I just made some for dinner: 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar, 2 Tbs olive oil, 1 tsp prepared mustard, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar.

Along the lines of lowspark, my favorite is:

1/4 c lemon juice
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
3/4 c oil

Mix all ingredients together well.

My favorite store bought is John the Greek, salad dressing. No sugar or chemicals. I don't know if it's sold everywhere.

A strange twist on vinaigrettes is to add a little cream. It's called a split cream dressing because it separates and looks funny, but tastes great. You can do it in the food processor to emulsify it if you wish. Just not too much or it ends up like mayo.

Keep 'em coming everyone! This is exactly what I was looking for!

What kind/brand of balsamic vinegar do you like? I haven't bought any before....

A good "not too expensive" balsamic is Trader Giottos...at Trader joe's.
Linda C

This is very simple to make and my DH loves it. He tried a house dressing on a trip that was a Honey Mustard. When he tasted it, it had horseradish in it, which he loves. I found this on line, then added horseradish to it, as it didn't already have it in the recipe, so you can leave it out if you don't like it.

Honey Mustard Salad dressing

1/3c apple cider vinegar
2/3 c oil
1 t. oregano
1 1/2 T. mustard (I use stadium mustard)
1 1/2 T. honey
1 T. Parmesean cheese
1/2 -3/4 t. horesradish (optional)

I don't know what it tastes like, as I don't like ANY kind of salad dressig! I eat mine bare.

Tami

Most often I make oil and vinegar and just vary the oil (EVOO, Walnut, Peanut, etc) and vinegar (fig balsamic, rice, white balsamic, wine, etc). It took me years to get the wrist action down like my mom and grandmother and I finally did-they never measured, just poured.

What I make the most is a simple French/Italian: oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Occasionally, I'll vary it with herbs, sometimes dried, most of the time, fresh.

But my absolute favorite dressing is a fairly simple recipe I got from the chef at Marianne's Restaurant in Pasadena in 1977! I don't think the restaurant is there anymore.

MARIANNE'S SALAD DRESSING

Serves 4

1/2 cup light olive oil (I usually use mostly light and add some extra virgin)
1/4 cup tarragon vinegar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 egg, hardboiled, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt

Blend together all ingredients.

Cover and refrigerate.

Joe

Nightly dressing is a "spoon of EVOO, a spoon of vinegar, some garlic, some Dijon, some chopped onion and S&P". Stir in the bowl well, add the greens and tomato and toss. Variation will be to add some cream or sour cream. done.

For those nights I am tired, Kens Steakhouse make some very nice dressings.

I know it's not "classic"....but I really like some sugar in my dressing....

Good olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, salt and pepper.

Olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, thyme, salt and pepper.

Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar and a little bit of dried basil, salt and pepper.

After dressing the salad, I love good Parmesan cheese on top.

I generally do not like any salad dressing that is sweet, and so I tend to avoid putting sugar in dressing, unless it is particularly sour or bitter. I think that's the reason I don't like French salad dressing.

My favorite is Roquefort or Bleu cheese. I make it by crumbling the cheese in a bowl with some lemon juice. Then I add freshly ground black pepper (and sometimes a dash of cayenne) and then enough mayo to make a dressing. My second favorite is Caesar:

Caesar Salad Dressing

2 tablespoon anchovy paste (or 4 anchovies minced)
1 coddled egg*
1 large clove garlic, or two medium ones
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lime juice (can substitute lemon juice)
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 dashes Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup extra-light olive oil
1/4 to 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
In a blender or food processor, blend together all ingredients except the olive oil and Parmesan cheese until well combined. While still blending, slowly drizzle the olive oil in until well combine and thickened. Pour into a container and stir in the grated Parmesan cheese. Serve over romaine lettuce with freshly shaved parmesan cheese and croutons.

To make croutons, cut sourdough or Italian bread into half inch thick slices and spread one side with garlic butter. Lightly toast the bread in a toaster oven. When the toast is somewhat cool, spread the other side with garlic butter (or plain butter or EVOO), and cut into cubes. You can finish toasting the croutons on a baking sheet in the oven or in a skillet at low heat, tossing every few minutes. I put a lid on the skillet when I toss the croutons.

*To coddle an egg, bring a small pan of water to a boil and add the egg (still in the shell). Boil for a minute or one and a half minutes, and then rinse it with cold water.

To make the salad, cut a head or two of Romaine lettuce into strips and toss in a bowl with salad dressing. Then add the croutons and Parmesan cheese shavings. Do not dress the salad until just before serving.

*****

If I am making Crab Louis, I use this dressing:

Louis Dressing:

2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup chili sauce (medium)
2 green onions, minced
2-3 tsp lime or lemon juice
1 tbsp prepared horseradish
dash of bottled hot sauce or cayenne, to taste
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

It's best made with homemade chili sauce, which I make from dried Ancho, Pasilla, and Guajillo dried chilies. This makes a very mild chili sauce, and so sometimes I add a dried cayenne chili.

The only bottled dressing I buy is miso dressing from the Japanese market. I could make it myself, but the bottled version is acceptable.

Here's how I make Ranch Dressing:

Ingredients
2 shallots, minced
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 - 1/3 cup fresh minced dill
3-4 dashes cayenne
2 tbs fresh lemon juice (Meyers lemons preferred), as needed for thinning
1-1/2 - 2 cups mayonnaise (Best Foods or HellmannÂs)

If you have a small food processor, you can put roughly chopped garlic and shallots and fresh dill in together for mincing or fine chopping. It is okay with this recipe to puree the ingredients, although you may want to put the dill in last, in this case.

Then combine with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and stir together by hand. Chill one hour and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Best to chill overnight before serving. It keeps for about a month, but may separate slightly; if so, stir before using.

Yield: approx. 18 oz.

I'm going to try Tricia's green goddess recipe - that looks good to me!

Lars

I don't make this that often any more but there was always a canning jar of it in the fridge when I was growing up. The recipe is as my mom's aunt wrote it.

AUNT FLORAS MAN-PLEASING DRESSING

1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. grated onion

Put in bowl and beat with egg beater until well mixed. Pour into pint jar and let stand overnight. Stir up before serving. Can add more oil to stretch it.

Here's my favorite lately:

CREAMY BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE

2 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup olive oil, (use your favorite)
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tsp. honey

Process all ingredients together in food processor or blender until thick and creamy; refrigerate. If desired, whirl again briefly before use.

NOTES: I make this dressing using my mini processor but you could easily use a regular processor or blender. Feel free to use more garlic, mustard or honey according to your taste.

Great on green salads, pasta salads, string beans, asparagus, tomatoes or whatever!

Yield: makes about 1 cup.

Here is my favourite Raspberry Vinaigrette.

The Pantry Shelfs Raspberry Vinaigrette

2 Tbl Raspberry Vinegar
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tsp Honeycup Mustard
½ Tsp salt
½ Cup vegetable oil (don't use olive oil)

Mix first 4 ingredients in a food processor. With the blade still running gradually add oil. Store in the refrigerator.

Here's one of my favorites. It originally called for vegetable oil and sugar, but I changed it to olive oil and honey. No sodium and I've estimated the calories. It does become quite thick after a day or so in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Heinz No Salt Ketchup
1/2 cup honey
1/2 olive oil
1/4 cup vinegar

Directions:

Combine all ingredients; mix well in blender.

This recipe for French Dressing serves/makes 1.75 cups

Sodium per 1/4 cup = 0
Calories per 1/4 cup (with honey) = 237

Here's my basic 'go-to' dressing.

Tarragon Vinaigrette Dressing

6 oz Olive Oil (see note)
2 oz White Wine Vinegar
1 tsp dried tarragon
1/8 to ¼ tsp salt (preferably kosher)
generous grinding of black pepper
4 to 6 dashes of Tabasco
about ¼ tsp of Dijon mustard

Put all the ingredients in a container and blend well with a fork or whisk. If you want it a little thicker, put an ice cube in it while blending it, removing the ice cube prior to dressing the salad. It can be made up earlier in the day and stored in a glass container, covered, in the fridge; just whip it up again immediately prior to dressing the salad. Makes about one cup.

Note on olive oil: this recipe is only as good as the oil you use. Dont use cheap olive oil (or--horrorslite olive oil.) Use a good green "primavera" extra virgin oil, no blends. Bertolli is fine. If you can find a French oil like Hilaire Fabre or James Plagniol, get it; its fantastic. Variation 1: use walnut or hazelnut oil instead of the olive oil. Variation 2: for the vinegar, use half vinegar and half lemon juice. However you vary it, though, make sure you follow the proverb "A spendthrift with oil and a miser with vinegar" the oil to vinegar ratio should be about 3:1.

I make our salad dressing. Usually one part red wine vinegar to 2 parts extra virgin olive oil, a tbsp of Dijon mustard, tsp minced garlic, salt, pepper and a tsp dried Italian seasoning. Shake well and dress the salad greens.

Linda

I really like Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Dan's California Dressing - named after my friend Dan who lived in CA for a while and learned how to make this there.

To taste - a mixture of stone ground or grey poupon mustard, real mayo and dill weed. Can thin with milk or water and add some mined scallions or fresh chives if you like. I don't eat this very often, it's a treat. Too much fat.

I'm going to print out this thread, quite a few gems here.

chase, you made me remember honeycup mustard, I don't think I've seen it here in a long time. They discuss it a link below and there's a picture. It's thickness is what I remember the most.

Hi Mitch, I can only get it at "high end" stores and delis. Funny thing my recipe is posted on the thread you linked too! LOL

This is perfect! I've made two dressings in the last couple of days with mustard that just didn't cut it. I'm also copying and pasting this thread for later reference.

Last night I made a spinach salad and made a honey mustard dressing. I used Best Foods Dijonnaise in an attempt to cut the fat. That part worked, but it was a thick dressing and needed a bit of vinegar for sharpness. I used to have a wonderful recipe for a spinach dressing that was made in the blender or food processor and I cannot find it, anywhere! I know it involved lots of raw onion which I also can't eat anymore! So I'm on a quest for a new dressing that's not too sweet! Girard's used to make a great spinach salad dressing but sadly it seems to be gone now too. What do you put on a spinach salad?

Thanks!

This is an easy and good salad dressing that I use often:

1/8 cup (2 TB) bottled Italian salad dressing - your favorite brand
1 TB balsamic vinegar
3 TB extra virgin olive oil

Kraft has a fairly new balsamic vinaigrette I really like.
I love Ott's french version.

chase, I searched for an hour friday to get a canadian online source to ship me the Honeycup,

www.canadaonly.ca

will have the mustard on their website soon, they responded to my email enquiry. Me happy. I can almost taste it.
Thanks for reminding me.

trsinc,
Thank you for posting the idea for split cream dressing. I've used mayonnaise and sour cream to add creaminess to a dressing, but for some reason it never occurred to me to add cream to a vinaigrette.

Yesterday I did and our guest proclaimed the salad outstanding. Thank for the tip.

Judi

Mitch, an hour! You must really want it bad! LOL I just got another jar at Whole Foods Friday so let me know if you have problems getting it and I'll send you some.

I'm not fond of vinegar based dressings. We love the creamy/cheesy ones and here's a couple of our favorites -- very simple, easy and tasty. Hubby Dubby likes them too much -- that's why I usually just squeeze some fresh lemon and drizzle some good EVOO and toss.

Both of these are Suzanne Somers' recipes

Roquefort Dressing

1 Tbs red wine vinegar
4 oz crumbled blue cheese, preferably Roquefort
3/4 cup sour cream
Salt and fresh ground black pepper

Combine the ingredients in a food processor and blend until well mixed (or you can use a whisk in a bowl). It's a thick dressing and I wouldn't recommend using a blender; you can add a bit more vinegar if you wish to thin it out; but I've never needed to do so.

Green Goddess Dressing

4 scallions
1 1/2 cups mayo
Juice from 2 limes

Roughly chop the white and green parts of the scallions and place in a food processor or blender. Chop until course; add the mayonnaise and lime juice and puree until smooth. This will store in a sealed container in the refrig for a week or so.

Annie 1971

Thanks for posting, Judi. I'm glad you liked it. :-)

Joe - small world department. My father-in-law owned the Marianne's restaurant - his partner was the chef George Bardot. Sadly, it closed in about 1990-91. I do have two of the stained glass windows from the wine room in my kitchen ;-).

Ellen, Ann's Vittorio Salad is a great salad with spinach. Try the dressing, it's very good. Not sweet at all.

Vittorio's Spinach Salad
from Ann T

Vittorio's was a restaurant in Toronto that we use to go to years ago. Salad isn't something that I would usually order but I loved his. This is my recreation of his recipe.

Salad:
Washed and dried baby spinach
4 hard boiled eggs, peeled
4 or 5 cleaned mushrooms, sliced
1 can of artichoke hearts halved or quartered
3 Roma tomatoes, quartered
2 chopped green onions
Kalamata olives

Dressing:
1/4 teaspoon tarragon
1/2 clove of garlic
2 or 3 tablespoons wine vinegar
1/2 cup homemade mayo or Hellmans
salt and pepper

Place spinach in a large salad bowl. Decorate with eggs, mushrooms,
artichoke hearts, tomatoes and green onions and olives.

Drizzle with dressing and toss.

Can be made on individual plates as well.

Dressing:
Soak tarragon and garlic in vinegar. Add salt to dissolve.
Mix vinegar mixture into mayonnaise and adjust seasoning to taste.

MQmoi's roquefort was awesome.

Creamy Roquefort Dressing
posted MQmoi

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 large shallot, minced
1 tablespoon Sherry wine vinegar
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/3 cup crumbled Roquefort cheese
3 tablespoons whipping cream

Whisk first 5 ingredients in small bowl to blend. Fold in Roquefort cheese and cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dressing can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

dgkritch - made the balsamic dressing tonight for a family get together. It was excellent. Thank you.

When I lived in the SF Bay Area, I used to eat at The House of Prime Rib on special occasions. They had a salad that was excellent and very showy, as they brought it in a bowl set in a larger bowl full of ice and would give it a flick to get it spinning before they poured the dressing in.

I don't know how accurate this copycat recipe is, since it's been long enough since I ate there that I can't be sure, but it tastes pretty much as I remember it.

Original Spinning Bowl Salad with the Heritage Orange Colored Dressing

8 ounces romaine lettuce -- washed, dried and torn into 1 1/2" pieces
2 ounces iceberg lettuce -- washed, dried and torn into 1 1/2" pieces
2 ounces spinach -- Baby spinach; washed, dried and torn into 1 1/2" pieces

4 ounces canned beets -- drained & julienned
4 ounces chopped hard-cooked eggs
4 ounces croutons -- sourdough best
4 ounces Lawry's Classic Vintage Salad Dressing*
8 each tomatoes -- Teardrop or grape variety

Place salad greens in a large salad bowl. Arrange beets over greens; sprinkle with chopped eggs and top with croutons.

Prepare ice bowl, if desired: Fill a very large shallow bowl with crushed ice, making a depression in the center. Place salad bowl with ingredients on top of ice, settling it well in the depression.

Pour dressing over greens. Toss with a large salad fork and spoon until ingredients are well distributed and evenly coated with salad dressing. If using the ice bowl, toss with a circular motion to spin the salad bowl. Portion onto four places, heaping high. Garnish each plate with two teardrop tomatoes. Offer Lawry's Seasoned Pepper with the salad.

NOTES : The salad dressing can be purchased over the internet @ http://www.lawrysonline.com/e-store/p...

*According to the Chicago this is the dressing recipe:

For the Dressing:
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons applesauce
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons dry sherry
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon Sweet Hungarian Paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pinch parsley -- flakes, a pinch
2 drops Tabasco sauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil

In a large salad bowl, combine lettuces, spinach or watercress, beets and egg. Sprinkle with seasoned salt and pepper. Toss with dressing (recipe below). Garnish each serving with cherry tomatoes and croutons.

In a blender, combine vinegar, water, applesauce, Worcestershire sauce, sherry, seasoned salt, sugar, Sweet Hungarian Paprika, garlic powder and hot pepper sauce. Blend on high until combined, about 30 seconds. With the motor running on high speed, slowly add oil through the pour hole on the lid (remove center of lid) until combined, about 2 minutes. Refrigerate several hours before serving.

I see lots of people do the olive oil and vinegar which is my favortie. Bottled dressings sit on my fridge door for a couple years and then I throw them out.

No measuring for me just pour. Olive oil, vinegar, "italian seasonings" (basil, rosemary, oregeno), and S&P. I get cravings for the olive oil taste. Sometimes a shake of sesame seeds.

Like most of my cooking I work with what I have. A cheapo basalmic is my favorite but white vinegar works fine. Tend to save my sweet white basalmic for cooking... addicted to sourbraten.

Often take salad to work for lunch in a plastic ziplock baggie. Have to pour the dressing down the side so it does not make the lettuce soggy. Quick shake at lunchtime and people are commenting on how good it smells. I eat it right from the bag... just don't poke a hole in it with your fork.

: )
lyra

Hey Carol, thanks for the tip, I'll give it a try!

For a nightly bottled dressing we use Galeo's Miso Caesar dressing. It's low fat, low calorie and has a creaminess w/o being sweet or greasy.

We only use the caesar flavor, we haven't liked the others.

My Mom and I did one of our shopping trips to Penzey's a while back. I bought their Buttermilk Dressing & Dip bottle. It's good. All you do is add a 1-2 TBS. of the mix into 1 cup of buttermilk and 1 cup mayo. (I like Hellman's).

It's all real ingredients: Salt, Bell Peppers, garlic, onion, sugar, black pepper, parsley, thyme and basil.

They sell a Green Goddess blend, etc.

I love Penzey spices.

I am looking for a Copy Cat recipe of Girard's White Balsamic Vinegar Dressing. It has extra ingredients that I don't want. Can I just delete these? Anyone have a recipe for this? It came with a bag of ready made salad and it is just the best. Light and a tinge of sweet. Love it. Thank you.

I love this one. Sadly, we can’t buy it in Canada anymore. My pic won’t work, but it is Bernstein’s cheese fantastico

Cheryl, you can buy Girard's by the bottle, though most people I know use their dressings as marinades rather than for salad. As to whether you can eliminate ingredients, it depends on what they are, what their function is, and what your expectations are. If you're eating it right after making it, for instance, you can make do without an emulsifier, and just whisk or shake it hard and dress the salad before it separates. If it's a gum or starch it's probably there for the feel, density and stick to the lettuceness, but you can do without it. If it's autolyzed yeast extract, that means MSG, and it won't taste right without it, but you could use a bit of MSG. Stuff like that.

White balsamic makes great salad dressing. It's probably a vinaigrette, which is mostly oil with some vinegar in it, or it may have more vinegar to oil ratio than standard vinaigrette does since it's "tangy". Balsamic vinegar is sweet in itself. but there could be a little sugar or other sweetening in the dressing. There's also likely to be some plain vinegar, salt and pepper, and perhaps other flavorings like garlic, mustard and/or herbs.

If you can't find a recipe for that exact dressing, just buy the main ingredients and start playing mad scientist. You're sure to come up with something you really like.

Here are the ingredients: WATER, SOYBEAN OIL, WHITE BALSAMIC VINEGAR (CONTAINS SULFITES), SUGAR, DISTILLED VINEGAR, SALT, MUSTARD SEED, SPICES, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, XANTHAN GUM, ONION*, GARLIC*, WHITE WINE, CITRIC ACID, TARTARIC ACID, MOLASSES, CORN SYRUP, NATURAL FLAVORS, CARAMEL COLOR, OLEORESIN ROSEMARY, TAMARIND. *DEHYDRATED.

WHAT DON'T YOU LIKE? WITH SUGAR, MOLASSES AND CORN SYRUP IT IS PROBABLY A PRETTY SWEET DRESSING.

I like vinaigrette type dressings the most, and there is a dressing at Ruby Tuesdays - cilantro lime - that I LOVE and would really like a recipe for if anyone has it.

ritaweeda, I use a simple lime vinaigrette for a corn, avocado and black bean salad we like. There's cilantro in the salad but you could also add it to the vinaigrette. Easy to increase/tweak the amounts, as needed.

1 clove garlic, smashed with a pinch of salt

3 T. lime juice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. chili powder

1/4 cup olive oil

My most recent favorite is Avocado Dressing. I don’t really have a recipe:

1 ripe avocado

Lime Juice

Olive Oil

Garlic cloves

Salt & Pepper

Cilantro if I have it or Flatleaf Parsley

A touch of sugar or honey depending on how sweet the avocado is; last batch I added none.

Whirl it up in a blender.

My second favorite my version Lemon Vinaigrette

Juice of ½ lemon

Zest of ½ lemon, minced very fine or grated fine

2-3 cloves of roasted garlic

1 tablespoon or less of good quality aged Balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons of high quality olive oil

Sea salt

Fresh ground pepper

Whirl it up in a blender

My third favorite has lemon as well but is creamy. Not sure what to call it.

1 ½ tsp. Adobo Seasoning

1/8 cup cider vinegar

Juice of one organic lemon

3/8 cup avocado oil

3/8 cup organic mayonnaise

1 tsp. Dijon style mustard

Put all ingredients in a jar and shake.

Makes 1¾ cup of dressing.

One of the easiest ways to save big bucks on the food bill is make your own salad dressing....you can make 12 oz of dressing in a New York minute and it keeps in the refrigerator. I have 4 pint flip top plastic bottles....and I keep at least 2 kinds of dressing at all times....and if you have a "kid" who puts RANCH on everything....make your own mayo, buttermilk, garlic powder salt, pepper and crushed parsley flakes....and you can cut back a bit on the salt and no one will know....and if you are a really "mean mommy" you can add a good scoop of cottage cheese and a bit of lemon juice and cut back on the mayo....added protein and less fat.... and if they are dipping vegetables in it...that's a pretty good meal.

Back in the day, my favorite commercially bottled salad dressing was Catalina. But they reformulated it to be sweeter (and full of HFCS, but it was the extra sweetness that turned me off) in the 1990s or maybe it was the late 1980s.

Right now, it is Annie's Balsamic Vinaigrette. Tart, creamy, not too sweet. No ingredient crud.

I intensely dislike sweet salad dressings. When I want sugar, I'll have a dessert. If I want my salad with some level of sweetness, I'll add actual fruit into the salad itself.

For a regular vinaigrette, home-made:

Juice of 1/2 lemon
Add rice vinegar to make 50 mL / 1.7 fluid ounces total volume atop the lemon juice (I used one of those Ball half-pint canning jars, and just added everything directly to that. The metric side of the scale on the jar was more convenient to me.)
1.5 teaspoon Dijon mustard
75 mL / 2.5 fluid ounces of oil. I recommend a 1:1 mixture (approximately 37.5 L/1.25 ounces of each) extra virgin olive oil to avocado oil. See below, and no, I don’t expect this to be measured out Exactly!
Two teaspoons Penzy’s Herbes de Provence dried herbal concoction.
1/8 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon cracked pepper (approximate)

I put it in that Ball canning jar, cap, and shake the devil out of it.

Here's another one I recently created, put together and then shake hard. I've used it both as a marinate and as a dressing.

• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon or lime juice
• 1/2 tablespoon low sodium, gluten-free tamari (or soy
• 1 tablespoon honey mustard (or Dijon)
• 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon hot sauce. I used 1/2 teaspoon Cholula, but Sriracha would likely be awesome. When I make this again, I will go with a full teaspoon, but feel free to lessen the amount.
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper.

And, a final dressing, for a creamy Mexican twist: Use within a few days. Works well as either a salad dressing or a taco topping.

1 ounce cilantro, stems fine
1 large avocado, peeled, pitted, roughly chopped
Juice from one juicy lime
2 teaspoons garlic paste
1/2 cup sour cream
1/8 teaspoon salt.

Place all this in a small but steep-sided bowl, and have at it with an immersion blender. Reserve in fridge until use, make a day ahead for flavors to meld.

This is a great thread to bookmark!!!!

I make ranch from scratch, sour cream and mayo (half and half) salt, dash of white vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, dill weed, oregano, basil. I don't measure it, just eyeball it.

Though a digression from salads, this is a tasty marinade for shrimp or chicken.

Tequila-Lime Marinade

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup tequila
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 T. chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/3 cup olive oil