3 Dressings for you ~ 2.10.10

A repost from She's A Crafty Pumpkin... adding my recipes over here, gradually.

I love salad and making your own dressing is as easy as can be! The first one has no recipe card... read on:

On a day to day basis we make the same salad dressing for our salad. It's what I grew up eating and couldn't be simpler- no blender necessary. It's a taste thing- you taste as you go.... add a little extra pepper here. No lemon that day- no problem, leave it out. There are four constants in it though: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Vinegar (balsamic or red wine), Salt and Pepper. couldn't be simpler!
It's a combination of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar (or Red Wine, aka every day vinegar), salt, pepper and a dash or two of lemon juice (depending on whether or not I have lemons in the fridge). There are no measurements it's purely a taste thing. I start with the EVOO, then I season, mix, then add the vinegar, taste, usually add more salt and serve. You won't believe the difference that lemon juice makes. All the flavors just perk up and it's soooooo good. Try it!

Growing up we NEVER had an assortment of salad dressings. Occasionally I buy that Raspberry Pecan dressing for a little mix up or a poppyseed for those nights I don't feel like making the poppy seed dressing. Otherwise, we stick to our basic oil and vinegar dressing.

When Vinny isn't around, I make this next dressing. It's on the sweet side- which I love and it's all emulsified in the blender- so simple.

Balsamic Vinegar Dressing

1/4 c honey
3 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tbs minced red onion
1/2 Tbs Dijon mustard
S & P to taste
Olive Oil- I prefer Extra Virgin and it's @ 2 Tbs.

Place first 7 ingredients in the blender and blend w/ the oil till emulsified. Serve! Store remainder in fridge.



Now, this other one is from allrecipes.com. I love to make an Asian Inspired salad every now and then and I always have these ingredients in my pantry.

Asian Dressing

2 Tbs brown sugar
2 tsp soy sauce (I use low sodium)
1 Tbs sesame oil
1/4 c vegetable oil
3 Tbs. rice vinegar (seasoned is fine)

Combine and chill for 30 minutes.

Pour dressing over iceberg lettuce, chicken, green onions, peas, peanuts, mandarin oranges- your choice! Can add fried Chinese rice noodles (to prepare, heat a skillet w/ a few Tbs of oil, break off a bit of the noodles and add to the skillet and fry them. They'll puff up in the skillet so add a few at a time. Drain on paper towels and add to dressed salad at the last minute).

So there, you have a few new dressings to add to your repertoire.