There used to be a commercial that went, “Salads are great for watching your weight …” but we can blow the value of a salad with the dressing. Here are four salad dressing recipes (although one of them contains only one ingredient :-) that won’t pile on the fat and calories. Choose these instead of the creamy ones that ‘cost’ 120-150 calories for one itty bitty spoonful … like my favorite – blue cheese, heavy on the cheese, naturally. Not only will you cut down on calories but you can choose a healthy salad dressing that isn’t loaded with hydrogenated fat, sugar or preservatives.
Salad Dressing #1. Mix either regular tomato juice or (my favorite) V-8 juice with either a freshly squeezed lemon or lime. I have a mad passion for fresh lime but either works and the result is not only a low calorie salad dressing but one that is alkalizing to the body. It’s weird because they are both acidic fruits but they don’t behave that way in the body. And have you ever eaten arugula? It’s very bitter and I don’t like it alone but when I add lime juice and a bit of olive oil (not much) it’s heavenly.
Salad Dressing #2. If you love mustard, you can make a creamy but low fat salad dressing by mixing 1/4 cup plain yogurt – either low fat or no fat – with 1 teaspoon of mustard, 1 teaspoon of honey and a bit of stevia. Mix and thin it down with a a small amount of milk – I use unsweetened almond milk. What kind of mustard? Dijon is great, but so is stone ground or a chipotle mustard from Publix.
And if you want to ‘dress up’ some of your dressings, this recipe lends itself to little extras that add luxurious tastes. For instance, I sometimes use very crisp bacon bits or a small amount of cheese like parmesan or blue cheese. Or you might add a bit of sour cream to make it tangy or even crispy onion bits which are always a hit with my family. Used in moderation, these ingredients don’t add lots of calories but they do add luxcious extra taste.
Salad Dressing #3. Love ranch dressing but don’t like the calories? Start with one of the powdered ranch dressing mixes for flavor and mix it with low fat cottage cheese, low or no-fat sour cream or some hummus. If you use cottage cheese you will need to throw it all in the blender so that the dressing is creamy. Go crazy with flavors like dill, garlic – or chipotle. I love that stuff! Mrs. Dash makes a Southwest Chipotle seasoning that I put on just about everything. Even ice cream. Just kidding.
Salad Dressing #4. Plain salsa makes a great salad dressing. Publix has their own organic brand which is cheaper than the name brands and tastes wonderful. If you’d like, you can mix it with the ingredients above but I usually just use salsa, as is. Some folks like this with a bit of sweetener but that’s personal taste.
As you can see, these aren’t just healthy salad dressing recipes, they’re also
1) simple to make
2) low in calories
3) inexpensive
What can be better than that?
hiral says
Dressings are the tastiest way to enrich ur food. Mustard sauce is a lovely appetizer. Tastes great with bread…