, shake until well combined. Alternatively, you can combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse until well combined and smooth.
Refrigerate and let flavors blend for at least 30 minutes, preferably 2 hours, before serving.

Blue Cheese
1/2 cup full-fat plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons of buttermilk
Juice of 1/2 lemon (about 2 tablespoons lemon juice)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup of blue cheese crumbles
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 clove garlic, finely minced OR 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid, shake until well combined. Alternatively, you can combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse until desired consistency.
Refrigerate and let flavors blend for at least 30 minutes, preferably 2 hours, before serving.
Notes: Use a fork to smash down any big chunks of blue cheese—you want the blue cheese flavor to be in the entire dressing.

Greek Yogurt Ranch
¾ cup whole milk plain Greek yogurt
1 clove garlic finely minced OR 1 teaspoon garlic powder
¼ cup fresh minced parsley OR 1 tablespoon dried parsley
¼ medium onion diced (about 2 tablespoons) OR 2 teaspoons onion powder
2 tablespoons fresh minced chives OR 1 tablespoon dried chives
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Juice of 1/2 lemon about 2 tablespoons
¼-½ cup buttermilk
Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid, shake until well combined. Alternatively, you can combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse until well combined and smooth.
Refrigerate and let flavors blend for at least 30 minutes, preferably 2 hours, before serving.

Please feel free to email on what you what to know about for a future article at
sandra.considine@yahoo.com