Help the picky picky salad dressing chooser, please!

Cafe Society
1

My problem: I don’t like salad dressings that are

  1. oily
  2. thick
  3. sweet

That has left me with Marzetti’s Fat Free Italian as the dressing of choice for years.

Now, Marzetti claims still to be selling Fat Free Italian when I sent them a pathetic email, but it’s no longer available in local stores.

Regular Italian dressings are too oily, Ranch and similar dressings are too thick and gloopy, and fat free versions of thin dressings are sweet as sugar.

Is there hope? Any ideas for a way to dress my salads?

2

Freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Vinegar (champagne, wine, balsamic, flavored), salt and pepper.

Vinegar, water, salt, pepper and chopped dried cranberries. Mix, bottle, refrigerate.

3

I like Ken’s Steakhouse light Italian with aged parmesan and ronamo cheeses. I also like Newman’s Own aged balsalmic vinaigrette.

4

Expanding on WhyNot’s excellent suggestions, you could mix a bit of your favorite mustard with your choice of vinegar (white or red wine, balsamic, apple cider, etc.) with salt and pepper. Or use crumbled blue cheese or grated parmesan with the vinegar, salt & pepper. Also try experimenting with other herbs, such as dried marjoram, thyme or crushed mint.

5

one of my more popular dressings:

rice vinegar
grated ginger
grated garlic
dash of chili pepper
tamari
honey

find the balance of sweet/hot/sour/salt that works for you. add a little oil if you like–a clear oil, like canola; or a drop or three of sesame oil for more asiany goodness.

aslso, I like fig vinegar with a little sprinkled sea salt on fresh veggies.

6

I’m a vinegar freak, so I switch the ratio between oil and vinegar in a regular vinaigrette.

I use 3 parts Colvita Balsamic Vinegar (tried them all and that’s my favorite by far), 1 part olive oil, and a spoonful of Dijon mustard.

I’ve been told to try some oregano or basil in it, but I love it the way it is.

7

Great ideas, everyone. I’m particularly drawn to the idea of mustard.

Thanks for your help.

8

I really like the dressings offered by Walden Farms. Just about anything you could ask for, and no sugar, no calories, no nothing but flavor.

9

They sound good! The creamy bacon sounds good, did you ever try it?

10

The ones I have tried with ratings:

Thousand Island - A bit thin, and not all that much flavor. 3/5

Bacon Ranch - A bit thin, but loaded with flavor that jumps out at you. 5/5

Russian - Really good, but not as thick as I like it (I see a trend here) - 4/5

Italian w/Sun-Dried Tomato - Restaurant quality - 5/5

From the description and my experience, the Creamy Bacon is probably going to hit arouns 4/5. They seem to do bacon good at the Farm.

11

Thanks!

I have gotten the fruit spread and it’s excellent for no cal. Blueberry was excellent.

http://www.waldenfarms.com/spreads.htm

12

I just use plain vinegar on my salads, no oil. I get a good balsalmic (I’m partial to WholeFoods aged version) and don’t need any oil. I do, however, usually eat spinach salads and add a little crumbled gorgonzola or feta. I find just vinegar on a plain salad a little too spartan even for my tastes.