Easy homemade dressings

Store bought dressings tend to ruin your salads and dishes. Not by tasting bad, but by overloading your food with unnecessary calories and fat. According to the book Eat This Not That: Supermarket Survival Guide, Hidden Valley Ranch Original has 140 calories and 14 grams of fat. You may have guessed that ranch is high in fat and calories, but what about store bought vinaigrette? The same book states that Newman's Own Balsamic has 90 calories and 9 grams of fat. The book does list one low calorie and fat dressing, Ken's Lite Accent Italian Vinaigrette, but then warns that it "contains a chemist's list of ingredients."

Why should you sacrifice your health or weight on store bought dressings, when it is simple to make your own at home? Simple and fast. You can make a dressing as easily as adding oil and vinegar to a bottle and shaking; you can mix oil with an acidic liquid and herbs and whisk; or you can infuse herbs and spices by gently heating them in a saucepan on you stove. Here, I did all three techniques in creating four different vinaigrettes.

The first vinaigrette is the simplest. I just added dried chilli peppers into a bottle of white vinegar and allowed the peppers to rehydrate in the vinegar. This dressing is similar to the store bought peppers in vinegar that we all love to put on our collard greens down here in the South. It's also great to drizzle over broccoli or squash.
Ingredients
white vinegar
dried adobo chili peppers

The second dressing I made was inspired by the marinated mozzarella balls at Whole Foods. I loved the chilli flakes that they added and so I created this spin off. I put the olive oil in a sauce pan on the lowest setting on my stove. I added red chilli flakes and a dash of salt and pepper. I then crushed a garlic clove and added that in. Do not bring the mixture to a boil; you only want to heat it enough for the spices to infuse the oil. Add white (or your choice of) vinegar and remove from heat. Allow it to cool and put the mixture into a bottle. You can remove the spices from oil and vinegar mixture prior to adding it to the bottle; however, I like the look of the spices, and enjoy getting bursts of chili flakes in my salads.
Ingredients
extra virgin olive oil
white or red wine vinegar
dried red chili flakes
garlic (crushed)
salt
pepper

The third dressing is my take on the classic balsamic vinaigrette. I heat the oil in a sauce pan on the lowest stove setting as above. I then add crushed garlic and a dash of salt and pepper, and then add the balsamic. Allow to cool and pour it into a bottle.
Ingredients
extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
garlic (crushed)
salt
pepper

Finally, the fourth dressing is one that I whisk up fresh for salads, and I have also used it as a marinade/sauce on fish and chicken. It contains fresh lemon juice, so I do not store it for days on my counter as I do with more basic vinaigrettes. I mix fresh squeezed lemon juice and white wine vinegar and add various combinations of fresh and dried herbs depending on my dish. Typically, the herbs include basil, thyme, rosemary, and oregano; whether I use fresh or dried herbs is controlled by my garden.
Ingredients
extra virgin olive oil
fresh lemon juice
basil and thyme (or) rosemary and thyme (or) basil and oregano
salt
pepper

Making dressing at home is quick and simple. Since I made my first basic oil and vinegar combination, I have begun to adventure out and create new versions. Not only is the experimenting with vinaigrettes fun, I have not purchased a store bought vinaigrette for over a year, saving countless dollars. Have some fun, create some dressings, and make your salads healthier.