I’m getting tired of my usual Kraft dressings.
Recommend your favorite brand and flavor of dressing so I can maybe get something better.
I have to say that Good Seasons Garlic & Herb (the packet that you mix with vinegar, water, and oil) is a great substitute when I don’t feel like making dressing from scratch. I use rice vinegar (unseasoned) and 1/2 olive oil, 1/2 salad oil. Very good!
I’m saddened to see that one of my favorite salad dressings appears to be out of production. I bought a huge two pack of it at Costco, and have just finally ran out. Oak Hill Farms Creamy Vidalia Onion Dressing. I might have to settle for the vinaigrette version.
There was also a fantastic dressing that you used to be able to get in South Africa, Knorr’s Sundried Tomato Salad Dressing. Sadly, it was never available stateside, and it looks like the don’t make it anymore. I tried Wish-Bone’s version of it and it was awful.
Marie’s makes an excellent Spinach Salad with Bacon dressing that is slightly sweet and delicious with mixed green salads and any bitter greens. Grilled chicken, fresh made croutons and hard cooked egg send it over the top.
My salad dressing of choice is a dash of salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper. Calorie-free, fat-free, really inexpensive, and you get to actually taste the lettuce. 
That being said, if I’m going to put an oil-based dressing on my salad, I’m really fond of Kewpie-brand Roasted Sesame Dressing. If you have a sizable Asian/Import market in your area, it might be worth picking up some.
ETA: Did anybody else, on first reading the title, think, “Dressings (window)” or “Dressings (open wound)?”
I thikn you shoultd try putnging peaanut butter injto the coelsasalay. It’s be bat totattaally tastay < ibt!!
What dressing?
Option one: salt, olive oil, vinegar. Don’t premix it, add it to the salad in the order indicated. A pinch of salt, “a week’s worth” of oil (recite the days of the week while pouring it slowly), a bit of vinegar.
Option two: lemon juice, just squeeze it over the salad. Goes better with bitter salads.
Oo, forgot about this one. Yes, lemon juice is wonderful, especially in salads where spinach and/or rocket are big players.
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.
My two favourites are:
Smooth, unsweetened peanut butter, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, and a dash of olive oil all mixed together… It has a wonderful satay taste to it and goes well with crunchy salads. (I also use it as a dip for cucumber and carrot sticks).
Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a bit of dijon mustard, salt and pepper to taste, all whisked up together.
My favorite is Newman’s Own Light Honey Mustard. Buy it so they don’t stop making it!
i love raspberry walnut vinegarette - usually from Ken’s Steak House
Make your own! There’s a bleu cheese dressing recipe in Cook’s Illustrated that’s amazing. From memory, it’s something like this:
1/2 c. bleu cheese - the cheap crumbles work just fine
3 Tbsp buttermilk
3 Tbsp mayo
2 Tbsp sour cream
2 tsp white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp sugar
salt & pepper to taste
In a small bowl, use a fork to crumble the bleu cheese into the buttermilk until it has the consistence of cottage cheese. Add in the remaining ingredients and stir until smooth. Yields about a cup.
Notes:
[ul]
[li]Cook’s Illustrated recommended using just a deli, inexpensive bleu cheese - it works just as well and you wouldn’t notice a quality one in the dressing anyway.[/li][li]They also say you can use plain milk, in a pinch, if that’s all you have, but I haven’t tried it that way yet.[/li][li]I might have the sour cream and mayo mixed up in the list above - my CI cookbook is at home, so I’m guessing.[/li][/ul]
It’s really outstanding, and doesn’t take that long either. If you like bleu cheese dressing, this is the only way to go - the bottled versions aren’t worth the money, IMO.
Yum. Both of those sound great, but I think the first one would be fantastic. I make a lot of salads that feature sliced cucumber, and the flavours would be perfect together. I’ve made satay sauces before, but it never occurred to me to use them as a salad dressing, or to use balsamic vinegar. Genius!
My most favourite commercial dressing is Annie’s Naturals Goddess Dressing. It has tahini as a main ingredient, and it’s fabulous. (Trader Joe’s makes a version that tastes virtually identical, should you be so lucky to live near a store.)
Mash part of an avocado, chop up the rest and mix it with light ranch. It’s amazing!
I tried this one time…did not work out at all! Maybe too much putnging (not sure I spelled that right, but you know what I mean.)
The satay one is fantastic! I became damn near addicted to it at one point.
Newman’s own Light Italian con Limone.
I actually hate it with a passion, but if you like Italian dressing with lime, go for it.
I’ve been using Wish-Bone Fat-Free Red Wine Vinaigrette every night for quite a while.
I like Green Goddess dressing, which was popular fifty years ago but is now very hard to find.