Salad Dressing – Buy it or make your own?
I was listening to the radio the other day and the morning show commentators were talking about salad dressing…whether they prefer to buy a bottle of salad dressing at the grocery store or whether they make their own at home. Despite the fact that my local grocery store chain devotes nearly an entire aisle to bottled poison (I mean bottled salad dressing) it is really quite easy to whisk your own at home in about 5 minutes.
By taking the extra couple of minutes to make your own, you are certain to avoid all those artificial ingredients and preservatives that are so toxic to our health. Just look at the list of ingredients on your bottle of salad dressing, most likely the first ingredient is oil (click here to see my article on the dangers of oil) not to mention the list of unpronounceable ingredients. Who even knows what Disodium Inosinate is, and who wants to ingest that anyway?
Here is a recipe for my mom’s basic vinaigrette. It’s a great base that can be used on any kind of salad, from lettuce to corn & black bean salsa, or even a cold bean and grain salad.
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Ingredients
1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard
1 Tbsp. Honey
1 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
2-4 Tbsp. White Wine Vinegar
2 Tbsp. Freshly Chopped Basil (or about 1 Tbsp. dry)
1 Tbsp. Freshly Chopped Oregano
(or about 1 tsp. dry)
Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste
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This is just the mixer:
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This includes accessories:
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Preparation
Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl or use an immersion blender.
For as long as I can remember, my mom called an immersion blender a “salad dressing mixer”. I never knew it was called an immersion blender until about a year ago when a friend said “don’t you have an immersion blender?” I was embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know what an immersion blender was. When I finally found out what it was, I was even more embarrassed because, yes, of course, I’ve been using the “immersion blender” for more than 20 years! In case you need a visual, above is an image to depict what an immersion blender is and if you click on it, it will take you to Amazon where you can buy it. Happy salad dressing making!
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