Monthly Archives: June 2012

A quick glance at any of my menu plans and you know we eat a lot of salad around here. It’s a quick and convenient way to throw together protein and vegetables — and what can I say? I like to keep it simple. Apparently my commitment to simple thus far has precluded making my own salad dressing. Intellectually I KNOW it is easy, but it just seemed like such a fuss so I just continued to buy bottled salad dressings despite the fact that most have some pretty confusing ingredients.

Recently though, I have put my foot down. I make so many other things from scratch it was time to bust out the oils and vinegars, grab a mason jar and figure out how the heck to get it done. And you know what, IT IS SIMPLE! But more importantly, homemade salad dressing tastes so much better. Plus it looks cute in little mason jars in my fridge!

I came up with four dressings that have worked their way into our salad rotation and I thought you might like them too.

1/4 C Lemon Juice
1/2 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 TBS Dijon Mustard
1/2-1 tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp honey (just a quick squeeze)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Shake and pour!

This Dressing Is Great For: Greek Salads, Simple Grilled Chicken Salad, or a Chopped Salad with Tomatoes and Cucumbers

A Note About the Ingredients: I really like oregano so I tend to use the full teaspoon, but you could cut back to get just a hint. If you use meyer lemons you may not even need the honey, but I think just a hint of sweetness rounds out the flavor.

1/4 C Champagne Vinegar
1/2 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/8 C Blue Cheese
1 TBS Dijon Mustard
1/4 tsp Thyme
1/4 tsp honey (just a quick squeeze)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Shake and pour!

This Dressing Is Great For: Cobb Salads, Simple Mixed Greens, Steak Salads or Grilled Romaine

A Note About the Ingredients: You can really use any vinegar in here, I just really like how mild champagne vinegar is. Blue cheese is strong and so is dijon mustard. You don’t want too many competing flavors.

1/4 C White Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 C Garlic + Basil Infused Olive Oil
1 TBS Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp honey (just a quick squeeze)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

This Dressing Is Great For: Caprese Salads, Mixed Greens topped with Tomatoes and Artichoke Hearts

A Note About the Ingredients: White Balsamic Vinegar is a game changer and it’s such a great compliment to an infused olive oil. If you can’t find a garlic and basil infused olive oil just add in a bit of fresh garlic and basil (or dried if that’s all you have on hand…it will be fine!)

1/4 C Blackberry Roasted Red Pepper Vinegar
1/2 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 TBS Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp honey (just a quick squeeze)
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

This Dressing Is Great For: Salads with spicy meat, Grilled Chicken Salad, Spinach Salad with Fruit

A Note About the Ingredients: This vinegar is to die for and it is by a company called Chapparal Gardens. If you want some fun flavors to mix with a delicious olive oil, check them out. Their Champagne Mimosa Vinegar…also delish! But this combo would be good with any fruity vinegar to taste. Feel free to experiment.

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So those are my newest kitchen creations…how do you make salad dressing? Are there any combos that you can’t be without?