Healthy Salad Dressings??

Maple Grove Farms of Vermont (found in my local grocery store in AZ) makes some really great fat free dressings that are low calorie and taste wonderful. I love their Balsamic vinaigrette and their honey mustard dressings. I also like to use salsa or taco sauce instead of dressing, since they are very flavorful, no fat and low calorie.

I always top my salad with a tablespoon of olive oil, a splash of white wine vinegar, a splash of lemon juice and black pepper. It's delicious. I use to take a small glass jar of olive oil to work for my salads.

Make your own dressing. Balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. I would do it according to how much vinegar you like. I do usually half and half.

I like to make my own. There is really only one that I like. It has a lot of garlic in it and you need just a tiny bit to make your salad tasty.

1 minced garlic clove ground into I teaspoon of salt.
5 tablespoons oil
5 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon celery seed
3/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground mustard

The Paul Newman kinds are really good and I like the fact that they are all natural and organic so that you are not eating a lot of chemicals of "pseudo foods" with your veggies. I usually use maybe 2 tsps of the salad dressing and add a dash of flax seed oil to it to stretch it out and because flax seed oil is a super healthy fat and does a lot to prevent cancer and heart disease.

Every time I make a salad with this dressing, people rave. If only they knew how simple it is!

2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
.5 tbs real maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste

put it all in a mini tupperware and shake, and pour over salad. soooo good. it's especially yummy with a salad with a little bit of goat cheese. also you can try adding apples, crasins, a few nuts (i like walnuts or pine) or even citrus fruit. enjoy!

Kraft has a roasted red pepper italian that is really good and low in carbs.

From ~ Eat this, Not that ~ they say that the most healthiest one is ( Light Ranch ).

I think that a little olive oil could be a good choice.

Way to go with the salads.
I LOVE salads as well.

= )

squeeze the juice of one lemon and a couple of tablespoons of a good shredded parmesan cheese is light and simple

Make your own, experiment. Get ideas from sites like food network. Most are simple to make and don't have alot of ingredients to be good. I am not a fan of balsalmic vinegar, but love my plain yogurt mixed with a little dijon mustard, chopped scallions, a little salt/pepper and sometimes I'll grab some herbs from my kitchen tray and chop them in. Another is made with Agave nectar, soy sauce, ginger, seasame seeds and a little lemon juice. Most can be made in under 10 minutes and last up to 2 weeks so you don't have the same dressing everyday. You also could make a really small porttion every day and not have anything left to spoil. These dressings can also be used for meat marinades or over pasta.

My all time favorite dressing is a olive oil, seasoned rice vinegar, fresh lemon juice, a little juice from green olives, garlic powder, pepper and a little salt if you want it. Make sure the olive oil goes on last so that everything else can coat the veggies. Just add everything to taste.

LiteHouse dressings are all natural and Paul Newman....

Make this one...I LOVE IT!

2 tbs Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 c olive oil (EVOO)
1 tsp crushed garlic
2 tsp dijon mustard
juice from one real lemon

I love this...I use it on everything. Pasta salads and real salad. Adjust the amounts of spices like garlic and RWV to your tastes.

LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

I agree with Missy F who answered below. I also live in Arizona and always keep some Maple Grove Farms dressing on hand. My husband and I really like the Fat Free Honey Dijon. It doesn't taste like diet food and because it's a little sweet, it compliments spinach salads very well. If I don't feel like using the dijon, I sprinkle my salad with a little red wine vinegar, a dash of salt, and some fresh cracked pepper.

We were at Whole Foods this weekend and found some really good
organic yogurt dressings (peppercorn ranch is really great).
I am guessing you would also be able to find them at Trader Joes.
Not sure about Dominicks and/or Jewel.

this tomato vinagarette taste like a tangy french and has no oil.
1 cup stewed tomatoes
2tb vinegar
2pks equal
1tb honey mustard

fresh lemon squeezed over it with extra virgin olive oil or Light Balsamic and Basil Vinaigrette :0)

A little olive oil (use a light one - not the heavy rich tasting ones), squeeze some lemon juice, salt and pepper. Sounds simple but its delicious.

This may sound strange, but I love cottage cheese on my salads in place of dressing. Get the low fat or fat free kind and watch the portion size.

Also, you can use your favorite dressing, but put it on the side and dip your fork in it first then get a bite of salad, this way you aren't pouring onto the salad and using too much.

I find that vinegarettes have a ton of flavor punch and you don't need to use much at all. If you make them yourself you can control the types of oil and the amount of salt in them too.

There is something called "Ponzu" sauce... which is a Japanese dressing... used with vegetables or fruit.
It is sold in bottles at the grocery store.
Really good. Good for anything actually..... even my kids like it.
Or maybe find a recipe for it online.
It has no oil in it. And oil is where the calories/fat comes from.
But there are good and bad 'fats.'

Also, just squirting some lemon juice/extra virgin olive oil on salads is good too. And maybe with a dash of orange juice... fresh, not carton type juice.

Also yes as the other poster said: salsa, honey mustard dressing is good too.

Or, Miso Dressing. Which is a Japanese dressing... you can find recipes for it online, or bottled in the Asian section of grocery stores. Real good.

good luck,
Susan

I love baby spinach salads. I put fruit on it like raspberries or bluberries & strawberries. Then I do not need any dressings cause the juice in the fruit is like a dressing. I even put grapefruit on it.

My dressing of choice is really Fat Free Italian.

You can still have your French dressing, just put it on the side. Dip your fork in the dressing before spearing the salad and you'll get a nice tasty burst of salad dressing, but use a ton less.

Make your own. That way you KNOW what's in it. No preservatives.

Sesame oil
Rice wine vinegar (lighter taste than other vinegars)
Garlic
Five spice (asian spice)

EVOO
Balsamic vinegar
Garlic
S&P

You can add more spices depending on your taste.

For more ideas, check allrecipes.com, cooks.com, and/or recipezaar.com.